Edge of The Sun-Numenera [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

William Kwan (Order #33596357)

William Kwan (Order #33596357)

TM

EDGE

William Kwan (Order #33596357)

OF THE

SUN

CREDITS Designer Creative Director Managing Editor Editor/Proofreader Art Director Cover Artist

Bruce R. Cordell Monte Cook Shanna Germain Ray Vallese Bear Weiter Federico Musetti

Cartographer Hugo Solis Artists Jacob Atienza, Bruce Brenneise, Vincent Coviello, Biagio D’Alessandro, Michele Giorgi, Alexander Gustafson, Raph Lomotan, Anton Kagounkin Magdalina, Federico Musetti, Mirco Paganessi, Angelo Peluso, Roberto Pitturru, Scott Purdy, Riccardo Rullo, Nick Russell, Martin de Diego Sádaba, Sam Santala, Audre “Charamath” Schutte, Joe Slucher, Lee Smith, Ben Wootten, Kieran Yanner

© 2021 Monte Cook Games, LLC. NUMENERA and its logo are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Printed in Canada

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 4

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PART 1: STELLAR ENGINES

7

Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge

8 18

PART 2: THE SETTING

27

Chapter 3: Reaching the Sun’s Edge Chapter 4: Exploring the Engine Chapter 5: Exploring the Halo Chapter 6: Mapping the Engine

28 31 53 57

PART 3: THE NUMENERA

71

Chapter 7: Cyphers Chapter 8: Artifacts Chapter 9: Augmechs

72 77 84

PART 4: CREATURES

101

Chapter 10: Creatures Chapter 11: NPCs

102 123

PART 5: ADVENTURES

125

Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move Chapter 13: Waking the Mega

126 155

INTRODUCTION

W Halo, page 53 Plasmar, page 116 Viridian, page 22

Even though the Engine no longer burns, the sun retains the velocity it had obtained up until the Engine malfunctioned.

“The Sun Doth Move,” page 126

Chapter 3: Reaching the Sun’s Edge, page 28 Chapter 9: Augmechs, page 84

Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge, page 18

elcome to the sun’s edge, where architects of the prior worlds built an engine without equal. An engine designed to move the entire solar system—the sun and all its children—out of the way of a looming hazard hurtling through space. This peril—call it the Viridian—threatened such an immense swath of interstellar void that nothing short of wholescale evacuation had any chance of successfully saving the solar system. Thus, the Engine of the Gods (as some call it) was built to do just that: accelerate the sun, and thus everything else in the solar system “glued” to it by gravity, to safety over a hundred-million-year period of time. This engineering feat likely numbers among the greatest undertakings of the prior worlds, since it not only resulted in the sun surfing just ahead of a catastrophic spatial inversion, but also continually siphons just enough material from the sun to avoid the gradual warming that would otherwise heat the inner planets enough to kill off normal life. The Engine of the Gods isn’t generally known by humans in the Ninth World. Even those who study the skies and note the rapid pace of the sun compared to other stars consider it normal, having no other situation to compare it to. Even before the Engine’s fires were dimmed (see chapter 2), it accomplished its job for time out of mind.

Meanwhile, the entities that reside on the Engine are not concerned with Earth or any of the other children of the sun. Their entire world is the Engine, an associated structure called the Halo, and for some creatures (such as the plasmars), the sun itself. Unfortunately, events in the last few centuries have endangered everything the builders of the Engine made safe. The special fires in the Engine’s heart that accelerated the solar system through the void fell cold. These and other problems now loom starkly. Perhaps residents of the Engine can rally to the cause. Then again, it may be that the player characters will be called on to provide aid, once they are convinced that the sun should move. Even if you don’t want to put PCs on the hook for restarting the Engine of the Gods, the structure makes an exciting and unique location for exploration and other adventures. While some might reach the sun’s edge via “standard” methods such as by flying there on a starship, others could learn how to pilot augmechs via telepresence or other control methods, enabling them to move through and on the Engine in prosthetic bodies. In addition to providing them with agency on the Engine, augmechs protect PCs from the deadly heat and radiation that such close confines to a star otherwise entails.

“Behold: an engine vast beyond imagination, one so magnificent that only the gods could have conceived of and built it.” ~Phius Livic

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INTRODUCTION

So welcome to Edge of the Sun. As amazing a mechanism as it undeniably is, the Engine of the Gods is in urgent need of repair.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK If you’re looking for some direction on how to digest the material in this book, look no further. Part 1: Read Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods for specifics on what the Engine is, how it works, who built it, and why. Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge picks up immediately describing the ways in which the Engine isn’t working the way it was meant to after so many millennia, and the various unsettling repercussions. Part 2: Chapter 3: Reaching the Sun’s Edge provides specific options for getting the PCs to the Engine of the Gods. In Chapter 4: Exploring the Engine, a variety of specific locations on the Engine are described, complete with options available for new

arrivals, NPCs to help PCs understand what’s going on, and lots of places to explore. Chapter 5: Exploring the Halo is in keeping with chapter 4, but provides options for exploring the ring of material surrounding the sun that helps keep the Engine fed (at least, when everything is working properly). Finally, Chapter 6: Mapping the Engine provides a random map-generating system specifically designed for the Engine, useful for when PCs get lost, go exploring, or otherwise want to see what lies at the other end of a framework strut. Part 3: Chapter 7: Cyphers and Chapter 8: Artifacts provide useful and protective devices for PCs exploring the realm of the Engine (dangerous for beings of flesh), including many devices that actually require the radiant energy of the sun. Then in Chapter 9: Augmechs, options are provided for PCs to control, pilot, or even inhabit by telepresence a variety of specialized automatons called augmechs, which are ideal for operating in the extreme environment of solar space.

Chapter 5: Exploring the Halo, page 53

Chapter 6: Mapping the Engine, page 57

Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods, page 8 Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge, page 18 Chapter 7: Cyphers, page 72 Chapter 8: Artifacts, page 77 Chapter 3: Reaching the Sun’s Edge, page 28 Chapter 9: Augmechs, page 84 Chapter 4: Exploring the Engine, page 31

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Chapter 10: Creatures, page 102

Chapter 11: NPCs, page 123

Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move, page 126

Chapter 13: Waking the Mega, page 155

Part 4: Chapter 10: Creatures describes all manner of creatures—many of them automaton or biomechanical, though not all—that PCs may encounter on the Engine. In Chapter 11: NPCs, two very important characters are detailed, one of which could be an important ally to the characters, and the other a long-term nemesis. Part 5: In Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move, PCs can explore the central problem facing the malfunctioning Engine of the Gods in a massive adventure stretching from a tiny village on Earth to the edge of the sun, culminating with the characters attempting to restart the Engine and begin moving the sun again. Finally, Chapter 13: Waking the Mega is a standalone adventure where PCs must find, revive, then pilot a particularly massive augmech in order to fight off a “titanothauric” threat named Suneko.

In the margins of this book, you’ll find occasional search terms accompanied by this symbol. These are real-world, cutting-edge technological terms that can start you on a journey of learning more about some of the ideas described. It’s not necessary to look them up; however, if you’re interested, you might find further research informative and perhaps inspiring.

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Numenera Discovery Numenera Destiny Throughout this book, you’ll see page references to various items accompanied by these two symbols. These are page references to Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny, respectively, where you can find additional details about that rule, ability, creature, or concept. Often, it will be necessary to look up the reference to find information you need. Other times, it’s not necessary, but looking it up can deepen your experience and understanding of the game and the setting.

PART 1:

STELLAR ENGINES

Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge

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8 18

CHAPTER 1

ENGINE OF THE GODS

O Order of Truth, page 215

Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move, page 126

Moving the sun with stellar engines

Viridian, page 22

nce, the sun was destined to destroy its children. If nothing were done, it would swallow all the planets nearest to it and eject the rest into the infinite darkness. Already, the sun’s nearest child—the planet Mercury—is long gone. But not because it was eaten by the sun. At least, not directly. Most humans in the Steadfast and the Beyond never thought to question the sun’s presence high in the sky. Even most Aeon Priests who make up the Order of Truth usually have other, seemingly more pressing tasks. That disregard wasn’t the case, however, for an Aeon Priest named Chevara, who learned the truth. As described in chapter 12, Chevara learned that some power of the prior worlds intervened in the sun’s natural aging process. Doing so required a big-as-worlds engineering project, one that likely required raw material far in excess of what Mercury alone could have provided. It’s true. Something lingers at the very edge of the sun. Something vast, artificial, and ancient. Presumably, it’s the reason that the sun’s luminosity and size has remained relatively steady, even as civilization after civilization on Earth rose and fell. And as Chevara also learned, this structure had an even larger purpose: to accelerate the solar system away from an insidious cosmic anomaly called the Viridian.

TRUE NATURE OF THE ENGINE Player characters are unlikely to discover the existence of the Engine of the Gods, the threat it was built to protect everyone from, and how they can participate in fixing it all in one go. The full magnitude of the situation is best revealed in parts, each of which is an exciting reveal in and of itself. A guided example of this technique for revealing the Engine of the Gods to PCs is provided in the adventure “The Sun Doth Move.” But as the game master, you need to know all the relevant information up front.

THE ENGINE OF THE GODS MOVES THE SUN People of a prior world who’d mastered form and essence—call them the Architects—identified an approaching celestial disaster. The scale of this problem transcended mere supernova or gamma ray bursts. Instead, a fundamental inversion in spacetime itself was identified, a flaw that spread ever outward from its inception. Earth’s solar system was in its path. Later, this “flaw” came to be known as the Viridian. So the Architects built the Engine of the Gods. The Engine is a massive mechanism with so many fail-safes and self-repair routines (and once, dedicated repair crews) that it ran for millions of years, propelling

Glory to those who re-sculpted the sustaining earth and the life-giving sun. ~excerpt from The Catechism of Lore

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ENGINE OF THE GODS

the sun through space. Because gravity holds every piece of matter in the solar system in thrall to the sun, the solar system moved right along with it, including Venus (locally called Urvanas), Mars (locally called Naharrai), Earth, and all the rest. In a very real way, the Engine of the Gods turns the entire solar system into a colossal, gravity-bounded craft moving through space. Over the last several hundred million years, the solar system has traveled far beyond the region it first orbited within the galaxy of its origin.

THE HALO FEEDS THE ENGINE In order to fuel the Engine, material from the sun must be remotely lifted from the sun’s surface. This is accomplished by an uncountable number of special machines and associated structures orbiting in a tight

ring around the sun, called the Halo. Once the Halo lifts material from the sun, it’s gathered by the Engine. The Engine in turn converts the gathered material in a confined interior space, fusing it so that the energy released from the propulsion jet becomes a tremendous stream of particles emerging at an appreciable percent of light speed, making it an amazing thruster. A second stream of magnetically tuned particles is directed in the opposite direction of the jet, toward the sun itself. This beam of energy from the repulsor jet pushes the sun and keeps the entire Engine from simply plunging into the great ball of fusing plasma and burning up. From the perspective of a human, the resultant acceleration of the sun is too slow to notice. But over geological time, the

Chapter 5: Exploring the Halo, page 53 Propulsion Jet, page 50 There was once a small planet close to the sun called Mercury (among many other names), making Earth the third from the sun, but that world is long gone, probably dismantled to help build the Engine and Halo. Repulsor jet, page 49

“As the repulsor jet goes, so goes the Engine.” ~Engine saying

In a very real way, the Engine of the Gods turns the entire solar system into a colossal, gravity-bounded craft hurtling through space.

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An important side effect of the Engine’s use keeps the Earth temperate enough to host humans of the Ninth World.

Unfortunately, rogue communities have developed, like cancers. Ravvle are among the worst offenders. They steal, kill, and disrupt the tasks of other creatures, thinking that their piracy has no greater consequence. Even worse are the pruthastans, who fully understand that what they do will have catastrophic consequences. Which is exactly what they crave: a meeting with the Viridian and an end to all things. Ravvle, page 118 Pruthastans, page 117 Lliran, page 111 Wraith, page 122 Spline, page 119

Wrawn, page 39

Engine Living Conditions, page 13 Overheating Hazards, page 20 Problems at the Edge, page 18

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Engine has given the sun an appreciable velocity. (Not so fast that a regular Ninth World human would notice that the stars in the night sky are visibly streaming past, but fast enough that those who study the stars know that new stars are always becoming visible, while older stars eventually fade away; some even understand that this is because the sun is moving with respect to the other stars.) When the Engine is on, the acceleration is constant, though minuscule. Still, the acceleration of the active Engine is sufficient to keep ahead of the Viridian.

COOLING AN AGING SUN The fuel requirements of the Engine of the Gods dwarf the needs of any other machine by several orders of magnitude, an amount so large that it isn’t comprehensible to most humans. On the other hand, the sun’s volume is so immense that, again, regular people have a tough time visualizing it. Fuel for millions of years of Engine use is minuscule compared to the amount available. However, the siphoning of excess material has had the positive effect of decreasing the sun’s mass just enough to cause it to burn through its expected lifetime more slowly. Thus, the period when it would have otherwise heated up too much to continue to comfortably support life on the many planets orbiting the sun has been delayed. The Engine is why, in fact, the Earth is temperate enough to host humans of the Ninth World. Without it moderating the sun’s evolution, things would have grown hotter than the biosphere could comfortably handle over the last few hundred million years. The Engine of the Gods has saved the Earth (and other children of the sun) twice over. Of course, now that the Engine has fallen cold, overheating has become a problem once more—though a more immediate concern is that the Viridian is closing the lead the sun previously enjoyed.

THE ENGINE AND HALO ARE INHABITED The primary Engine body is inhabited by beings (mostly automatons and biomechanicals), as are parts of the Halo (though a few on the Engine often think of the Halo as a magical place, where ghosts of the Architects still wander). Once, the vast majority of creatures on the Engine were solely concerned with the herculean task of keeping its mechanisms in repair. Over hundreds of millions of years, their concerns have broadened, blurred, or in some cases, shifted completely. Many that were once simple-minded automatons have awakened to intelligence and agency. Others, already possessed of self-aware sentience, gradually evolved different priorities, or in some cases, simply forgot their original purpose. Examples include the reverent lliran, the forgetful wraiths, and the morbid splines. Some residents continue some aspect of their original repair duties, if only because it’s a way of life for them. However, its purpose might be shrouded in ritual, the task could be a little-understood duty that is handed down, or in some cases, the maintenance could occur when a group is wise enough to see that their tasks benefit the environment of the Engine. Many of the various creatures on the Engine get along with each other reasonably well, having to cooperate to achieve their tasks. For instance, in the city of Wrawn, different creatures, often with unaligned motivations, mix, trade, and even live near each other. Most inhabitants of the Engine are suited to the vacuum, radiation, and heat, the “living conditions” created by an open-framework structure so close to the sun. However, some sealed areas of the Engine do provide protection against the elements, as well as a breathable atmosphere. In these sections, creatures more akin to many that live on Earth

ENGINE OF THE GODS

are sometimes found. A few humans have even made the long trek through the void to the Engine—though more often than not, they did so without realizing where they were going, and now they’re stranded in a sealed area, incapable of moving between sections or returning to the more forgiving biosphere of Earth. (Hopefully, PCs who physically venture to the Engine will be forewarned enough to carry special protective cyphers and artifacts.)

THE SUN IS ALSO INHABITED At least two intelligent life forms inhabit the sun itself; plasmars live in cities constructed of magnetic field lines on the sun’s surface chromosphere layer, and gaurns flit about in the corona. Though both are self-aware, gaurns are far less concerned with the trappings of civilization than plasmars. Indeed, gaurns may be original inhabitants of the sun’s surface that evolved naturally, while plasmars are likely creatures that were engineered by the prior worlds and introduced to the sun’s environment, possibly as part of a strategy for tempering its increasing heat.

Today, most plasmars have little to do with the Engine, though there is a plasmar embassy in Wrawn. Likewise, a few plasmar cities have heavily shielded facilities that entities of the Engine and the Halo can briefly visit, though of course leaving those facilities proves almost instantly lethal, so few visitors make that journey. In addition to plasmars and gaurns, other forms of life swim and burrow through the outer layers of the sun, though few would be readily recognizable as life, given that most have bodies of magnetically defined plasma. A standout is the flux worm, a vast beast that estivates in the heart of a star for eons before emerging to blast off toward another, different star to start the cycle anew, though for reasons that are not immediately clear.

MEASURING TIME ON THE ENGINE

Cyphers, page 72 Artifacts, page 77

Plasmar, page 116 Flux worm: level 10; immune to heat, pressure, and radiation up to stellar scale Gaurn, page 108

Residents of the Engine have unique words for indicating periods of time. Equivalent terms for seconds, minutes, and hours are close enough to their Ninth World equivalents

In addition to plasmars and gaurns, other forms of life swim and burrow through the outer layers of the sun, though few would be readily recognizable as life.

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Control Center, page 51

that these terms have a similar meaning on the Engine. Not so for terms measuring longer periods based on planetary and lunar movement. Given the lack of planetary context on the Engine, measurement of time in days, months, and years is unusual. Instead, residents use the following. Cycle: About twenty hours. Rotation: About thirty-two cycles. Deca: Equal to about ten years on Earth.

DIRECTIONS ON THE ENGINE Residents use two methods for indicating directions on the Engine. One is general. The other (called ICS) is exacting.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS Propulsion Jet, page 50

Repulsor jet, page 49

The Engine Map Generator (page 58) doesn’t make explicit use of ICS, but it does rely in part on understanding how directions work on the Engine.

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Dextral. A direction defined as the opposite of sinistral. The Engine, being roughly cylindrical, has two cone-like matter intake orifices nearer the end facing the sun, but opposite each other, like two ears on opposite sides of a human’s face. The one on the left side (when facing sunward) is the dextral intake. Hullward. A direction defined as opposite of starward. No structure or other noticeable external feature is visible on the hull (or as visitors might call it, the “bottom” of the Engine, though thinking of the Engine

having a bottom in the directionless void of space confuses residents). Starward. A direction toward the dome-like structure situated halfway along the cylinder of the Engine, on “top.” Most residents know that this is the fabled Control Center, a moon-sized bump with a beacon at its crown that shines like a star. Sinistral. A direction defined as the opposite of dextral, and in the direction of the cone-like matter intake orifice called the sinistral intake. Sternward. A direction defined as opposite of sunward. The Engine, being roughly cylindrical, has one end closer to the sun and one end pointing away, which is sternward. The end itself, which contains the propulsion jet, is sometimes called the stern. Sunward. A direction, obvious by its name, opposite of sternward. Sometimes the end, which contains the repulsor jet, is called the bow.

INTRAENGINE COORDINATE SYSTEM Supplementing the use of general directions is a much more precise location system called the Intraengine Coordinate System (ICS). ICS allows anyone to specify a location on the Engine. It assigns each 10-foot (3 m) cube on the Engine and Halo

ENGINE OF THE GODS a unique address consisting of four strings of information. Each cube’s ICS address never changes. Someone familiar with ICS and how the addresses are assigned could find their way to the exact location specified. For example, ~d9wTbx—yB3o2DksI— szNxfpN—2OjtP5MBY is a specific location in the city of Wrawn: the entrance to the Cathedral of Brilliance. However, ICS doesn’t work for objects in the Halo because they’re constantly orbiting the sun and moving position relative to one another.

ENGINE LIVING CONDITIONS The vast majority of the Engine consists of an open framework of struts and cables encrusted with machines, devices, pocket chambers (spaces located inside a strut), and module chambers (structures stuck externally to a strut or cable). Entities moving about these areas must withstand constant vacuum, heat, and radiation, as well as a variety of other environmental hazards.

VACUUM Vacuum is normal for the Engine, which is why the preferred method of communication is a variety of invisible machine channels able to reach at least a very long distance through the radiation near the sun, and sometimes farther. Even short-term exposure to vacuum is lethal for creatures without protection or a biology (or mechanism) that protects them. When a regular creature is exposed to vacuum, air trapped in the body expands, and water in the body tissues vaporizes. This leads to tearing in the lungs and gross swelling of the body, including the eyes, leading to temporary blindness. The rapid escape of air and water vapor causes the mouth and lungs to feel as if they’re freezing solid. However, this lasts only a few rounds, because then the creature passes out. After that, gas expelled from their bowels and stomach causes a mess, though that’s the least of their problems. In terms of game mechanics, an unprotected character in vacuum moves one step down the damage track each

round. However, at the point where they should die, they instead fall unconscious and remain so for about a minute. If they are rescued during that time, they can be revived. If not, they die.

NORMAL ENGINE HEAT AND RADIATION Limited sections of the Engine and the Halo provide protection from the sun’s heat and radiation. Those are rare, and even their interior environments are sometimes endangered if the sun unexpectedly flares. Generally, anyone on the Engine or Halo

Wrawn, page 39 Cathedral of Brilliance, page 42

CONSTANT SOLAR DOSE The Engine’s construction is “open plan” in the sense that there are few walls or enclosed corridors; it’s mostly struts, conduits, cables, and structural elements that creatures and automatons adhere to and move along. Those not in a specially shielded area take 3 points of damage per round (on average) from heat and radiation from the sun. This doesn’t usually rise to the level of a hazard for native creatures and automatons of the Engine; to them, it’s just normal.

Strut, page 59 Cable, page 60 Pocket chamber, page 60 Module chamber, page 67

Radiation exposure can range from so mild that a person suffers no additional symptoms afterward to so severe as to cause sickness that is fatal within days.

RADIATION SICKNESS Anytime a PC suffers more than 15 points of ambient radiation damage during a ten-hour period (such as from a cumulative solar dose of radiation), they risk acquiring acute radiation sickness (introduce as a GM intrusion). Acute radiation sickness is a level 8 disease that drops them one step on the damage track for each day they fail a Might defense roll until they expire, or until the sickness is cured by a palliative or special intervention. Radiation sickness is so invasive that a character doesn’t automatically move up one step on the damage track with a regular recovery roll. Instead, they must succeed on a Might task as part of the recovery roll to gain the benefit of restored Pool points and one step’s relief on the damage track.

Vacuum exposure GM intrusion: The character goes temporarily blind, which is only relieved a few minutes after normal atmosphere is restored.

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Sunsuit, page 82 Augmechs, page 84

who is not in a protected environment, in a protective suit (such as a sunsuit artifact), or piloting an augmech is subject to this constant solar dose.

GRAVITY

Low or zero gravity GM intrusion: A misjudged jump uses too much force (the character takes damage when they hit an unexpected bulkhead or other obstruction) or too little force (the character ends up stranded in the middle of an open area).

Despite being mostly hollow, the Engine is massive enough that it has the low gravity of a small moon. The Halo, which is composed of many millions of much smaller bodies in orbit around the sun, has effectively zero gravity. PCs who are present via an augmech don’t really notice, because the artificial prosthetic bodies are calibrated for low gravity or zero gravity. However, if PCs are physically present on the Engine, the difference affects them. Low Gravity: Weapons that rely on weight, such as all heavy weapons, inflict 2 fewer points of damage (dealing a minimum of 1 point) unless the user is trained in low-gravity maneuvering. Short-range weapons can reach to long range, and long-range weapons can reach to very long range. Zero Gravity: All physical tasks are hindered. Short-range weapons can reach to long range, and long-range weapons can reach to very long range.

HAZARDS OF THE ENGINE

Ejection Warning, page 16

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The bulk of the Engine and the Halo were never built with the needs of humans or similar creatures in mind. Searing heat and radiation are the norm, as previously described. Many other hazards also exist, some simply because many locations are open to vacuum. Other hazards result from malfunctions of ancient devices. Anyone moving about the Engine will face one or more of these hazards during their trip. You can introduce a hazard in multiple ways. One might be as a pre-identified threat that requires attention. For example, background heat and radiation (described hereafter) is something PCs just need to deal with, because that’s the nature of the Engine. Or a substation in the Halo might detonate, resulting in its orbiting pieces constantly pelting an area of the Engine with small, lethal metallic bodies. If the PCs are apprised of this situation beforehand

by concerned automatons, the characters can plan ahead, preparing strategies to deal with the cyclic impacts. Another way to introduce a hazard is as a surprise GM intrusion, whether it’s triggered by a player roll or one you instigate as the GM.

ENGINE HAZARDS TABLE d100

Hazard

01–20 Blowout 21–30

Locusts

31–40

Extreme solar weather

41–50

Engine damage: non-navigable

51–60 Engine damage: leak 61–70 Engine damage: berserk automatons 71–80 Engine damage: ejection warning 81–85

Debris from impactors

86–90 Thrust instability 91–00 Viridian hazards

BLOWOUT Blowouts are most catastrophic in the rare pressurized chambers that contain breathable air, because anything inside is at risk of being expelled into the vacuum. However, a blowout-like malfunction could also occur if a tank, fusion chamber, or other sealed vessel situated in any part of the Engine gives way and begins to vent its contents. A blowout can cause immediate damage; treat it like a level 5 detonation with an area of effect at least a short range in radius, though the radius could be much wider. Creatures affected who fail a level 5 Speed defense roll could be thrown a long distance, leading to more damage when they impact another structural element, or causing them to be thrown off the Engine (see Ejection Warning). Knock-on effects of a blowout could require all sorts of mitigation if it occurred in a location important to PCs (such as a pressurized section) or could result in the emergence of a leak.

EXTREME SOLAR WEATHER Sometimes the sun acts up, producing an unusual number of spots and flares.

ENGINE OF THE GODS

Engine malfunction is normal and expected. Mitigation and repair soon follow. It’s only if a cascade of failures occurs that the Engine’s primary purpose is threatened. During this period, the constant solar dose increases to 5 points of damage each round from heat and radiation from the sun. However, this can go higher, endangering even creatures and augmechs that can shrug off normal conditions. Generally, such extreme solar weather also damages a variety of subsystems, which can lead to additional hazards later.

ENGINE DAMAGE A section of the Engine suffers minor or major damage, requiring repair, replacement of parts, or—if the damage is extreme enough—the routing of functions around the “dead” section. (Sections designated as dead are subsequently jettisoned into the sun.) This damage is as serious as you require for the purposes of creating an interesting story. If the damage is potentially repairable, it might be as simple as a couple of difficulty 5 crafting numenera tasks (for repair), or the same plus the acquisition of iotum that can be found only in some other location. If the damage is too extreme for a simple repair by a few people, PCs might have to engage the help of a nearby conclave of other entities (such as the gaurn, whose repair-in-a-ritual ways could be brought to bear). Or the PCs might just have to route around or run from areas of damage in extreme cases or if time is pressing. Engine damage options to consider include the following. Non-navigable Section: The damage has closed off a normal route through the Engine (probably by severing a cable network stretching across an otherwise open space, causing the network to collapse). This wide collapse requires creatures that want to go through the area to find another route, possibly following one across cables or struts not previously traveled along. Dangers of an

unfamiliar route include the attendant risk of becoming lost, and of encounters with strangers who might be unfriendly. Leak: Whenever the Engine is damaged, there’s a chance that it manifests as a discharge of fluid, powder, or a collection of complex parts or components that spills from one area into another not meant to contain it. In the area where a leak is found, the escaped substance is usually pooled, piled, or adhering in a thick coat, potentially one that continues to spread if the leak is ongoing. PCs who encounter the leak may try to bypass it or repair it, as normal. The only question is whether the leak is dangerous (which is the GM’s decision). If a leak is dangerous, any tasks associated with avoiding or defending against its effects are level 5, on average. Often, characters must risk exposing themselves to a leak in order to continue moving along their route. Iotum, page 107

Berserk Automatons: A variety of different automatons can be found scuttling about the Engine. Many have specific maintenance functions for which they are highly specialized. Whole classes of those exist as nanites too small for regular creatures to notice, unless they act up (such as those stored in the Control Center). Larger automatons with more generalized maintenance and repair functions are also common on the Engine and in the Halo. Some of those have evolved minds and cultures, such as the splines. Some automatons continue to try to act according to their programmed purpose. A few, old and perhaps damaged, can go berserk. Berserk automatons can take a variety of shapes and sizes, and they react violently to anything new in their environment, such as PCs trying to put a stop to their rampage.

Accessing the Control Center, page 149

Spline, page 119

Berserk automaton: level 5; Armor 3, two attacks per turn

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ENGINE LEAK INSPIRATION TABLE If you’re looking for inspiration for what PCs encounter when they happen across a leak, roll on or choose from the following table. d10

Leak Component

1

Thick red powder molecular adhesive (level 5), activated if touched or trod upon.

2

Hundreds of tooth-sized, many-sided metallic shards; dangerous if trod upon or fallen into.

3

White putty-like solid; if interacted with, it sizzles and burns away (potentially clearing the leak, or potentially further damaging the Engine).

4

Millions of frozen biological samples, thawing in the heat, boiling in the vacuum.

5

Translucent tiny machines with many legs, crawling everywhere.

6

Liquid that infuses objects or creatures, making them shake and vibrate for minutes or hours.

7

Shattered dark red glass; strange vistas and other scenes are visible in the shards.

8

Thick black oily goo.

9

Panes of stacked (and tumbled) blue-tinted glass that is fragile; light takes minutes, hours, days, or even years to move through it, depending on the pane.

10

Water; boils away in the vacuum nearly as quickly as it leaks out.

Ejection Warning: Automatic decision-making intelligences embedded in the Engine (Ninth Worlders might think of them as minor spirits of the datasphere) sometimes decide that a damaged area is too compromised to save, and figure that it’s easier simply to fashion whole new sections. The decision process is opaque to lesser creatures of the Engine, and sometimes feels arbitrary. Arbitrary or not, when the alarms sound—a combination of flashing purple lights and a thudding, repeating three-pulse

rhythmic vibration transmitted through the struts—creatures in the affected section have about ten minutes, if that, to get clear. When time is up, the entire section is flung from the Engine, deploys small reaction jets, and flies itself into the sun to be scrapped. Ejected sections can be as small as a single machine or as large as several dozen miles in diameter. Creatures finding themselves in a section to be ejected have three options: accept their fate, run for it, or try to convince the embedded intelligences to reconsider and send out repair parties instead. Running for it, from the PCs’ perspective, requires a couple of successful Speed-based tasks (base difficulty 5) to make it to the edge of the affected area, assuming they are not delayed by some third party. Convincing the emergency mind that manifests within the to-be-ejected section requires a PC to find a control surface and make contact, then succeed on a couple of persuasion tasks (base difficulty 5), and possibly agree to take on a task. One reason an embedded intelligence might consider scrapping an entire section is because it feels that the native automatons have become compromised with free will and are not adequately fulfilling their repair duties. PCs would have to promise to intervene in some way to save the section.

DEBRIS FROM IMPACTORS Over the millennia, loose material has collected in a sort of junk belt around the sun, despite the best efforts of automatic intelligences and special automatons created to prevent just such an occurrence. Across deep time, even higher-order fail-safe systems can and do degrade. Half-completed subsections, broken spacecraft, and ejected subsections of the

An ejection warning manifests as a combination of flashing purple lights and a thudding, repeating three-pulse rhythmic vibration transmitted through the struts of the affected section.

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ENGINE OF THE GODS

Under certain circumstances, repair automatons change their behavior, multiply, and go on a grand tour of one or more sections of the Engine, “ingesting” everything and everyone they encounter. Engine that failed to burn up in the sun make up most of this debris field, which is more closely packed than it should be. Minor collisions are common, and larger collisions, though less common, are quite dangerous. When a collision occurs, it’s usually from a body that is already partly broken into many smaller pieces, each of which becomes a danger in its own right. Thus, a debris storm can last several minutes to several hours, during which time the threat remains high. When an imminent collision is detected, a warning sounds in the affected section—red flashing lights and a thudding, repeating two-pulse rhythmic vibration transmitted through the struts. Often, the warning comes only after the impacts begin. Creatures on the Engine or the Halo during a debris storm should find shelter, which might mean retreating deeper into the Engine or, if they’re lucky, finding a pocket chamber, which can withstand anything short of massive impacts that tear away the strut they’re located within. In addition to inflicting 20 points of damage and moving a PC one step down the damage track, an impact could trigger a temporary blowout, and possibly cause the emergency embedded intelligences of the Engine to eject the damaged section. This “trifecta” of unfortunate circumstances is exceptionally rare, but given enough time, anything is possible.

THRUST INSTABILITY This Engine hazard first requires the Engine to be doing its job (which might not be the case if using the scenario presented in chapter 2). However, even if the Engine is not currently accelerating the sun, the thruster might wake for brief periods before going dark again, creating the same sort of issues that an instability in thrust might cause.

Instability could cause a momentary hiccup in the fusion process that creates the thrust, resulting in an Engine-wide shudder, a sudden spasm of forward movement, a secondary problem (such as a leak of coolant or other vital material), and so on. In the short term, PCs might be subject to physical damage on a failed Might defense roll (base difficulty 3). If the instability is a one-time issue, it’s probably something they don’t need to worry about, unless a third party asks them to look into it. Ongoing instability is a problem for every creature on the Engine, and could augur a far worse danger.

Thrust instability GM intrusion: The character must succeed on a difficulty 6 Speed defense roll or drop an important item or piece of equipment, which, given the lattice-like openness of the Engine, becomes lost.

LOCUSTS Rarely, a kind of madness afflicts a class of repair automaton found all over the Engine, normally so benign they have no name; they are simply referred to as repairers. However, under certain circumstances— circumstances that the embedded intelligences of the Engine are at great pains to discover—they change their behavior, multiply, and go on a grand tour of one or more sections of the Engine, “ingesting” everything and everyone they encounter. These locusts could become a reason that a section of the Engine is marked for ejection rather than repair.

VIRIDIAN HAZARDS An intelligent cosmological danger known as the Viridian has been pursuing the solar system for hundreds of millions of years. If the Engine is broken, the Viridian gains ground. As it draws near, its influence creates unique hazards by warping living things.

Pocket chamber, page 60 Debris storm GM intrusion: The PC is knocked off the Engine on a failed Speed defense roll. Locust, page 112 Locust GM intrusion: The PC interacts with a minor repair bot in an accidental fashion that instigates a change and causes it to alter its behavior, becoming a locust. Viridian, page 22 See page 23 for a selection of Viridian hazards. Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge, page 18

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CHAPTER 2

PROBLEMS AT THE EDGE

T

Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move, page 126 Viridian, page 22 Chevara, page 123 Solar research: level 6; usually requires a few days per task and access to individuals and archives, and/or a method of questioning the datasphere

he Engine of the Gods was built to move the sun, and with it, the entire solar system. Unfortunately, the Engine is malfunctioning. The consequences for this failure are many. A significant longer-term issue is that the sun will burn hotter, gradually destroying life on Earth and other children of the sun. More pressingly, if the sun doesn’t continue accelerating, the Viridian will catch up. Yes, the sun and solar system have a significant velocity thanks to the Engine firing periodically over the previous few million years. But that acceleration has ceased completely, leaving the sun coasting on its momentum. Unfortunately, the Viridian continues to accelerate and is closing the gap.

To realize the problem, the PCs need to find clues and put it together for themselves, or have someone else reveal it to them. Either path leads to the conclusion that the Engine of the Gods needs repair (as occurs in the adventure “The Sun Doth Move”).

EVIDENCE OF MALFUNCTION Though most humans of the Ninth World are oblivious, a few have correlated observations of the problems at the edge of the sun with solar observations, behavioral shifts in creatures and natural phenomena on Earth, and an increase in the prevalence of specific types of hazards. One such researcher is the Aeon Priest Chevara, working alone in her clave, who was always something of a solar aficionado. However, any scholar with the proper equipment, access to the datasphere, and a desire to understand and observe the sun could piece together the following, assuming they conduct a series of successful solar research tasks.

SUN BRAID IS GONE Old records—including paintings of the sun more than a few hundred years old, as well as more sophisticated visual records—almost always depicted the sun with a small linear smear of brightness, like a tiny tail or braid. Written accounts from the same earlier periods that touched on the topic referred to this as the sun braid (or alternatively as the sun cowlick or sun tail). What it actually was, vanishingly few of these records ever wondered. However, a determined sun braid research effort

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PROBLEMS AT THE EDGE

Without the intervention of the prior worlds, the sun would warm over deep time, eventually becoming hot enough to boil the Earth’s oceans. uncovers that the braid grew gradually less obvious over the course of fifty years, and hasn’t been visible at all for about the last two hundred years.

ENERGY SIGNATURE “ALTERATION” Various individuals and groups that enjoy documenting the natural world have previously chronicled alterations in the growth of life on Earth, one that plants in particular seem to respond to. Common wisdom among naturalists is that the sun’s energy signature has been altered within the last ten years. However, others think this alteration goes back much further. Additional research reveals that this alteration has to do with some kind of inversion in reality that is far from the sun but growing closer all the time. Examples of this effect include the appearance of the predatory jesanthum, the alien astraphin monoliths, dangerous modifications to the dream sallow, and likely many others that have gone undetected, as noted under Viridian Hazards.

CLIMATIC SHIFT Many effects have already occurred because of the gradual warming that started almost two hundred years ago. Most of these effects are too subtle to notice over the normal lifetime of a regular human. However, in the last decade, the effects of warming temperature have piqued the interest of those who keep records. They’ve identified several examples, including increased incidence of extreme weather, rising sea levels, droughts, invasive pests, and most worrisome, increased activation of the iron wind, as described under Overheating Hazards.

DIRECT OBSERVATION OF THE ENGINE Those with access to devices able to observe the Engine of the Gods in real time see a huge structure of the prior worlds. Absent

any additional analysis, comparison with visuals from a few hundred years ago, or information to the contrary, PCs probably don’t immediately understand that the structure is failing to do its job. But a little additional research along any of these lines, combined with one or more other separate lines of evidence, allows a concerned character to reach a momentous conclusion.

CONCLUSION: THE ENGINE IS BROKEN NPCs may present the characters with the fact that the Engine of the Gods is broken. Alternatively, they could reach this conclusion themselves, after personally researching related topics. It’s possible that PCs who lack NPC aid will not correlate the various problems with a broken Engine. If that happens, you as the GM can let the players know that there is an insight to be had regarding information they’ve gained. If the PCs want to follow up on your comment, they can choose to spend 2 XP. Only one character has to do this. If an insight is gained, describe in broad strokes how the PCs suspect that an ancient structure known as the Engine of the Gods, poised at the very edge of the sun, is broken, and has probably been broken for about two hundred years. In that time, the sun gradually kindled brighter, and more weirdly, the sun’s energy signature has been altered due to the effects of some outside force.

Viridian Hazards, page 23

SUN BURNING HOTTER Left to its natural evolution, the sun would have warmed over the span of the prior worlds, and by the time of the Ninth World, it would have been so hot that the Earth’s oceans would have started to boil away. In fact, it would become so hot that liquid water would be impossible on the surface. This long-term process normally requires millions of years to notice. The Engine stopped moving the sun only a few hundred

Overheating Hazards, page 20

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Only scholars (including Aeon Priests) specifically looking for a connection can likely discern that the hazards resulting from rapid climatic shift and an approaching Viridian have a definitive cause, and are not just regular unrelated events of the Ninth World. However, it’s also possible to make this linkage after an accidental find in the datasphere. For example, the Aeon Priest named Chevara (page 123) made this connection after spending years studying the sun.

Community tasks any PC can attempt, page 310

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years ago, and thus ceased continually sipping material from the sun in a way that kept it cool. A rebound effect occurred, causing the sun to begin to burn hotter almost immediately. Having been held so long from its natural evolution, the rebound effect (multiplied by the approaching Viridian) is accelerating the heating such that the uptick has become noticeable over the span of mere decades instead of epochs.

OVERHEATING HAZARDS During unrelated adventures in the Ninth World, the PCs may encounter any of the seemingly random hazards described below. However, they’re not as random as they might first seem. All the hazards noted here (and probably many more not indicated) are a result of the sun burning brighter and accelerating climate change. They begin to occur more and more often, which, at minimum, might make the PCs suspicious that something about the environment is changing. Luckily, since the rebound in solar heating is due in no small part to the approaching Viridian, fixing the Engine so that the

Viridian is safely distanced mitigates the severity and frequency of these hazards. Until then, the PCs (and everyone else in the Ninth World) have these problems to deal with. Overheating hazards include instances of extreme weather like tornados, hurricanes, heat waves, and most worrisome, increased activation of the iron wind. Longer-term overheating hazards include rising sea levels, droughts, and invasive pests. The danger from extreme weather usually peaks over a period of minutes to hours, then subsides until the next instance. PCs could be caught out in an episode of extreme weather and just try to survive the event. If they live in a larger community threatened by the weather, they might try to extend their protection to the population by attempting community tasks to mitigate the threat. Tornado: Typically a level 5–7 weather event, a tornado engulfs an area a long distance across each round, destroying every structure of its level and lower, and inflicts its level in ambient damage on

PROBLEMS AT THE EDGE everything else. A tornado typically takes about 1d6 + 2 rounds to pass any particular fixed point before it moves on. PCs in a tornado without shelter (or whose shelter has just been ripped away) can attempt a Might defense roll each round, or take the indicated damage and be moved an immediate distance in a random direction. Even on a successful defense roll, the PC still takes 2 points of damage from blowing debris. If PCs fail a Might defense roll twice in a row, they take additional damage equal to the tornado’s level from piercing shrapnel and are stunned on their next turn. Hurricane: As a tornado, with the added threat of drowning. Instead of taking additional shrapnel damage for failing two Might defense rolls in a row, the PC begins to drown because they’ve been pulled underwater. Escaping to the surface (and air) requires that the PC succeed on a Might roll as their action. Every three rounds with no air moves a PC one step down the damage track. Heat Wave: Usually a level 2–4 event, a heat wave inflicts its level in ambient damage every ten hours on every creature susceptible to high heat in an area several miles in diameter. Heat waves last about three days on average. A PC can attempt a Might defense roll during each period to take no damage. If two Might defense rolls in a row are failed, the PC is treated as if dazed for one hour afterward. While PCs remain in the area affected by the heat wave, damage taken from it can’t be regained as points to their Pools through the use of healing tasks or recovery rolls. Extreme Iron Wind: As horrible as extreme weather can be, in the Ninth World there is an additional component to worry

about. Iron wind is a little-understood phenomenon where wind moves with a mind of its own, tearing at flesh, objects, and structures, and often enough, altering them. Some places are more prone to iron wind activity than others. Unfortunately, with the residue of the prior worlds literally everywhere, the iron wind can also spring up almost anywhere if activated by an extreme weather event. Each instance of iron wind can manifest differently from other episodes. That’s just one reason it’s so pernicious. For example, an instance of iron wind might be level 4 and manifest as a miniature cloud of green mist. A creature touched by the mist takes 4 points of Speed damage each round as its body begins to warp and alter. The effect ends when the creature successfully resists with a Might defense task; however, if the iron wind instance is still manifest, the creature could be subject to the damaging transformation once again.

Iron wind, page 135

Long-term Hazards: Long-term hazards from overheating—such as rising sea levels, droughts, and invasive pests both minor and major—are dangers that unfold over months or years. They can destabilize

Overheating hazards include instances of extreme weather like tornados, hurricanes, heat waves, and most worrisome, increased activation of the iron wind. Longer-term overheating hazards include rising sea levels, droughts, and invasive pests.

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Over the last two hundred years, the Viridian has almost caught up with the quarry—the solar system—that it had so long pursued.

Long-Term Tasks, page 324

communities small and large. PCs could attempt long-term tasks to assuage these threats. Better yet, once they realize the underlying issue, the characters could attempt to fix the broken Engine of the Gods.

THE VIRIDIAN Why was the Engine of the Gods built by the Architects in the first place? Largely because of the Viridian. The exact nature of the Viridian is confused by layers of misunderstanding. Those who first learn of it usually do so while trying to understand the sun’s altered energy signature. According to surface records that can be pulled from the datasphere, in ages past someone or something altered the sun to save the Earth from its increasing radiance. The process introduced an unknown energy that changed some of the plant life that fed on sunlight. Over time, these alterations gave way to real intelligence, like that of the innocuous-appearing astraphin, a leafy, flowering, and occasionally carnivorous plant found in mountainous regions. However, that account is full of half-truths and omissions. The real situation is that in ages past, a prior-world civilization found a threat to the entire solar system that they couldn’t deal with directly. Because they detected the danger millennia before it fully manifested, they decided to flee in the comfort of their own solar system rather than evacuating. They built the Engine of the Gods to escape the Viridian.

NATURE OF THE VIRIDIAN According to records normally inaccessible in the datasphere (because they’re relegated to older layers and require a more in-depth interrogation), the Viridian originated in the prior-world civilization that fell immediately before that of the Architects. An experiment conducted down in the quantum foam at a “safe” distance of several hundred light years from the solar system, designed to create a local change in reality’s laws,

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suffered a mishap. Unfortunately, altered fundamental constants of existence itself began spreading outward. The more it crystalized actuality around it into a new conformation, the faster it grew. From the outside, this rapidly expanding region at first resembled a detonation, but one that burned normal space as fuel. When the Architects detected it, they assumed the worst: a new universe was overwriting their universe. They began constructing the Engine of the Gods, hoping to flee to the edges of existence itself. However, the Viridian’s rapid period of inflation slowed dramatically. Yes, it continued growing, but the growth pattern changed. It began growing “toward” the solar system where the Architects observed it, almost like mold grows in the direction of an increased concentration of food. This behavior suggested a new danger: the inverted spacetime itself was aware that it was being watched. Moreover, something within it was able to reach across the intervening light years to affect life in the solar system. Plants seemed most susceptible, but the Architects deduced that the closer the Viridian came, the more kinds of life it would likely affect, up to and including biomechanical life, automatons, and even intelligences in the datasphere. While building the Engine, the Architects tried sending envoys into the Viridian to gain more information about their enemy. All were swallowed and lost. They tried setting up fire breaks, like fences across reality, which were overwhelmed by the advancing alien region. They tried to communicate directly with the intelligence of the Viridian, but were ignored. Ultimately, the Architects finished the Engine and fled, eventually accelerating fast enough to stay ahead of the Viridian’s growth and influence. Everything was fine for millions of years. The Viridian was forgotten. Then the Engine failed and died.

PROBLEMS AT THE EDGE

“The Viridian’s chase of the solar system through the universe doesn’t seem to make sense. If it were merely hungry, it would’ve presumably settled for any number of less-mobile solar systems it passed. Following ours so steadfastly indicates some sort of galactic obsession. As if the Viridian had a score to settle.” ~excerpt from Chevara’s journals Over the last two hundred years, the Viridian has caught up with the quarry—the solar system—that it had so long pursued. And though the encroaching region of the Viridian will take at least another decade to reach the solar system, which is drifting but no longer accelerating, already its influence on living things is once again being felt.

to bring down victims and defend itself: the astraphin monolith. Each astraphin monolith bears a single crystalline eye able to emit force beams. This leafy, flowering, and occasionally carnivorous plant is found in mountainous regions, and more recently, on the Engine.

VIRIDIAN HAZARDS During unrelated adventures in the Ninth World and on the Engine and associated structures, the PCs may encounter any one of the following seemingly random hazards. However, they’re not as random as they might seem at first. All the hazards noted here (and probably many more not indicated) are a result of the influence of the approaching Viridian. Over time, their frequency increases, potentially raising PC suspicions that something peculiar and wide-ranging is happening. Dealing with each situation as it arises is fine, but only by fixing the Engine will the PCs finally put an end to these Viridian-enabled hazards. Viridian hazards include the creation and spread of warped creatures (often plantbased), including jesanthum, astraphin monoliths, dream sallow (found mostly on Earth and other children of the sun), and murder blooms. As the Viridian continues catching up, more extreme influences are encountered on the planets of the solar system and on the Engine, including green dreams, green mimics, and verdant rust. Astraphin Monolith: Floating, immobile obelisks of stone serve as remote sentinels for a series of intelligent roots that grow on the ground beneath. The roots, despite being the controlling intelligence somehow seeded by the Viridian, are nameless. Most prey fails to understand that, and refers to the creature only by the tool it uses

Astraphin monolith: level 6; health 30; Armor 4; hovers immobile above overgrowth; 200-foot (60 m) energy ray inflicts 6 points of force damage, 4 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor), or paralyzes target on failed Might defense roll; for more details, see The Ninth World Bestiary, page 21

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Often, “green mimics” disappear on a mysterious errand, never to be seen again. Other times, entire small communities are made up of those who survived the green dream disease, eager to welcome travelers. Dream sallow: level 5; Armor 3; immobile; short-range spore halo forces creatures to succeed on an Intellect defense roll or fall asleep; victims continue to make defense rolls each round hindered by one cumulative step; rootlets consume those who never wake; for more details, see The Ninth World Bestiary, page 37

Green mimic: as original creature, plus ability to communicate with other Viridian-spawn

Green dream disease: level 5; victim must make Might defense roll each ten hours or all tasks are hindered one step (cumulative effect); three failed defense rolls before three successes drops victim into a sleep from which regular means cannot wake them (so most waste away and die) Jesanthum; level 4; health 18; Armor 1; barbed tongue lash inflicts 5 points of damage and, on failed Might defense roll, impales target, hindering its attacks and making the jesanthum’s attacks on it automatically succeed until target escapes; for more details, see The Ninth World Bestiary, page 68

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Dream Sallow: These treelike predators consume the minds of thinking creatures. Branches covered with broad, pale green leaves droop from the rounded crown of this great tree, whose roots seem as strong and tough as tower foundations. A pleasant scent, soporific and flowery, drifts from the sallow. A look beneath the drooping branches reveals the remains of previous visitors, all of whom seemingly died in their sleep. Green Dreams: People in the Ninth World (and other living creatures across the solar system) begin complaining of the same dream: an iridescent emerald chamber filled with exquisite fractal growths constantly evolving and changing, creating a breathtaking vista that’s hard to look away from. However, afflictions come after waking: fever, headaches, joint pains, confusion, and poor coordination. Those afflicted just want to go back to sleep, back to their wonderful “green dream.” Unfortunately, many of those who experience the dream more than a few times never wake up again. A green dream can be treated as a disease, one that is psychically mediated.

Green Mimic: Sometimes those who seem as if they will die of green dream disease recover on their own, after a few weeks of unshakable sleep, before malnutrition does them in. When they wake, they are jittery, confused, and forgetful. However, after a day or two of recovery, they seem almost back to normal, save for a tracery of tiny emerald threads that sometimes appear on their skin. Some people say those who’ve recovered are not who they seem. That they’ve been mentally replaced with something far more inimical. No one really wants to believe such warnings, because that would mean their loved one not only failed to survive a terrible disease, but has been replaced with someone who knows everything they knew, but with completely different motivations. Is it all just hysteria? Probably not. Often, “green mimics” disappear on a mysterious errand, never to be seen again. Other times, entire small communities are made up of those who survived the green dream disease, eager to welcome travelers. Jesanthum: A decade ago, no one had ever heard of jesanthums, but now they’re prolific enough to be a common cautionary tale among travelers. Maybe they colonized from a previously isolated island where such growth is rampant, or perhaps an explorer discovered a particularly loathsome ancient seed bank. Or, most worryingly of all, perhaps the sun’s altered energy signature, one that plants seem to respond to, has become even stronger. Murder Blooms: As the Viridian approaches, it seems as if literally any plant can suddenly develop beautiful new buds, even if not normally a flowering plant. These buds swell in size until finally a flower unfolds. Unfortunately, the flower flaps its petals, takes to the air, immediately joins with any

PROBLEMS AT THE EDGE nearby fellows, and begins devastating all non-plant life nearby. Remarkably hardy for their size, murder blooms are starting to terrorize more and more areas in the Steadfast, the Beyond, and other places where plants grow in the solar system. Verdant Rust: Previously, most long-distance effects of the Viridian targeted living creatures, especially plants. Unfortunately for automatons and creatures who fuse flesh and steel, that’s no longer true. In the epochs that the Viridian has been expanding through space, vectoring after the fleeing solar system, its expanding size has also increased its capabilities. Verdant rust seems like regular rust, appearing on the surface of various metals as tiny flakes, though instead of being orange-brown, they are green-brown. If such rust appears on an inanimate object, such as an Engine structural strut or bulkhead, it can slowly grow over time until some threshold is crossed, at which point it suddenly accelerates its growth rapidly, disintegrating objects composed of materials of its level or lower. In truth, verdant rust is a component of the Engine’s malfunction. Against automatons and other creatures comprised of substantial amounts of metal, verdant rust presents as a green-brown rusty lesion. Treating the lesion requires a successful understanding numenera task to identify the issue as a patch of “sour” nanobots, followed by a successful crafting numenera task to sacrifice a cypher, creating a treatment that will neutralize the patch when applied (which takes a few minutes). Left untreated, an automaton is eventually consumed by the rust. A PC automaton or one who fuses flesh and steel must succeed on a Might defense roll every ten hours. On a failure, the rust

expands, and the character moves one step down the damage track (which can’t be alleviated until the rust is treated).

Murder blooms, page 114

ENGINE MALFUNCTIONS Three contributing reasons led to the primary malfunction of the Engine of the Gods: lapsed maintenance, materials failure, and an ongoing conspiracy against the Engine. If the first two issues were meaningfully addressed, the Engine’s numerous overlapping self-repair mechanisms would reactivate, reigniting the great celestial jet within just a few days. However, a quicker and longer-lasting solution for fixing the Engine would be to eliminate the conspiracy. It’s through the conspiracy’s actions that many mechanisms remain suppressed, contributing to the other malfunctions. And as long as the conspiracy lasts, other repairs are eventually undone.

Verdant rust: level 4

LAPSED MAINTENANCE Even with self-repair mechanisms in place (including the continued activities of the lliran), a complex piece of machinery such as the Engine requires maintenance. Such duties were split between several different classes of mechanisms. Many of them have forgotten their original function over the epochs, evolving in unforeseen ways and, in some cases, even gaining a sentience lacked by their ancestors. Examples include splines and wraiths. If at least one tribe of wraiths or one community of splines (or better yet, one large group of each) could be reminded of their vital function in regard to the Engine’s health, it would count as meaningfully addressing the malfunctions. Convincing a group to take up what is probably mostly forgotten techniques, suppressed lore, or

Lliran, page 111

Spline, page 119 Wraith, page 122

The most efficient way to repair the Engine would be to stamp out the conspiracy that contributes to all the other malfunctions. The root of that conspiracy is the Viridian, which can’t be eliminated. However, Denizen, the Viridian’s agent on the Engine, is more accessible.

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Ademar: level 6; tasks related to the numenera as level 8 Anti-Viridian field generator (installation) Level: 9 Effect: Field prevents Viridian influence on the engine for one year. Depletion: Automatic

genetic memory would require aiding the creatures in regaining that knowledge. The knowledge is likely buried in old systems, the datasphere, or a vault somewhere. Before or concurrent with that, of course, the PCs would also have to succeed on a series of positive interaction tasks with someone in a leadership position in either group. Some groups may be more open to finding a meaningful purpose, such as the splines. Wraiths may be harder to convince.

Cosmic foam, page 115

MATERIALS FAILURE

Denizen, page 124

Freedom Society, page 51

Pruthastan, page 117

Even in the face of renewed maintenance, some functions of the Engine are failing because its underlying components are dissolving more quickly than automated fabrication printers can replace the parts. Even a multi-redundant system like the Engine suffers in the face of the malignant verdant rust. Individual cases of verdant rust are troublesome, but of course, the rust affects the entire Engine and the Halo, too. Treating individual cases using a sacrificed cypher is one thing. Dealing with the outbreak on the scale of the whole Engine is an entirely different matter. One way to treat it would be to restart the Engine and wait for the solar system to accelerate beyond the reach of the approaching Viridian. But even if that becomes possible because maintenance is restarted and the conspiracy against the Engine is destroyed, a lag time of several weeks or longer is likely. Thus, a complementary solution would be to temporarily insulate the Engine against the long-range effect of the Viridian. This could be done in a number of different ways, as suggested by someone with exceptional knowledge of the numenera, by making a query of the deep layers of the datasphere, or by finding someone who is already attempting to do just that. In this latter case, an automaton called

Ademar has been working for the last five years on assembling an “anti-Viridian field generator” designed to filter out the region’s emanations. But its work has been hampered by the very thing it is attempting to nullify. Some aid by the PCs or other interested parties could go a long way toward finishing the machine. In addition to various minor needs, the thing that has especially stymied Ademar is the lack of an important iotum component: 1 unit of cosmic foam. (Cosmic foam is a special component of the fabric of existence itself, ideal for crafting objects that can transcend time, dimension, space, and other constants of physical law.)

CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE ENGINE Under other circumstances, restarting Engine maintenance or filtering out verdant rust would probably be enough to turn things around and save the solar system. However, a woman named Denizen is actively working against the Engine’s chances because she wants the Viridian to catch the solar system. She enjoyed her greatest triumph a few hundred years ago when she managed to stop the Engine in the first place. Since then, she and others filling out her organization—including the Freedom Society—have successfully managed a holding action through various activities, lies, and, in some cases, the culling of those who made any noticeable headway in reversing the situation. Finding Denizen and imprisoning her or otherwise dealing with her, then sending out new instructions to her far-flung organization, would effectively put an end to the conspiracy against the Engine. Uncoordinated activities of creatures like pruthastans would continue, but without a head to direct their actions, their effect would fall by an order of magnitude.

A malicious entity known as Denizen is actively working against the Engine’s chances because she wants the Viridian to catch the solar system.

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PART 2:

THE SETTING

Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter

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3: 4: 5: 6:

Reaching the Sun’s Edge Exploring the Engine Exploring the Halo Mapping the Engine

28 31 53 57

CHAPTER 3

REACHING THE SUN’S EDGE

A

Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods, page 8

bare handful of people in the Ninth World know that the Engine of the Gods exists. The few who have even a passing familiarity with the name—such as among those who study the stars— gained their knowledge from a scattering of old records, sculptures, or visual starfields called up from the datasphere that include the name, though without much context. The name is usually assumed to be fanciful, or wrongly assumed to be another name for the sun itself. Only an in-depth dive into old records, ones that reach back through the prior worlds, will eventually put a determined researcher on the track to learn the basics of what is described in chapter 1.

TRAVELING TO THE ENGINE Various methods can be used to reach the Engine, should a character be motivated to go. Specific examples include travel by prosthesis, travel by direct transference, and travel by spacecraft. Other means certainly exist beyond the methods described here.

TRAVEL BY PROSTHESIS Monopole, page 113 Chapter 9: Augmechs, page 84 Telepresence, page 86 Datapresence, page 87

Augmech throne, page 78 Augmech crèche, page 85

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One of the safest and easiest ways a character can “go” to the Engine is by using an augmech resting in a crèche on the Engine via a telepresence or datapresence controller located on Earth. The Augmodrome is an example of a telepresence option the PCs could discover.

THE AUGMODROME Located deep under Earth’s surface is a crumbling ruin of the prior worlds. At its heart is a dome-like structure of silvery translucent synthsteel. Thrones of Otherwhere: Under the dome, several chair-like devices protrude from the floor, forming a rough circle facing outward. The devices are only the most prominent of a clutter of other ancient machines that mostly lie in wreckage. Each “chair” is associated with several umbilicals designed to connect with whatever creature sits in the seat, but recognizing that is a difficulty 5 understanding numenera task. (A successful difficulty 7 understanding numenera task reveals that the chairs might allow someone who is seated to control some distant piece of machinery.) Fixing the Thrones: Success with that task also makes it obvious that the whole place is without power and in need of repair. Those who want to use the chairs must locate a power source. Potential sources include an installation of level 6 or higher designed for that purpose, a monopole, or attempting to cobble something together using a functioning artifact of level 7 or higher, sacrificing it to the cause (but only on a successful difficulty 8 crafting numenera task). Defeat the Defender: Returning power to the facility allows each of the chairs to act like an augmech throne, each keyed to one or more augmechs located in an augmech crèche on the Engine of the

REACHING THE SUN’S EDGE

It’s one thing to travel to the sun’s edge to explore. It’s another to survive the heat, vacuum, and radiation encountered there. Gods. However, unless a countermeasure is found and neutralized, a defense system fires up, waking a cyclops augmech from a nearby crèche. Controlled by an automaton intelligence, the defending cyclops ceases its attacks if characters flee or if an enterprising PC manages to rekey one of the augmech thrones to take control of the cyclops, which requires a successful difficulty 7 understanding numenera roll.

TRAVEL BY DIRECT TRANSFERENCE

One direct transference method would be to find a facility that folds space, allowing the PCs to step through a portal on the Ninth World and step out on the Engine. Installations and artifacts that provide this sort of instantaneous access are rare. Characters might have more luck finding a direct transference method if they learn of, then travel to, the Celestial Beacon. (If you run the adventure “The Sun Doth Move,” the characters may gain the benefit of a transference method called an Empyrean Coach.)

A potentially dangerous but relatively quick way to travel to the Engine is via a mechanism that directly transfers the characters to their destination. Such a transference method usually requires the PCs to make arrangements prior to their departure for protective gear; a sunsuit or something similar will be necessary once they arrive.

THE CELESTIAL BEACON Broken chunks of land drift high above the Sea of Secrets, each containing a portion of an ancient ruin. The central floating mass holds a two-pronged tower that brackets empty space most of the time. But sometimes the twin towers frame a beam of scintillating energy that shines up

Cyclops, page 92

Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move, page 126 Empyrean Coach, page 143

Sunsuit, page 82

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Nardan Flesh Shelter, page 36

into the void, some say to signal one of the lost civilizations of the prior worlds (thus its name). According to rumors told by crew who’ve seen the floating ruin drift by high overhead, the beacon is guarded by a fearsome monster that swallows intruders whole. But, the legends continue, those who get past the monster can steal its hoard. What that might be, exactly, the legends do not specify. However, scholars of the numenera believe that the beacon is actually a method of rapid transport, not a signal at all. Many-Chambered Facility: Characters who wish to learn the secret of the beacon will have to devise their own means of reaching the flying ruin. Those who do discover that the central mass below the twin towers does indeed contain a facility of many chambers and corridors, much of which lies in wreckage. Chambers near the edge have synsthsteel windows that allow a safe view of the great sea below.

Fiery ascender, page 173 Voidglider, page 178

Callerail: level 7; health 30; Armor 3; batters foes for 7 points of damage; can absorb weapons from attacks made against it; for more details, see Numenera Discovery, page 228 Tranquility Port, page 35

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Quicksilver Basin: A central chamber with dozens of side chambers contains a great basin 30 feet (9 m) in diameter filled with languorously sloshing silvery fluid. A control surface on a pedestal overlooks the basin. Every ten hours or so, the fluid suddenly boils, with an appreciable portion escaping through a vent in the ceiling. This occurrence coincides with the beacon becoming visible on the ruin’s exterior. Making sense of the situation requires a successful difficulty 6 understanding numenera task, and requires about ten minutes of interacting with the control surface pedestal. Half-Living Custodian: Whether the investigator succeeds or fails, the guardian ascribed to the location wakes, emerging from one of the side chambers. A creature of fused organic and inorganic substances, the guardian (a callerail) is 15 feet (5 m) tall and keeps the basin safe from any who do not give it a special clearance code. If the callerail is destroyed or pacified, explorers can poke into other side chambers, which contain salvage

opportunities and potential discoveries. They also gain unrestricted use of the basin, which for some might be the only reason they’ve come. Traveling via the Quicksilver Basin: If the understanding numenera task for the basin is successful, a character can set the mechanism to deliver everyone who jumps into the basin before the next scheduled beam emission to a preset location on the Engine of the Gods (such as Nardan Flesh Shelter). Otherwise, those who jump into the basin hoping for the best are simply jettisoned into space, to a spot where a station orbiting another planet in the solar system once existed. The transport coats cargo and travelers in a fast-setting anesthetizing substance, putting them into a stasis-like state, then ejects them at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light on the propulsive beam toward their target. The travel time passes instantly for those being moved, but in fact it takes hours, days, or even longer, depending on the destination. If propelled to a facility able to receive them, travelers and cargo are decelerated and brought out of stasis, whereupon they can investigate their new location.

TRAVEL BY SPACECRAFT In their travels, experienced characters are likely to have come across at least one vessel capable of crossing the void to other worlds. If so, they may still have access to the craft, or they may know where to go to procure such a vehicle, or possibly even have the means to make one. Examples of a spacecraft the PCs might procure from elsewhere or try to fashion themselves include a fiery ascender and a voidglider. Travel by spacecraft has the advantage of giving the characters some agency, allowing them to journey in relative safety, and letting them leave at a time of their own choosing, unlike most direct transference methods. Those who travel to the Engine of the Gods by spacecraft can discover an invisible machine channel that guides them into a port on the Engine as they get close, called Tranquility Port.

EXPLORING THE ENGINE CHAPTER 4

EXPLORING THE ENGINE

T

he main body of the Engine of the Gods is a colossal construct the size of a planet. Unlike a solid planet, the Engine is honeycombed with interior space, save for a solid cylindrical core. To the extent that the construct is inhabited, the residents live within these monstrous cavities bounded by struts, called “reaches.” Most reaches are sparsely inhabited or have no single group or individual that claims control over them. Likewise, the numberless array of reflective structures and their shepherding control units that draw up and deliver fuel from the sun to the Engine’s mouth are, technically speaking, components of the Engine. But when residents think of this surrounding structure at all, either they tend to dismiss it as “just” the Halo, or they think of the Halo as a place where spirits of the Architects roam.

REACHES OF THE ENGINE The reaches—the empty spaces created by the larger framework—are loosely bounded by thick struts that form the underlying frame of the Engine. Reaches are usually hundreds of miles in diameter. Through them, the heat and radiation from the sun flow freely, and vacuum reigns. Reaches are not really empty,

however; each cavity contains numberless smaller metallic cables, synth braiding, filaments, and other connecting structures that all manner of devices are connected to. Chambers attached as modules are sometimes found along struts and cables, or as pocket chambers within a bounding strut. A majority of the chambers have long since been breached or repurposed from whatever the Architects intended, but many remain pristine. Reaches, if recognized at all, are designated by some characteristic, such as where a reach is located within the Engine, what group (if any) claims ownership of the area as its territory, how it came to be ruined (or refurbished), and so on. Conceptually, reaches of the Engine are similar to the kingdoms of the Steadfast on Earth, though rather than being spread across two dimensions, they occupy three. Reaches number in the hundreds of thousands. (The Halo, despite its size, is generally considered a single reach.) If a reach has a formal name, it’s likely because it is controlled by a particular group of intelligent creatures, be they automatons, biomechanical entities, or, far more rarely, creatures of flesh who have found ways to protect themselves from the conditions of the Engine.

Cable, page 60

Halo, page 53

Strut, page 59

Conceptually, reaches of the Engine are similar to the kingdoms of the Steadfast on Earth, though rather than being spread across two dimensions, they occupy three.

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ENGINE RESIDENTS

Sanctuary, page 49

Lliran, page 111 Shudder, page 46

Wraith, page 122

Wrawn, page 39

Spline, page 119

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The Engine is fully inhabited, but almost none of the residents are human. (The only concentration of human presence is the colony of Sanctuary.) Instead, creatures more suited to the conditions—usually automatons or biomechanicals—are rampant. Lliran are encountered throughout the Engine, usually performing one of a seemingly countless number of sacred rituals to glorify the construct. They have forgotten how their rituals were started, but their ceremonies often include all kinds of ancient repair protocols (though lliran see their rituals as worship, not repair). Their continued activity in this regard keeps the Engine from breaking down completely. The center of Engine worship for the lliran is in the holy city of Wrawn, which has developed into one of the largest metropolises of any reach; it’s so large, it is considered its own reach. Many different groups live there, at the sufferance of the lliran. Splines are also common creatures of the Engine, though when encountered, these automatons are most likely inactive in a sleeplike state, brooding (which

appears quite similar), or engaged in a dreary activity to pass the time. Passing the time until what, no spline seems to know. Having evolved self-aware intelligence over the epochs, they’ve lost easy access to their original purpose: Engine repair. That hollowness haunts them. Many splines can be found in Wrawn. But if the splines can be said to have their own reach, it is the Shudder, where Engine processes are so compromised that the whole framework and attached cabling constantly shakes. Wraiths are a wilder, more savage group of creatures that exist in tribes all across the Engine, but especially in the Halo. Weirdly, wraiths are biological in nature, but so wildly modified by the numenera (or, as the wraiths believe, specifically by the Architects) that they hardly resemble anything else alive. According to wraith folklore, they were derived from an ancient species that is long extinct. However, should any human from the Ninth World ever appear on the Engine, the wraiths react with consternation. Apparently, humans resemble the long-extinct race that the

EXPLORING THE ENGINE

Most creatures encountered on the Engine are automatons, some are biomechanical, and a small fraction are some variety of flesh, though never something as fragile as human skin (unless protected by a vacuum- and radiation-proof suit). wraiths believe were their forebearers. While some wraiths might choose to accord humans special status because of this similarity, others react violently, believing humans to be deceivers of some sort. Other intelligent beings are littered across the Engine, including plasmars. Plasmars are actually native to the surface of the sun. On the Engine, they tend to conduct themselves peacefully, though can become territorial if threatened. They also can become dangerous if they fear that a creature might disclose their presence and location back to the “Solar Regime” that they fled from. Some entities of the Engine are dangerously unstable. Pruthastans fall into this category. They are seen as creatures of strife and misfortune—or, even more simply put, as demons. They’re intelligent but seem intent on destroying the Engine, or at least keeping it in a state of disrepair. Finally, countless predators have evolved on the Engine (or colonized it) over deep time, such as Engine parasites, lightning mourns, heliodurans, and many others. After the Engine malfunctioned and switched off, the problems posed by predators only worsened. Generally speaking, residents are sometimes friendly to other creatures of the Engine (and to visitors), and other times they violently defend their territory, viewing others as potential sources of loot or even food.

ENGINE CONFLICTS Conflict is not a normal situation for the Engine. If it were, the entire machine would have long ago failed and fallen into the sun. On the other hand, conflict is on the rise. Thanks to the Engine’s malfunction, all sorts of secondary systems that would normally clear vermin, clean surfaces, and provide energy for automatons and

biomechanicals have begun a long slide toward failure. This has created resource gaps, which means creatures that previously got along sometimes skirmish. Tensions continue to rise as the Engine remains unlit. This situation is exacerbated by Denizen and her many servitors, including several who unknowingly work toward her ends as members of the Freedom Society. Sowing lies and discord, they attempt to further weaken bonds between allies, erode trust of legitimate authorities, and otherwise muddy the situation to create a fog of war in which good decisions are difficult to make. As an example, a major conflict between two warring tribes of wraiths turned the once-peaceful reach of Gaussian Swale into a dangerous “wilderness” where anyone passing through is seen as a legitimate target, just in case they’re actually spies working for the other side. Other conflicts simmer on the edge of becoming just as bad, though diplomacy and careful investigation of the root causes could still defray them. Ultimately, and not unexpectedly, these conflicts can only really be solved if the underlying malfunction is addressed.

Denizen, page 124 Plasmar, page 116 Freedom Society, page 51

Pruthastan, page 117 Gaussian Swale, page 47

Engine parasites, page 105 Lightning mourns, page 110 Heliodurans, page 109

EXPERIENCING THE ENGINE First-time visitors to the Engine might experience the scene described below when they finally get close enough to the sun to pick it out of the glare. Characters who travel to the Engine will first experience it according to the specific method they used. For instance, PCs who travel by spacecraft will likely get a wide view, and PCs who travel via instantaneous teleportation or who wake up a prosthetic augmech body already located on the Engine may first experience it from a proximity view. If you find it helpful, read aloud or paraphrase the following text to describe the situation as the PCs first experience

Traveling to the Engine, page 28

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Augmechs, page 84

the Engine, from a wide view while they are (maybe) still farther away, then from a proximity view when they are closer.

Crèche 17, page 37

Low Gravity, page 115

Struts, page 59 Cables, page 60

van der Waals force gecko

Hullward, page 12

Tranquility Port, page 35 Module Chambers, page 67

Nardan Flesh Shelter, page 36

READ ALOUD WIDE VIEW Countless invisible machine channels ping, chatter, and sometimes roar, eliminating the silence that vacuum would otherwise enforce. The sun screams into those channels, just as it blazes with incandescent light. Innumerable tiny dark specks surround the sun like a fat, faint halo. A single, far larger structure—one as big as a small planet—hangs dangerously near the sun’s turbulent face. Obviously a made thing, the structure is cylindrical but highly ornamented with secondary edifices and massive machines. PROXIMITY VIEW The planet-sized structure at the sun’s edge is not solid. A latticework of gargantuan struts binds airless hollows spreading away in every direction, through which sunlight and radiation blaze. Each strut, easily several miles in diameter, bristles with machinery, conduits, and boxy, modular structures. Likewise, the hollows are not completely empty; metallic cables stretch like fine webbing between the struts, which in turn support diverse secondary structures. First-time visitors might engage automatic docking procedures from a salvaged spacecraft, and thus be guided to Tranquility Port (in the reach of Eryth). Or they might use a direct transfer method to reach the Engine, which could also deposit them in Tranquility Port, or more safely into an out-of-the-way flesh shelter, such as Nardan Flesh Shelter. Or, if the PCs are lucky enough to find a control method

on Earth that grants them command of augmechs in a crèche on the Engine, they could attempt to move their new prosthetic bodies from Crèche 17.

MOVING THROUGH THE ENGINE The open, three-dimensional nature of the Engine offers a different experience than the confines of a regular structure or vessel. Normally, corridors and chambers channel an explorer’s options in a mostly predictable fashion. On the Engine, an explorer could choose to jump off in any direction, thanks to the low gravity. On the other hand, there is some gravity gently tugging everything in the Engine toward the inmost core of the fusion chambers. This means that most creatures tend to follow the natural “lanes” made by the major struts creating the latticework, or pull themselves along the cables that hang between struts. Most creatures native to the Engine have a method of sticking securely to these structural elements, a mechanism inherent to their extremities, which grants two assets to any task to resist being moved off a strut or cable. (Augmechs enjoy a similar ability to “stick” to things.)

ERYTH The reach of Eryth is located on the outermost hullward edge of the Engine. Eryth once hosted many gargantuan hangars— connected to the gridwork of struts in vast structural module chambers—where vessels of all sizes and purposes put in and set forth. Most of those hangars are long empty, except for Tranquility Port. Otherwise, few intelligent beings now live in this lonely reach. Predator creatures and devolved automatons, however, are all too common.

Each strut, easily several miles in diameter, bristles with machinery, conduits, and boxy, modular structures. Likewise, the hollows are not completely empty; metallic cables stretch like fine webbing between the struts, which in turn support diverse secondary structures.

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EXPLORING THE ENGINE LEARNING ABOUT THE ENGINE Characters who physically travel to the Engine, either in the flesh or in an augmech, can attempt to “plug in” to the colossal machine and try to learn something about the situation from the Engine’s many systems. Doing so is a two-step process. First, the character can attempt a difficulty 5 understanding numenera task to locate a control surface, an interface arch, an umbilical port, or some other method of coaxing information from the Engine’s systems. If they are successful, they gain limited access. From there, a PC can query the systems to gain a basic understanding of the Engine and its purpose: to move the sun. Simultaneously, the PC encounters all kinds of system warnings that the Engine is malfunctioning, has been malfunctioning for at least a couple of hundred years, and continues to accumulate new issues. A character who succeeds on a series of difficulty 5 understanding numenera tasks could, with the right questions, learn much of what is described in chapter 1 and chapter 2.

Eryth includes several locations of note, including sites where visitors coming to the Engine may initially find themselves, due to the working docking beacon in Tranquility Port. Other locations include Nardan Flesh Shelter and Crèche 17.

TRANQUILITY PORT This boxy structure is a synthsteel cube 16 miles (25 km) on a side. It’s attached, module-like, to an exterior Engine strut. One cube face is mostly open, a “mouth” that long ago lost power to the force field that would normally seal it against vacuum. (A series of successful difficulty 5 crafting numenera repair tasks could right this, if the PCs are motivated, once they have a chance to explore the structure more fully.) Within the debris-littered area are the crumpled corpses of several broken spacecraft, some still hanging in dock, others lying along the starward surface.

The information alludes to the fact that most residents of the Engine don’t realize their home had a specific purpose; they’re just living in an environment they regard as normal. While they may understand it’s a made thing (many of them are automatons, after all), they don’t get that it and they have a greater purpose. This is one of the reasons the Engine continues to malfunction. Additional information PCs could learn includes general directions for places they might want to travel to within the Engine, from minor hangars on the skin to the central city-reach of Wrawn. (With some effort, PCs might eventually discover a method of reaching and getting inside the all-important Control Center.) Anytime a PC fails a roll, the interface flickers out or otherwise disengages, and the character will have to find a different spot at least a few miles away to attempt another connection. In addition, the power surge from disengagement could draw attention from predators or other dangerous creatures.

The port constantly uses several invisible machine channel beacons to broadcast information designed to lead anyone approaching the Engine from space to the cube. Docking is relatively easy because of the beacon, because entry isn’t barred by a force field, and finally because automatic docking mechanisms help the travelers put in, no matter what kind of spacecraft they’re using. If PCs enter Tranquility Port on foot from the Engine, looking to steal a spacecraft, after some assessment they realize that one could be repaired over several weeks using parts from other craft. Doing so requires a series of successful difficulty 7 salvage tasks, in which parts and iotum from more damaged craft are scrounged, followed by a couple of difficulty 8 crafting numenera tasks to repair the chosen vessel. The repaired spacecraft would allow them to move about the Engine and the Halo with full agency and alacrity.

Understanding numenera, page 27 Directions on the Engine, page 12 Wrawn, page 39

Control Center, page 51

Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods, page 8 Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge, page 18

As with any reach on the Engine, areas not explicitly detailed here can be generated using the system described in Chapter 6: Mapping the Engine (page 57).

The low microgravity of the Engine tugs anything not moving under its own power toward the Engine’s center.

Repaired spacecraft: level 4; holds crew of up to ten; interplanetary range only; unreliable systems increase GM intrusion range for all tasks to 1–3 on a d20 Starward, page 12

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Lliran, page 111 Karium: level 3, crafting numenera tasks as level 6; health 12; Armor 1 (Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum); heavy tool attack inflicts 3 points of damage; can trigger a level 6 detonation or long-range ray every other round from surrounding devices, or more dramatic effects with a minute of effort Pocket chamber, page 60

Spacecraft weapon systems: level 7; fires up to three very-long-range particle beams per action, each inflicting 7 points of damage (ignores Armor) Paramedic, page 95 Characters who visit the Nardan Flesh Shelter don’t notice a specific need to recharge their augmechs. However, if they top off their charge, they have an asset on physical tasks for about an hour afterward.

Greeted by Karium: Regardless of how newcomers arrive, they are soon greeted by a lliran named Karium. Pitted and old, Karium has salvaged one of the control chambers in Tranquility Port and claims the entire port as their own. Most of their time is spent gazing out the open mouth of the port, which faces away from the sun, giving them a great view of the stars. Karium tries several invisible machine channels in an effort to communicate with newcomers, offering greetings and an invitation to talk. If the invitation is accepted, they usher visitors into their refurbished home, offering a variety of refreshments. For automatons, biomechanical beings, and augmechs, the lliran’s refreshments include tiny glowing cubes that provide a small top-up charge to their systems. If Karium is threatened by visitors, they use a device to activate the weapon systems on one of the nearby spacecraft, which prior to activation looked completely dead. Karium plies friendly visitors with questions, asking after their origins, their purpose, and what they think of the lliran’s home. If visitors succeed in charming Karium, the lliran grants them a boon, whether that’s aid in repairing a craft, directions to the nearest flesh shelter or to Crèche 17, or some other help related to what the PCs request. Generally speaking, Karium’s aid counts as two assets to one specifically related task.

NARDAN FLESH SHELTER A flesh shelter is a place where living creatures who need breathable air, pressure, and protection from ambient radiation and heat can survive for an arbitrary amount of time, assuming everything in the shelter functions. Most flesh shelters exist as a kind of pocket chamber located along one of the many struts composing the Engine. A flesh shelter entrance is well marked and obvious, since the Architects apparently designed them to be emergency shelters for a certain variety of fleshy living creature (probably now long extinct). Luckily, humans can take advantage of them too. Nardan Flesh Shelter is similar to other flesh shelters in most ways. However, it is unique in that it’s occupied by a strange automaton named Nardan, self-proclaimed God of the Engine. SHELTER ENTRY Neon-yellow flashing paint creates a series of converging circles, like a widening ripple, on the inset airlock entrance. (An audible ping broadcast on all machine channels also creates a signal that can be picked up for several hundred miles.) Easily understood physical controls open an airlock dozens of feet across, which in turn allows entry into the pressurized interior. SHELTER INTERIOR The interior is separated into six chambers connected in a line, one to the next, beginning with the entry chamber linked to the airlock. The interior is pressurized with breathable air and is protected against normal external heat and radiation. Except for the entry chamber, the rest of the flesh shelter is suited for creatures of up to 9 feet (3 m) in their longest dimension. Larger creatures (and some augmechs) could fit, but it would be a squeeze. Entry Chamber: Large empty bays are designed to allow five augmechs to plug in and recharge here. One slot is already in use by a paramedic augmech. The augmech is unclaimed, and would require minor repairs before it could be piloted or otherwise controlled.

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EXPLORING THE ENGINE Decontamination Chamber: A series of arches fills this long chamber. When movement is detected within immediate range, the arches spew a fine mist of medical nanites that can interface with flesh, biomechanical, and purely machine-based forms. It’s impossible to walk through the chamber and avoid the arches. Any creature walking through gains a free one-action recovery roll. Those walking through could choose to attempt an Intellect task to interface with the nanites. On a success, they gain access to a menu of additional services that include cleaning, a shine, anti-corrosion film, and so on. (Some of these choices inflict damage on creatures of pure flesh.) Refreshment Chamber: Hundreds of transparent synth cylinders line the walls, filled with colorful fluids, mist, dust, or kibble-like solids. Various protuberances similar to tables fill the center of the chamber. If a character figures out how to operate any given cylinder, it dispenses a fist-sized portion of the material it contains. In general, each cylinder contains something a being of flesh or a biomechanical will find nourishing. A few also contain ports for umbilicals where automatons could plug in. In practice, finding something nutritious that is palatable and not poisonous can be a bit of a challenge. However, if the PCs gain the services of Nardan, the automaton can guide them. Nardan’s Chamber: Most flesh shelters contain an emergency automaton to provide aid for those requiring comforts. This flesh shelter is no different. However, the automaton here has evolved a bifurcated sentience and, over thousands of years, has come somewhat unmoored from reality. This roughly human-sized emergency automaton, self-christened as Nardan, has an identity issue. Sometimes it speaks as Nar, other times as Ardan. Nar is a helpful, courteous personality, while Ardan is a pompous, bitter personality that thinks it is one of several “gods” that control the Engine. Neither personality knows

what the other one thinks, or what it does when in control of the body. Usually, a personality switch is triggered by damage, an unexpected event, or GM intrusion. Nar and Ardan despise each other. Each pretends the other doesn’t exist, but if visitors question either personality about the other, each tries to gain the visitor’s aid in excising the other from its mind. Generally speaking, efforts to harm one personality also harm the other, though more sophisticated visitors might be able to come up with a method for separating the two or mending the fractured mind into a single whole. Doing so creates an ally. Otherwise, Nardan remains unreliable at best, and dangerous if Ardan is angered (which is easy to do). Comfort Chamber: Carpeted on all surfaces with dark, plushy material, and filled with tranquil tones that most creatures find soothing, this chamber is suited for sleep or meditation. Additional cavities include an assortment of sleep comforts, some of which are recognizable, like blankets and pillows. A connected chamber contains a variety of hard, smooth surfaces and machines, as well as reflective surfaces. Someone who succeeds on a series of Intellect tasks can discern that the chamber can be used as a shower and a toilet, and provide all manner of grooming assistance. Stores: This chamber is locked; Nardan can unlock it for visitors who make a friend of the automaton. The storeroom contains a variety of junk in various states of disrepair (and it serves as a great salvage source for the numenera). In addition to anything else characters might be able to pull out of the chamber, each PC can find (or have a cooperating Nardan fetch) a sunsuit in their size.

CRÈCHE 17 This bunker-like facility is made of green synthsteel and affixed to one of the Engine’s struts. Physically gaining entry requires overcoming a security lockout. One level of Crèche 17 holds several augmechs in a powered-down state. On a separate

Arch, decontamination: level 5

Synth cylinder: level 2

Locked stores door: level 7 Emergency automaton: level 2; healing tasks as level 5 Sunsuit, page 82 Nardan: level 4, healing tasks as level 5; switches between opposing personalities randomly Security lockout: level 6; overcoming the lockout by talking to machines or using similar means requires three successes before six failures, or it resets and the difficulty increases by 1

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Crèche 17 is a level 6 facility. The interior protects occupants from environmental heat and radiation, but otherwise is normally open to vacuum. Telepresence, page 86 Augmech Control, page 84 Spline, page 119

Liturgist: as spline (page 119), plus diplomacy and persuasion as level 8; headband artifact makes long-range electrostatic attacks that inflict 8 points of Intellect damage

level located beneath (also protected by a security lockout), a control chamber holds telepresence augmech control systems, one for each augmech stored in the crèche. Though the population of self-aware creatures in Eryth is low, it’s not zero. A group of twenty-some splines have adopted Crèche 17 as a temple to an invented deity they call the Serene Sleeper. When the splines who follow this liturgy enter the crèche once every few days (they know how to bypass the security lockout), they each perform part of a connected ritual, one after the other, at the foot of each metallic form inside. The splines believe the augmechs are avatars of the Serene Sleeper, and that their rituals help keep the avatars propitiated and, of course, sleeping. They call themselves the Cult of the Serene Sleeper. The leader of this group of worshipers is a spline simply called the Liturgist. It

understands that the Serene Sleeper is not real, but given the spline need to find some purpose to life, promotes the religion as a means to save them from themselves. The Liturgist is not stupid or cruel, but it puts the needs of its congregation first. If the PCs physically arrive and try to take control of the augmechs, they may make enemies of the splines unless they can convincingly put a religious spin on their presence or inspire the splines in some other way. Should the PCs arrive by suddenly becoming embodied in the augmechs, most of the splines are amazed and perhaps awestruck. The Liturgist will understand what’s really going on, but if the controllers play along and don’t threaten the basic belief structure of the Cult of the Serene Sleeper, it probably won’t denounce them as “demons” who are possessing the sacred avatars and must be destroyed.

REACH OF ERYTH HEARSAY

THE WEIRD OF ERYTH

Augmech Raiders: A group of augmech-controlling bandits plagues Eryth, predating any creature they come upon, not for their belongings, but seemingly purely for sport. Their leader is someone called Mefin, a man using a telepresence control method from the safety of a noble’s keep in the Steadfast. He and his fellow bandits don’t understand exactly what they’re doing or that their activities are causing harm and structural degradation to the Engine; they just think it’s fun.

The Green Sphere: An orb of unknown emerald material bounces through the reach, always hitting a strut or module chamber at the correct angle to keep it rebounding through the area. Analysis indicates that it is 79 feet (24 m) in diameter. Those who get near discover that the invisible machine channels most creatures in the Engine depend on for communication are degraded.

Orders of a God: A summons has gone out through the machine channels, seeking a champion for the Ardan, self-proclaimed God of the Engine. Ardan has promised a bounty of riches to anyone willing to eradicate its hated foe—the “soft-spoken, unholy lying devil” named Nar. A Good Ship: According to a traveling wraith tribe, a working spacecraft put into Tranquility Port, but no one disembarked. That was a few years ago, and the situation remains unchanged.

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Dangerous Salvage: Risk-taking salvagers understand that along any given length of strut, buried machines and systems lie under the metallic cladding. Those with the means and desire to risk it all can try to peel back the cladding to access these riches. Sometimes high-level iotum is recovered, as well as salvageable cyphers and artifacts. But doing so risks triggering automatic Engine defenses, which could be as dramatic as Halo-focused particle beams that disintegrate whatever they touch. Symbol Spire: Protruding from an area where several struts come together is a tower of transparent synthsteel. Anytime light is shone into the interior of the edifice, it is refracted onto a nearby surface, where it forms a strange, rune-like symbol. The symbol is never the same one twice.

EXPLORING THE ENGINE

Augmechs: The following augmechs are found in Crèche 17, though some are in need of serious repair. • Artificer (page 90) • Bloodfist (page 91) • Cyclops (page 92) • Interlocutor (page 94) • Paramedic (page 95) • Speedstar (page 96) • Turtle (page 97)

WRAWN Wrawn was never meant to be a city. The Architects couldn’t have imagined that their service automatons and other systems would eventually largely forget their original purpose, or in some cases become self-aware, and develop behaviors analogous to those of living creatures. And like living creatures, the biomechanical and automaton life of the Engine gathers in communities. The largest of these is Wrawn, so immense it is effectively an entire reach in its own right.

READ ALOUD PROXIMITY VIEW A massive city of glowing cubes, towers, domes, and spheres is strung across half a dozen separate spiderweb-like networks connected through the same central point. Bounded by massive struts hundreds of miles apart, the city extends not only in two dimensions, but three. The largest structures are huddled around the core, lost in a blaze of blended light. Out along the edges, it’s possible to resolve hundreds of spacecraft—or possibly huge automatons— jetting through the vacuum, intent on myriad strange machine tasks. The city is truly immense in scale, difficult to take in with just a glance, or even protracted observation. Each constituent cable of the “web” extends through the reach at a different angle. The roads of Wrawn are these cables, each crowded with module chambers and thick with entities streaming along them, often not even touching the cables but instead gliding along next to them, using the lines as guides.

Cable, page 60

Module chamber, page 67 Reach, page 31

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The Architects couldn’t have imagined that their service automatons and other systems would eventually largely forget their original purpose, or in some cases become self-aware, and develop behaviors analogous to those of living creatures.

Lliran, page 111 Maintenance pods contain a variety of parts, components, iotum, and in some cases, lliran in hibernation (or long dead) who can potentially be activated to deal with a particular Engine emergency.

Crafting, page 117 Iotum, page 107 Io, page 111

Flet: level 2; moves up to a very long distance each round after spending several rounds getting up to full speed

The population of Wrawn likely exceeds a billion self-aware entities, many of them automatons. Lliran make up a goodly portion of that population. The city grew out of a single maintenance pod, one like many others still scattered about the Engine. However, this particular pod evolved into a religious center over millennia. During this period, the lliran maintenance crew developed a series of rituals meant to propitiate the Engine spiritually as well as mechanically. As more time passed, the center attracted more and more lliran, as well as entities of nearly every other kind that live on the Engine, the Halo, and in a few cases, emigrants from the sun’s surface. Generally, newcomers are directed to the Cathedral of Brilliance and told to find an Expounder. Hundreds of Expounders work in the Cathedral at any given time, and if appeased with appropriate decorum and respect, they will answer questions about Wrawn and the godhood of the Engine.

CURRENCY IN WRAWN General directions, page 12 ICS, page 12

Io is the preferred currency used in Wrawn, when they don’t simply barter. Shins have no value. Thanks to the wide use of io, it is devalued in comparison to what it is worth in the Ninth World. Generally, a character has as much purchasing power in Wrawn using 1 io as they’d have with about 10 shins in the Steadfast. Io is found embedded within most numenera objects and structures. Like the word “shin,” io is a sort of catch-all term for a variety of basic kinds of iotum. As such, it comes in many forms, but each can easily be held in the palm of the hand—

smooth shards of muddy crystal in which a glimmer of gold light gleams, tiny green metallic boxes with etched lines that form strange patterns, cylindrical tubes of a soft but resilient material that sparks with static electricity, and so on. (Io can also be used when crafting numenera.)

GETTING AROUND WRAWN Wrawn, given its tangled density, is difficult to travel through quickly. Most creatures move under their own power; however, those willing to part with 1 unit of io can rent a flet. Flet: This vehicle comes in many models, but a flet generally has the shape of a 30-foot (9 m) diameter sphere, which serves as the cabin. A nest of extendible legs, some jointed, others tentacular, and many simply articulating cords, provide physical motive power, allowing the vehicle to treat any obstacles of the city as useful grips for propelling it forward in almost any direction. A flet can be manually controlled or simply instructed on where to go with general directions or, better yet, ICS. Even in a quickly moving flet, crossing Wrawn from one edge to the other could take several hours.

JURISPRUDENCE OF WRAWN Lliran make up the city’s leadership, which is known as the Jurisprudence. There is a strong element of the spiritual in everything the Jurisprudence does, reflecting lliran attitudes about the holy nature of the Engine. The Jurisprudence is composed of 254 members (including a few non-lliran),

Supplementing the use of general directions is a much more precise location system, called the Intraengine Coordinate System (ICS). ICS allows anyone to specify a location on the Engine or in the Halo.

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EXPLORING THE ENGINE

“We can be sure our beloved Interpreter is standing today in the heights of the Cathedral of Brilliance, that they see us and bless us in the name of the Engine.” ~Catechism of the Jurisprudence who gather every ten cycles in a great dome, one of several module chambers making up the Cathedral of Brilliance. A variety of different schools exist within the Jurisprudence, each of which is concerned with making sure their own particular interpretation of the doctrine of the Holy Engine is followed. This makes getting new policies enacted quite difficult. Anyone who wishes to address the Jurisprudence or the Interpreter must agree to a Trial by Mending in the Cathedral of Brilliance. (The same Trial is used to determine the fate of accused criminals and a whole host of other things.) Interpreter: Interpreter is the title given to the speaker of the Jurisprudence, a lliran of immense authority whose decisions can sway the entire body. The Interpreter is known by the halo-like flurry of machines that constantly surround and protect them. The current Interpreter of Wrawn believes the Engine’s present inactivity is divine will. Since the Engine is not active, it obviously prefers that. Other schools of the Jurisprudence attempt to convince the Interpreter to consider alternative narratives, such as that evil has invaded the Engine and should be actively stamped out. A few schools suggest that appeasing the Engine requires a return to certain ancient “repair rituals” that have fallen out of favor. The Interpreter could potentially be swayed by sensible arguments, were it not for their friend and confidant, Denizen. As long as Denizen (who in Wrawn goes by the alias “Pure messenger”) remains someone the lliran and especially the Interpreter trust, meaningful progress toward repairing the Engine will be difficult to achieve. (Of late, Denizen only appears in Wrawn as an instance of herself, controlling an automaton that roughly resembles her, and enjoys similar stats and abilities.)

The Morality: The Jurisprudence empowers and certifies a group of lawkeepers called the Morality. Unlike the Jurisprudence, the Morality contains many splines looking for meaning. Morality officers (called “morals”) have wide latitude when it comes to questioning random entities, whether that be naive visitors or longtime residents. The questions are about the subject’s recent activities as well as their attitudes regarding the Engine. It is an offense in Wrawn to disrespect the Engine. But unless an entity goes out of its way to dismiss the divine nature of the Engine in the presence of a moral, there’s not much chance of a random check leading to an arrest (assuming the check doesn’t uncover truly illicit activity). Those who find themselves under arrest are brought to the Cathedral of Brilliance for Trial by Mending. In addition to lawkeeping, the Morality is also charged with general maintenance and upkeep of Wrawn. It’s not uncommon to see a group of morals working on a module chamber, power line, foundational cable, or other device, all the while chanting via machine channels a sacred liturgy to the most high Engine. When so employed, these normally dour splines seem almost ebullient. The Fist: Sometimes the Morality isn’t sufficient to deal with a problem. Then the Fist is called, made up of a squadron of augmechs featuring a couple of bloodfist models. The controllers are located in a module chamber adjacent to the Cathedral of Brilliance, a bunker-like structure hardened against attack or extreme solar flare.

A cycle is a unit of time about 20 hours long. Cathedral of Brilliance, page 42 Spline, page 119

Trial by Mending, page 43

Interpreter: as lliran (page 111); halo artifact grants three assets on all tasks

Augmechs, page 84 Bloodfist, page 91 Denizen, page 124

WRAWN LOCATIONS OF NOTE Wrawn contains areas and personages of particular importance (especially to visitors), including the Port of Wrawn, the Cathedral of Brilliance, the Stacks, and others.

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Module chamber, page 67

Port of Wrawn vehicle, typical: level 2

PCs present via augmechs can experience the full effect of a Magtonic or similar libation if using telepresence or datapresence control.

Flesh shelter, page 36

73LL1N: level 6; Armor 5 Tranquility Port, page 35

Pocket chamber, page 60

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PORT OF WRAWN A boundary strut hundreds of miles in length serves as the Port of Wrawn. For the most part, the kinds of vehicles that have put in at the port are fairly crude conveyances, fine for moving creatures that don’t care about pressure or ambient radiation and heat around the Engine and Halo. But they are not especially reliable for trips away from the Engine. That’s not to say there are not a few giant, unmoving hulks that are—or were—just such craft. Many of these are skeletal, having been salvaged over and over again across huge spans of time to nearly nothing. A handful with still-functioning defense systems keep would-be salvagers at bay, and their contents are a mystery. Traffic along the strut is sparse. Not as many creatures from other reaches visit Wrawn as newcomers might expect. Demographics of the Engine just work differently. However, there are some entities from other reaches, especially lliran, who travel to Wrawn every few decas (a deca is about equal to about ten Earth years) on religious sabbatical. Enough come in at any given time so that the port strut isn’t completely deserted, usually. Besides llirans taking a religious trek, creatures from other parts of the Engine, the Halo, or (rarely) the sun’s surface come to Wrawn to trade. Others come seeking asylum. And a few arrive via spacecraft from other planets and star systems (possibly having first put in at Tranquility Port). Which is why Morality patrols sweep spirally up and down the strut every rotation, just to keep an eye out for newcomers who might be dangerous or simply not spiritual enough to be welcome in the holy city. Those designated as risks to spirituality by the Morality are told to consider staying on the strut and avoid heading deeper into the city, lest they face a Trial by Mending. A fair number of the pocket chambers along the port strut act as control stations for nearby docking mechanisms (about half of which are broken) as well as warehouse-like spaces that are either empty or filled with strange cargo, forgotten eons earlier.

Beacon House: A flashing module chamber of prodigious size midway along the port strut (and visible for a great distance in either direction) is an establishment offering a variety of entertainments as well as refreshment for automatons and biomechanicals. It is also large enough to admit most augmechs. The entertainments usually involve customized music, while the refreshments are power charges and, for those able to enjoy them, edibles. Libation and libation-like alternatives are also on order. For example, in Beacon House (and likely other places in Wrawn), a libation called a Magtonic is popular for its ability to provide an electrifying kick to automatons and biomechanicals. The Magtonic isn’t consumed, but instead held in a manipulator. Squeezing the Magtonic triggers its electromagnetic wizardry. Beings of pure flesh feel only a static discharge when holding the coppery red-glowing sphere of a Magtonic, but more mechanical beings report a feeling of elation and disassociation. (Overuse causes system blackouts.) A back room in Beacon House has flesh shelter amenities, as well as a bar where various intoxicants can be had. Those same intoxicants are available in the rest of the establishment, but “fleshers” often don’t have an easy way to pass those substances into their protective suits to be consumed. Beacon House has many hosts, all nearly identical-looking automatons that have the same name: 73LL1N. 73LL1N usually quips that it is the only real 73LL1N, and that all the others are imposters. Or that, of them all, it is the best one. However, what one 73LL1N knows, all know. In addition to serving drinks, 73LL1N is a great source of information, answering characters’ questions. However, 73LL1N has just as many questions about the “distant land” of the Steadfast. Her curiosity about cyphers from the Steadfast is a precursor to her strong desire to one day explore that part of Earth herself. CATHEDRAL OF BRILLIANCE Near Wrawn’s core is a multifaceted structure composed of a dozen module chambers that are miles wide, obviously

EXPLORING THE ENGINE designed to create a sense of awe and spectacle in anyone who sees it from the exterior. The Cathedral provides many important services in Wrawn, including religious services, within the overwhelmingly large series of internal spaces. At any given time, there are usually at least a few active spiritual services. Spiritual Services: Moving through the Cathedral without the gain turned down on whatever an individual uses for audio invites deafness from the collective roar of praise. Most of the ceremonies conducted in the Cathedral have no underlying practical use for Engine upkeep, though hints of the kind of repair function a ritual developed from might be noticed by someone proficient in crafting numenera. Any given service is led by a priest-like being (often a lliran, but not always) known as an Expounder. Expounders usually glow white, signifying the pure white flame of the Engine (back when it was burning). Expounders also serve as guides (spiritual as well as temporal) to newcomers to Wrawn and are willing to answer questions. If asked

why the Engine isn’t running, they say “As the Interpreter has decreed, the Engine rests until it is no longer tired. Divine will cannot be thwarted.” (However, some Expounders may see things differently, despite public adherence to the party line.) An Expounder will also set up a meeting with those who wish to address the Jurisprudence or the Interpreter, by dint of setting up a Trial by Mending for petitioners. Trial by Mending: One variety of spiritual service differs from all the others: the Trial by Mending. One miles-wide module chamber of the Cathedral is a three-dimensional arena-like space. The chamber’s edges are often crowded with citizens of Wrawn who are physically present, watching the various active trials in the central area. (For every citizen present, thousands more view the trials via a special machine language channel that includes visual pictures as well as audio.) The central space is more than large enough for dozens of trials to be undertaken concurrently, each judged by an Expounder glowing “trial red” instead of white.

Expounder: level and abilities as underlying creature type; one asset to tasks related to Engine and Wrawn knowledge

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Repairing Damaged Objects and Structures, page 122

Whisperbot: level 1; flies a long distance each round

A rotation is about seventy 20-hour-long periods, roughly equivalent to two Earth months 73LL1N, page 42 Port of Wrawn, page 42

Long-term Tasks, page 324 Sunsuit, page 82

Those on trial are faced with a mechanism, sometimes no larger than themselves, other times hundreds of feet in diameter. To the uninitiated, it may seem like the setup for a fight. Instead, the trial is to see whether the accused can demonstrate a spiritual awareness sufficient to put them on the right side of the Holy Engine by fixing the mechanism’s malfunction. In a simple trial, the accused must succeed on one or two understanding numenera tasks equal to the level of the repair task, as set by the GM. Especially challenging trials to repair damaged objects or structures can also be set, in which case many more understanding and crafting tasks must be made over a longer period of time. Those who succeed in mending are judged worthy, which means that whatever accusation was made against them is dismissed. However, sometimes trials are given to those who are not accused, but rather who wish to show their worth to the Jurisprudence so their arguments carry more weight. Those who fail a Trial by Mending are ostracized from Wrawn, commanded never to return on pain of destruction. Holy Training: Those who wish to enter a life of divine service can enroll in religious school held in the Cathedral. A small fraction of all the residents of Wrawn have taken such instruction at one time or another. A two-rotation-long course provides an open-minded student not only with instruction on the liturgy of the Engine, but also with training in understanding, crafting, or salvaging numenera. If desired, holy training can be treated as a long-term task requiring about two months of Earth time.

HYPERMARKET A three-dimensional web of open-vacuum stands and module chambers forms Wrawn’s Hypermarket. As it stretches nearly a hundred miles in every direction, it’s easy to become lost in the Hypermarket. Most of what’s for trade isn’t immediately obvious to humans fresh from the Ninth World. Among less noticeable wares are all sorts of parts, components, iotum, oddities, and what could be considered fully functioning cyphers, artifacts, installations, vehicles, and limited automatons. Almost anything can be purchased in the Hypermarket, if the right seller can be found. Usually, finding what one seeks is made easier thanks to a gaggle of tiny spherical whisperbots that flit everywhere, offering to guide buyers to a distant seller. Places of business in the Hypermarket include Cladderjack and the Core. Cladderjack: This salon features racks and racks of empty automaton bodies, custom plating options, and a variety of colorful designs that can be printed upon an automaton, biomechanical, or any sort of artificial covering. (“Printed” designs include moving images, as well as three-dimensional ones that hover.) Upgrades can transform the style of a customer, and could even increase Armor by +1. The cost for the latter service is somewhat expensive, running to 500 io; other services are more in the 10 or 20 io range. Cladderjack is operated by a rogue instance of 73LL1N from the Port of Wrawn. The Core: Whisperbots tell anyone who’ll listen that the Core provides “secure power core replacement, guaranteed safe!” Interested buyers who follow the whisperbot miles deeper into the Hypermarket discover Kelna, a human proprietor in a bulky sunsuit in the depths of a hangar-like shop. Kelna

Kelna: level 4; all numenera tasks as level 7

Rumors say that scavenging gangs evade the Morality in the heart of the Hypermarket, targeting lone shoppers to break them down and sell them for parts.

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EXPLORING THE ENGINE offers repairs and maintenance, including certain rare iotum, as well as the power core replacement service (which grants any automaton, biomechanical, or augmech an asset to all physical tasks for the next week). Kelna says she emigrated some twenty years ago from another location on the Engine called Sanctuary, where she was born. She can give PCs who find her a perspective on the Engine from a human’s point of view. And she’s happy to; she hasn’t seen another human in years! She can also provide directions to Sanctuary.

STACKS The “Stacks” refers to the majority of Wrawn, where inhabitants of the city reside in countless module chambers strung like beads along the cables woven across the reach. Most emerge from their pods only occasionally, but with a billion entities

WRAWN HEARSAY Freedom Society Wants You: A group of lliran and other entities of the Engine has set up a shop in the Hypermarket, taking applications for membership in the Freedom Society. According to some rumors, the Freedom Society abhors the religious fervor so common in Wrawn. They say it rots the mind, and have more than once rescued those slated for Trial by Mending, claiming that the rite is barbaric and should be banned. The Morality, once uncertain of the Freedom Society, more and more has come to see its beliefs and actions as those of a foe. Drahq Hunters: Two wraiths calling themselves “drahq hunters” are in Wrawn to buy supplies for what they call the hunt of the deca. Each wraith bears some kind of trophy taken from a slain “monster” of the Engine. In addition to supplies, the two are looking for a group of freelance hunters to help them capture a most dangerous prize. Hypermarket Threats: Some sellers are unscrupulous, essentially running their shop by stealing from other shops

in Wrawn, that can still give the sense of innumerable insects milling everywhere or in great streams, at least from a distance. The Stacks actually interpenetrate the Hypermarket and vice versa, and you know when you’re leaving one and entering the other chiefly because whisperbots suddenly appear, trying to lure whoever will listen to a distant shopping opportunity. Characters who come to Wrawn and wish to stay awhile can usually find an open pod, including those that offer flesh shelter amenities, though “open” doesn’t mean unclaimed, so rent or service is expected in return.

Sanctuary, page 49

PLASMAR EMBASSY Located both upon and within a spherical chamber module covered with black cladding, the Plasmar Embassy serves as a redoubt for plasmars seeking refuge on

Plasmar, page 116

and then selling the loot at a discount. Legitimate shop-owners are interested in hiring those able to find and eliminate these so-called “merch jumpers.”

WEIRD OF WRAWN

Freedom Society, page 51

Alarming Vibrations: An unmoored module chamber from some other part of the Engine crashed into Wrawn. So far, no one has been able to break through the amazingly resilient walls to see what’s inside. From time to time, the chamber shakes and bucks as if something large inside is seeking escape. Coming to Life: One of the dead hulks encrusting the Port of Wrawn—presumably an ancient spacecraft—has recently started showing signs of life, displaying mysterious lights and initiating previously unrecognized self-repair functions.

Wraith, page 122 Drahq, page 104

Vacuum Fungus: Purplish spores of a never-before-seen fungus have been found growing in the shade of several of Wrawn’s module chambers. It doesn’t seem overtly dangerous, but its growth rate is concerning, as is the question of its unknown origin.

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Engine Map Generator, page 58

Core Fusion Chambers, page 49 Viridian, page 22

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the Engine, but also as a convenient place for those hoping to engage the services of a plasmar. (As beings that are, literally, living packets of sunstuff, they can venture into almost any extreme environment and suffer no harm.) Most plasmars of the embassy prefer to remain on the exterior of the great sphere, on the side where the radiation from the sun can be soaked in directly. The bulk of them claim to be refugees from a war they will not say more about. A few are in Wrawn for personal reasons or trade, or are just “passing through.” If a plasmar could be convinced of the truth of the approaching Viridian, it would probably try to help stop the sun from being caught by the pursuing intelligent inversion in spacetime. However, most plasmars seem caught up in their own drama regarding internecine strife in the sun’s chromosphere.

OTHER REACHES AND KEY SITES The Engine’s immense size (it’s as large as a planet) gives rise to an equally immense number of distinct reaches and several significant locations. This book has the space to detail only a few. However, the Engine Map Generator is a great resource for producing an amazing array of content for filling out already-described locations or creating brand-new ones.

SHUDDER The reach of Shudder is located immediately adjacent to one of the core fusion chambers. Even though the Engine produces no visible jet, something’s happening inside the astronomically large fusion chamber, something so violent that the associated reach has come to be known by the way the entire region constantly shakes. Usually, the vibration is damped by the strut and cable framework making up the Engine’s body, but in this particular reach, some unfortunate interplay of material harmonics magnifies rather than damps the perturbation.

EXPLORING THE ENGINE

The reason the repulsor jet still functions, despite so many other Engine systems falling into disrepair, is mainly due to one creature: Meshala. Meshala is lord of Gaussian Castle. A large population of splines inhabit Shudder. They perceive the constant shaking as some kind of cosmic punishment meted out to them by a possibly vindictive universe. The largest concentration of splines live in a transparent, conical-shaped module chamber called Vronus. VRONUS, SPLINE CITY Vronus is attached to a strut that directly adjoins the fusion chamber. About half of the splines who inhabit Vronus rarely stir from tiny chambers inside the city, preferring to remain alone with their dark thoughts. But a goodly proportion participate in a dreary parade each cycle to the exterior of the city, alone or adhering in random groups, to regard the blank face of the fusion core chamber, feeling its shuddering in a so-far vain hope to find meaning in their existence. Surzen: A spline named Surzen and a small group of its acolytes come to the surface of Vronus each day, following the parade. Surzen uses this time to exhort its fellows to action, rather than bleak acceptance of bland existence. That’s because Surzen is one of the few in the city who understands that its kind was once integral to Engine maintenance. The spline racial ennui, Surzen believes, is not merely a reaction to losing their purpose, but in fact evidence of enemy action. What enemy, Surzen isn’t sure. The automaton would be willing to entertain hypotheses, and possibly provide aid should someone draw its attention to the existence of Denizen and the influence of the Viridian. In the meantime, Surzen knows one thing: when it manages to pry a spline from its ideation on gloom and get it to work on a project, especially one relating to fixing something, that spline experiences peace. Evidence of lapsed maintenance and

materials failure exists throughout the reach of Shudder. If Surzen could rally the city of Vronus to its cause, that would go a long way toward being a meaningful repair of the Engine itself. Unfortunately, other forces are at work in Vronus. Efforts by Denizen and the Viridian indirectly (and directly, as in the case of Nurz, described hereafter) are the cause of backsliding among splines who find peace in a purpose related to repair. RAVVLE POD A colony of ravvle live in a large pod hanging off the same strut as Vronus, about 10 miles (16 km) away and not clearly visible as a threat. But threat it is; the ravvle inhabiting the pod prey on Vronus. And thanks to the direct efforts of Nurz, a spline agent of Denizen, the ravvle preferentially predate splines who take up repair projects outside the city. So even when Surzen successfully organizes a work group and sends them toward an obviously broken mechanism in Shudder, a ravvle raiding party eventually targets them. Often, there are no survivors. And when some splines do make it back, they think twice about listening to Surzen again. If Nurz were found and neutralized, the ravvle threat would decrease for a time, at least until Denizen turned another agent.

Spline, page 119 Materials Failure, page 26

Ravvle, page 118

Nurz: As spline (page 119), plus all deception tasks eased

Surzen: As spline (page 119), plus all positive interaction tasks eased

GAUSSIAN SWALE The reach known as Gaussian Swale lies sunward, intersecting the front-facing repulsor jet that keeps the Engine from falling into the sun. As it happens, this repulsor jet still operates, unlike the larger thruster jet to sternward. That’s obvious to anyone who understands the Engine’s mechanics and takes a moment to think about it, since the Engine isn’t orbiting the sun, yet somehow retains its position. From most places in Gaussian Swale, the

Repulsor jet, page 49 Denizen, page 124 Viridian, page 22

Lapsed Maintenance, page 25

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Ambassador: level 6 Artifixes are powerful beings able to create creatures and objects of force simply by concentrating, but Meshala is even more potent than the handful of others of his kind that remain in the solar system. Meshala: level 8, understanding and crafting numenera as level 9; health 54; can bend reality to his will within short range, usually creating discrete objects (or beings) of silver force as needs require; each such act temporarily drains 1 point of his health

“Some said the Engine was folly. They’re long gone. Yet the Engine remains, despite its age. I’m partly responsible for that. Don’t tell me we should start over and create something better. I’ve spent epochs fixing what’s broken.” ~Meshala, self-proclaimed defender of the sun emission of the jet is not quite visible in the range of visible light that humans usually rely on for sight. The reason the repulsor jet still functions, despite so many other Engine systems falling into disrepair, is mainly due to one creature: Meshala. Meshala is lord of Gaussian Castle. GAUSSIAN CASTLE The reach of Gaussian Swale is not unique in that a single entity claims the entire territory as its own. However, no other reach is controlled by something quite like

Meshala, who wields control over local reality, making him incredibly dangerous— or, potentially, a powerful ally. Meshala maintains a strangely Earth-like “castle” in Gaussian Swale. The gates are guarded by “ambassadors,” silver-blue beings shaped like floating pillars with heads of burning translucent flame around an eyelike core. These ambassadors are not true creatures in and of them themselves, but rather mental projections of Meshala. Visitors granted entry into the castle discover many more ambassadors within. Beings of flesh are probably more interested to find that the castle interior is pressurized with breathable air, is protected from heat and radiation, and enjoys gravity like that found on Earth. Many other earthly amenities are also available to guests, including opportunities for food and rest. But before any of those can be had, newcomers are escorted into Meshala’s presence, which is in a tower with an impressive view of the repulsor jet firing into the sun’s wide face. Meshala: Most of Meshala’s visitors see only a silvery cannister that serves as his protective shell, carried about by his ambassadors. (His true form is large, somewhat bulbous, and loosely fleshed, pocked with eyelike warts. Meshala is a creature known as an artifix.) His purpose is nothing less than the maintenance and defense of the sun. Powerful as he is, he’s only managed a holding action against the depredations of time. Every few cycles, Meshala dispatches a group of ambassadors to various sub-control pods around the circumference of the repulsor jet to scrub away vermin; chase off wraiths, ravvle, or other degraded servitor creatures; and of course do maintenance. If the PCs are granted an audience with Meshala to beg his aid, odds are good

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EXPLORING THE ENGINE they’ll gain it if they are trying to keep the Engine (and thus, the sun) safe. Meshala knows about the approaching Viridian, but he does not know there’s an active conspiracy on the Engine. And he’ll need some convincing that such a thing could be true, because that means it happened under his watch, which he doesn’t initially want to admit. Even godlike beings hate being wrong. Any aid granted to characters by Meshala includes a place to eat and rest. In addition, the artifix creates a special ambassador for the PCs, one with all of his understanding of and ability to repair the numenera, that will accompany the characters on their adventure. He may offer additional aid, depending on the situation. REPULSOR JET A marvel of ancient tech, this sun-facing edifice extends from the main body of the Engine like a many-pronged spear. Emitted from the end is a stream of magnetically tuned particles, responsible for counteracting the pull of the sun’s immense gravity, keeping the Engine in place without relying on orbital mechanics. This repulsive particle jet is visible only to those able to see deeply into the electromagnetic spectrum. Sub-Control Pods: Dozens of sub-control pods are distributed around the circumference of the jet. Each is essentially a module chamber fitted with an access that leads directly into an adjacent portion of the jet’s interior, revealing long shafts of metal, crystal, and other materials, all surrounded by control machinery. Sometimes these sub-control pods are infiltrated by various creatures infesting the Engine, such as the aptly named Engine parasites, but also more dangerous creatures like freecyclers or, in the worst case, a pruthastan. If left to

their own devices, they’d eventually wreck the repulsor jet. If that were to happen, it wouldn’t take long for the Engine to be finally consumed by the sun. The repulsor jet relies on fuel collected from the sun, which also still feeds the Engine. If the systems of the Halo were compromised, the sub-control pods have enough collected fuel to keep the Engine’s position for only a few cycles, at most.

Conspiracy Against the Engine, page 26 The Halo Feeds the Engine, page 9 Halo, page 53

CORE FUSION CHAMBERS The heart of the Engine is a series of massive cylindrical chambers enmeshed in a surrounding framework of struts at the Engine’s core. Once, incredible energies were generated inside, capable of moving the sun and pulling a gravity-bound solar system behind it. The expanse of the core fusion chambers is massive, extending through nearly all the reaches of the Engine. For the most part, the blank cylindrical faces of the fusion chambers are inaccessible. However, the network of access tubes that run through the struts also exist along the skin of the fusion chambers. When several access tubes come together, the resulting depot forms a pocket chamber within the walls of the fusion chamber. Sometimes these pocket chambers contain sub-control pods (which have similar characteristics and issues as those along the repulsor jet, though are not defended by Meshala). The pod known as Sanctuary is unique in that it is inhabited by humans. SANCTUARY This pocket chamber is cramped and loud, filled with cobbled-together installations that a group of forty-some humans rely on to live. They constantly salvage parts, components, and iotum from their forays beyond Sanctuary (in the precious few working sunsuits they own between them)

Reach, page 31 Access Tube Terminal, page 69 Pocket Chamber, page 60 Module Chamber, page 67

Engine Parasite, page 105 Freecycler, page 107 Pruthastan, page 117

If more creatures on the Engine were aware of the repulsor jet’s vital importance to the structure’s continued existence, perhaps they would aid the lone artifix keeping it in working condition.

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to keep alive the machinery that feeds them, provides protection against radiation and heat, and pressurizes the air around them. It’s not comfortable or safe, but it’s a life.

Keesa: level 5, tasks related to running Sanctuary as level 7; Armor 2 Sub-control pods, page 49

Meshala, page 48

Helioduran, page 109 Lightning mourn, page 110 Ravvle, page 118 Pruthastan, page 117

Keesa: The leader of Sanctuary is a woman whose lower body is entirely mechanical. Called “The Commander” by the others, Keesa is a pragmatist. She was born in Sanctuary, like all the others still living. According to stories passed down by their parents and grandparents, the people came to this place (which they also call the Engine) through a “hole in space” that closed up after them, separating them from their people. Keesa and the others here have a lot of down-and-dirty knowledge regarding nearby areas, especially as relates to dangers that can be expected and the kind of salvage they can find. That’s probably not much use to more sophisticated characters. However, the Sancturans have something of incredible value, something their ancestors salvaged long ago and that many others have sought without any luck: a Control Center key. Keesa keeps the Control Center key on a metal chain securely fashioned around one wrist. It looks like a black glass bead that sometimes flashes red. Keesa uses it to open paths into locations that are otherwise locked. It would take much for her to even consider letting someone else borrow it, let alone take it, since the access it provides is probably the only reason the Sancturans remain alive. However, she might agree to accompany characters looking to enter the Control Center, assuming they help her out with a favor first.

PROPULSION JET Far larger than the repulsor jet, this monument to the prior worlds extends sternward, obviously designed to expel vast energies. Those energies were once created within the fusion chambers, which are now mostly cool. When active, the tongue of flame was so bright and long that it was visible even from Earth, for those who knew where to look and what they were looking at. As with the repulsor jet, sub-control pods are distributed around the circumference of the propulsion jet, though mostly near where the jet adjoins the sternward fusion chamber. Each pod is essentially a module chamber fitted with an access that leads directly into an adjacent portion of the jet’s interior, revealing long shafts of metal, crystal, and other materials, all surrounded by control machinery. Whereas the sub-control pods on the repulsor jet enjoy regular maintenance by an artifix named Meshala, the propulsion jet control pods are far more likely to have suffered long-term degradation thanks to the actions of invading creatures, such as heliodurans, lightning mourns, ravvle, and of course pruthastans. In addition to these threats, one of the sub-control pods has been overrun by splines, lliran, and wraiths and given the name Freedom Point. FREEDOM POINT This many-sided module chamber— refurbished as a community from a sub-control pod—features huge openings on all the faces, allowing its residents the freedom to see in almost every direction. Most of the automatons and biomechanicals that reside in Freedom Point believe themselves to be on the side

“In the time of our grandmothers’ grandmothers, our people came to the Engine. They should have died. But their determination and skill saw them through. They held on. More than that, they built Sanctuary. We owe everything to them. We owe everything to each other. Sanctuary continues to hold us in its life-giving embrace only because of our daily sacrifices. We thank our ancestors, but we also thank each other.” ~Keesa, leader of Sanctuary

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EXPLORING THE ENGINE

“Don’t do what others expect of you; do what you like. Don’t compare yourself to others; that’s an insult to who you are, or who you could be. Fight for what you believe; fight for freedom! And if you want to shine like the sun itself, you must burn twice as hot!” ~Typical sayings of Freedom Society members of what’s best for everyone. They profess that all should throw off the shackles of old programming, ignore the wisdom of their elders and so-called experts, and be free. Nearly all of them belong to the Freedom Society, headquartered in Freedom Point. Freedom Society: The rank and file of the Freedom Society are mostly lliran, splines, and wraiths. Many have the fervor of the newly converted. They regularly go on “freedom missions” organized by team captains, where they attempt to disrupt evidence of Engine repair, manufacturing, and other upkeep activities. They do this in the name of freedom, espousing ideals that may seem reasonable on their surface, but which all ultimately come down from a self-serving, power-mad entity called Denizen. A few sometimes realize they’ve been taken in by Denizen, and that Denizen has a hidden agenda. But most, having thrown in their lot and chosen their team, refuse to consider they might be in the wrong. Freedom Society members carry a green shield on their person, either displayed on a body screen, scrawled on a metallic carapace, or as in the case of team captains, carried like banners. If questioned about their goals, a Freedom Society captain talks about “liberating those imprisoned by ancient directives that no longer have any meaning.” They also ask, “Why go through these maintenance tasks each day when the Engine seems fine as it is?”

side of the Engine, with a beacon on top that shines like a star. This is the Control Center. Gaining entry is only possible for someone who has one of the very few remaining keys. (Denizen has one; so does Keesa.) The Control Center is detailed as part of the endgame in the adventure “The Sun Doth Move,” under Accessing the Control Center.

Accessing the Control Center, page 149

Denizen, page 124

Freedom Society Captain: as lliran, but level 6; may be able to summon a pruthastan (page 117) as ally

CONTROL CENTER A dome-like structure is situated halfway along the cylinder of the Engine. Most residents know that this is the fabled Control Center, visible as a moon-sized bump at the midpoint of the starward

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OTHER REACHES AND KEY SITES HEARSAY Stuttering Repulsor: A component in the repulsor jet is damaged. Even with the regular maintenance it receives, unless the part is replaced entirely, the repulsor jet will switch off. And as the repulsor goes, so goes the Engine. Freedom Society Infiltration: Surzen has uncovered worrying clues that some among the splines in Vronus may secretly be part of the Freedom Society, a group that proclaims to want to help the splines, but whose beliefs usually plunge a spline into an even deeper depression, or make one a violent fanatic. Missing Pods: In the last few decas, some of the sub-control pods on the repulsor jet and the propulsion jet have simply disappeared. Some residents believe this happened after a previously undiscovered function for travel was unlocked by salvagers. Perhaps that’s true, but a few pods were probably destroyed by ravvle. Sunspot Surge: According to a wraith “shaman,” the sun is on the verge of entering a new cycle of horrific sunspots, which will raise the ambient radiation to levels above the threshold that many residents of the Engine can withstand. Flesh shelters may offer biomechanicals and automatons protection that normally only flesh beings need. Fungal Hazards: Strange growths of fungus and plants have been on the uptick. Such growths are usually only dangerous because they clog up installations that produce needful things, or they coat a surface in such a way that it disrupts the normal method residents have of adhering. Worse, however, are new fungus and plant growths that animate to become actively dangerous.

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Unexpected Salvage: A spacecraft spiraling in from the outer solar system crashed into the Engine, warping one strut and severing several cables. Enterprising wanderers salvaged the ship, releasing beings of pure golden energy that say they come from the future. Parasite Swarm: The scourge of Engine parasites is worse than ever, suggesting a new source for the creatures, possibly in an otherwise little-visited reach.

THE WEIRD OF OTHER REACHES AND KEY SITES Another Key: Everyone knows that the original keys granting access to the Control Center are long lost, and stories of creatures gaining entry are mythical. However, according to an automaton named Raef, evidence of one of these keys being stored in the Halo has just been uncovered. Machine Infection: A strange lethargy has come upon many of the biomechanicals and automatons in the outer reaches, who are normally immune to and thus ignorant of such things. Those affected also feel strangely cold and suffer data stream interruptions (similar to hallucinations) featuring a somehow ominous green haze. Shadow in the Sun: From some vantage points, a weird dimness has been observed on the sun’s surface. The dimness moves around, but never in a way that can be predicted. Disquieting Transmissions: The machine channels used by the residents of the Engine have a new entrant, one that is being transmitted from an unknown location. The communication seems to consist almost entirely of hammering, cracking, and smashing. A few claim to be able to discern a rhythm in the noise. Could it be a message?

EXPLORING THE HALO CHAPTER 5

EXPLORING THE HALO

T

he Halo is a swarm of immense mirrors arranged in a ring orbiting tightly around the sun, plus a much smaller number of Halo control stations, each of which shepherds a subset of the mirrors. The primary purpose of the Halo is to feed the Engine. This region is flooded with radiation and heat from the sun, which means the living conditions are just as fraught for terrestrial beings as in other Engine locations, unless noted otherwise. Someone with even a basic knowledge of the numenera who gains access to one of the Halo control stations can deduce that the Halo selectively focuses reflected radiation and light back at the sun. The resultant reaction lifts materials from the sun’s surface, which is taken up by great intake valves in the Engine. Currently, ninety percent of the mirrors are randomly focused; only some actually provide fuel to the Engine, just enough to maintain the repulsor jet that keeps the entire structure from falling into the sun. If the Engine fusion chambers and connected propulsion jet were to restart, the mirrors would automatically adjust to provide enough fuel, assuming no malfunctions.

HALO MIRRORS Each Halo mirror measures dozens of miles in diameter, roughly proportioned like a dinner plate. The reflective side is tiled with azure steel segments. The back side is crisscrossed with metallic threads and devices. Normally, these devices listen for instructions sent by the closest Halo control station. Someone who physically visits one

could attempt to manually gain control of the mirror with a successful understanding numenera task, but such attempts are hindered by two steps due to mechanisms in place designed to prevent tampering. Control of an individual mirror, whether granted locally or through a nearby Halo control station, provides pointing capability as well as a limited capacity for movement. If someone were determined enough, they could use a mirror as a vehicle, though attempting to move through the mirror swarm can be tricky, especially if a Halo control station resists the attempt to remove a mirror from its fleet. As a vehicle, a mirror could easily reach any other mirror or control station in the Halo. Going to the Engine is also possible, though tricky, because most mirrors do not possess a mechanism to quickly bleed off the immense orbital velocity every mirror has in relation to the stationary Engine, which means those trying to steer one to the structure usually succeed only by crashing. Polishers: At any given time, a Halo mirror hosts a small fleet of polisher automatons that resemble transparent beetles, each about 10 feet (3 m) in diameter. They keep the mirror surface free of debris, replace azure steel tiles in the rare instances that that’s required, and otherwise manage upkeep of the object. They also defend their mirror from intruders.

Halo Control Stations, page 54

Engine Living Conditions, page 13

Repulsor jet, page 49

Polisher automaton: level 5; Armor 2; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum

Halo mirror: level 5

Azure steel, page 112

Internal Spaces: Every Halo mirror contains a cavity protected from the radiation and heat that floods through the vacuum so near the sun, though they are not

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Flesh shelter, page 36 Pocket chamber, page 60 Halo control station: level 6 The Citadel of Radiance is a Halo control station that is beginning to fail, if it hasn’t already. It features a transference dimensional portal leading to a location on the surface of the Ninth World. For more information, see The Vortex, page 14. Most Halo control stations transmit a locational beacon on an invisible machine channel, which provides a method for finding a particular station among the vast number of moving components.

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pressurized. Entrances are clearly marked on the exterior. Each internal space has a minimal and normally offline flesh shelter (which could be activated to create pressure and breathable atmosphere), as well as a small store of replacement azure steel tiles used by the polishers. A subset have additional features, similar to the variety of options presented for pocket chambers.

HALO CONTROL STATIONS A subset of the objects making up the Halo are control stations. They communicate with each other and with neighboring mirror components via invisible machine channels. This communication represents a hideously complex orbital dance designed to keep the mirrors and stations from crashing into each other, and more importantly, to keep reflection focus on specific spots on the sun’s surface despite the rapid velocity of each underlying component. Each control station is several dozen miles in diameter (or more), but in effect, each one is an individual automaton in its

own right. Over time, many have developed idiosyncrasies and even personalities, taking on names and “hobbies” that are not part of their original spec. A few have abandoned their roles entirely. Some had different original purposes for being part of the Halo—such as the Citadel of Radiance—whereas others have simply fallen into disrepair. Interacting With a Station: Because each station has some degree of self-awareness, approaching and entering one is far easier for characters who handle the task as a series of diplomatic challenges rather than as if entering a structure or ruin. Certainly it’s possible to do the latter, either because the PCs are ignorant of the invisible machine channels a station uses to communicate, or because of belligerence or a compelling reason to ignore the station’s desires. In such a case, the station rallies all its defenses to fend off the intruders. Station Defenses: Most Halo control stations have batteries of particle beam

EXPLORING THE HALO

The Halo control stations orbit the sun just as the mirror segments do, so a spacecraft disembarking from the Engine must make up the difference in velocity between the fixed Engine and the speeding Halo components. weapons capable of reaching for many miles, depending on the station’s state of repair. If vehicles or creatures approach a station from the exterior without permission and aren’t shielded from perception, the station attacks. Vehicular combat rules apply, especially if the intruders are approaching in a spacecraft. Lone creatures without a spacecraft stand little chance against a station in a straight-up fight. Besides exterior defenses, most control stations also employ guardian automatons within their interior, depending on the station’s state of repair. These automatons deal with internal threats, usually in groups of four. Station Personality: Most stations evince by-the-book, no-nonsense personalities. But some are playful, curious, cruel, despondent, and so on. Most are motivated by their primary responsibility. Some, however, have taken up additional goals, and have partly reconfigured their interiors to accommodate them. For instance, the station called Kularkesh has taken up gardening. A station can see through any of its guardian automatons and speak with its own voice (through an invisible machine channel). Alternatively, most any interior surface of a station can also speak with the station’s voice and provide sensory information to the station about what’s going on in any compartment. That’s not to say a station is omniscient regarding all the chambers that lie within it. Something significant must happen to draw a station’s attention to a particular point within itself. Internal Spaces: Every station has many interior chambers. As with the mirrors, a large number of these are protected from the radiation and heat that floods through the vacuum so near the sun, though they are not pressurized. Entrances are clearly

marked on the exterior. Most stations include the following specific chambers. Control Room: As the structure’s name suggests, Halo control stations feature a large control room. Each station, which is essentially a giant automaton, normally runs these processes itself, but the control room remains. Someone who succeeds on a couple of understanding numenera tasks could take control of the fleet of Halo mirrors that are within that station’s purview. However, control isn’t handed over without negotiation. If characters attempt to simply seize control, they come under siege from a large group of guardian automatons. Station Manufactories: An automated factory can be powered up to produce azure steel tiles in order to replenish the stores kept by various mirror segments. Powering up requires explicit permission of the station, and requires that solar particles be collected in a deployable dish-shaped net. A full collecting run takes a few months, but it’s often possible to do a partial run to create a few units of azure steel in a day. Other Chambers: Many contain various machines and devices in disrepair that, at minimum, could probably be salvaged for numenera. A subset have additional features, similar to the variety of options presented for module chambers, or as generated by rolling a few times on the Chamber Features Table.

Vehicular Combat, page 405

Guardian automaton: level 4; Armor 3; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum

Kularkesh, page 56

Module chamber, page 67 Chamber Features Table, page 62

HALO LOCATIONS The following two locations detail an individual Halo mirror with a trapped explorer, and a Halo control station with a gardening hobby.

MIRROR SEGMENT 9X*P5MBY!0 This Halo mirror (designated 9X for short) seems outwardly like a standard version. However, a repeating message transmitted

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Hyber, page 80

Monitor, page 113 Viridian Hazards, page 23 Greenish crystal shard: level 6

over an invisible machine channel leads those who interpret the signal as a call for help to this particular mirror. An active hyber (an artifact that encompasses contents in stasis) contains a biomechanical creature. If the hyber is deactivated successfully, the creature within wakes. It is a type of automaton known as a monitor. How things proceed at this point is a bit touch and go, as the monitor is disoriented and confused. It initially mistakes those who wake it as enemies. It’s up to the characters involved to deescalate if they can. Otherwise, if not stopped, the monitor attempts to steer the mirror segment directly into the sun, but save itself by jetting away. If calmed, the monitor instead proves grateful, in its own way. At first, it produces a few random cyphers for the PCs. Later, it appears when the characters could use an ally in an encounter.

KULARKESH The station known as Kularkesh is desperate to understand what’s gone wrong in its massive botanical chamber, which it has tended for thousands of years without incident. To gain help, it packed limited versions of itself into several dozen guardian automatons, then used its manufactory to create craft capable of reaching various points on the Engine and even the planets farther out into the solar system. Should anyone meet one of these envoys and agree to help, it arranges passage back to Kularkesh (either using the same craft it came on, or finding a way to activate augmechs that lie in storage on the station for the interested parties to use).

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The botanical chamber on Kularkesh is a dozen miles (19 km) in diameter, pressurized, and a radiation- and heat-free zone where fleshy beings can easily survive. The artificial environment resembles a rainforest and is rich with life, including small animals and insects. However, lately a scourge of deadly plant and fungus creatures have begun to take over, killing everything. These growths are consistent with those described under Viridian Hazards. In the short term, those seeking to end the issue discover that a greenish crystal shard embedded at the heart of the disturbance in the botanical chamber produces a transdimensional resonance. If the shard is destroyed, the acceleration of the Viridian’s influence is severed. But ultimately, the only way to restore the chamber completely is to start the Engine again and speed the sun and solar system away from the approaching threat.

THE HALO HEARSAY Station Politics: The various Halo stations must communicate on some level to coordinate the mirrors in their keeping. As with any community, factions among the stations have emerged based on differences of opinion that, to a non-station, seem especially esoteric. On the other hand, the stations that have abandoned their charges are considered to be criminals.

THE WEIRD OF THE HALO Solar Worms: An intrusion of burning, wormlike tendrils has been found growing on hundreds of mirror components. These intrusions are resistant to the polishers that normally deal with such things. Whenever automatons and biomechanicals get close, they begin to suffer mechanical glitches until they back away.

MAPPING THE ENGINE CHAPTER 6

MAPPING THE ENGINE

E

dge of the Sun describes many set locations in chapter 4 and chapter 5, as well as in the adventure in chapter 12. But the Engine of the Gods is a massive structure the size of a small planet, and far more of it is described only in general terms in this book, leaving it up to GMs to create encounters and locations to suit their needs. To help with direct inspiration, this chapter presents the Engine Map Generator for creating routes through the vacuum-swaddled, strut-framed reaches of the Engine.

MAPPING THE ENGINE The Engine of the Gods is essentially a massive space station, one primarily composed of vast interstitial spaces. Sometimes PCs can get a general idea of where they need to go by tapping into a nearby device connected to the Engine, but the route between their starting point and their ending point isn’t known. Other times, they might simply wander the Engine, hoping to find interesting discoveries. Any time characters move through the structure, there is an opportunity for exploration. The system provided here is designed to allow you to generate mapped routes, complete with new locations and encounters, on the Engine of the Gods. You can use it during a game session, generating a route and map of an area on the fly. Alternatively, you can create a mapped route ahead of time to help set the stage for a larger adventure.

MAPPING THE HALO As described in chapter 5, the Halo is composed primarily of great mirror sections of azure steel, which are embedded with minimal command-and-control functions to allow for pointing for best reflectivity. Scattered between them are orbiting control stations, responsible for shepherding the mirror sections. Finding these unfixed points at any given time requires a connection to the invisible machine channels, with the hope that the desired module is broadcasting a beacon. Thus, mapping the Halo using the deterministic method provided in this chapter isn’t really viable. Instead, if characters want to find a control station, they must attempt a level 7 understanding numenera task, presuming they first have a method for accessing the invisible machine channels (such as those provided by most augmechs). If successful, they can get a fix on a variety of stations. Reaching any point in the Halo from the sun requires a spacecraft or a direct transference method. The Halo control stations orbit the sun just as the mirror segments do, so a spacecraft disembarking from the Engine must make up the difference in velocity between the fixed Engine and the speeding Halo components. However, once the PCs reach a station, they can gain control of a large portion of nearby mirror fragments. You can also generate additional interesting features for the station by rolling a few times on the Chamber Features Table.

Chapter 4: Exploring the Engine, page 31 Chapter 5: Exploring the Halo, page 53 Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move, page 126

Chamber Features Table, page 62

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The system presented here—the Engine Map Generator—is tuned to work best with the structural features of the Engine of the Gods, but it could be adapted to generate encounters for nearly any prior-world facility.

ENGINE MAP GENERATOR

Eryth, page 34

Given how big and long most struts are, it’s possible that an entire new map you generate could stretch just a few miles along a single strut.

Struts Table, page 59

Engine Feature Table, page 60

If you have a copy of Jade Colossus: Ruins of the Prior Worlds, you could adapt the Numenera Ruin Mapping Engine presented in that book as a companion system to supplement the Engine Map Generator.

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To use the Engine Map Generator, choose a place on the Engine to begin mapping. A good place to start is an already-keyed site. For example, one of the noted locations is Eryth, a reach described in chapter 4. If you’re using the adventure in chapter 12, the PCs might decide to explore in a direction you haven’t prepared for. This system will inspire new locations and encounters. Alternatively, you can just start wherever. A random strut is the best place to begin, anywhere along its length. It’s up to you where the strut is located relative to other noted Engine locations. Whatever the situation, the process is the same. • Choose a direction along the strut you’ll be generating results for, then roll on the Struts Table. This table offers a random way to determine where along the strut to place features. • To determine what features to place, roll on the Engine Feature Table. • If some other kind of result is indicated, either map it directly, or roll on the indicated table. Note that you don’t have to roll immediately to see the exact nature of a generated feature; you can come back later, or never generate the specifics of the feature (if the characters never look to see what it is). Sometimes a feature indicated on the Engine Feature Table calls for a roll on a secondary table. For example, say you roll on the Engine Feature Table, and your result is “pocket chamber.” When you look up the pocket chamber description, you discover an associated section that provides instructions on how to generate the specifics of the chamber. Many Engine struts stretch hundreds of miles before reaching a joint, where several struts come together in a nexus. Thus, a given

map resembles a single line with features noted along the length at discrete points. Of course, since struts are not corridors or roads, but three-dimensional cylindrical buttresses, you should note the position of each feature around the strut’s circumference.

MAKING CALLS, INTERPRETING RESULTS Despite the fact that random dice play a central role in the mapping process, the system presented here is not designed to be fully deterministic. The tables are meant as a robust guide and flavorful inspiration for creating interesting situations and encounters for characters exploring the Engine of the Gods. However, it falls to you as the GM to interpret the results and modify them as necessary to create logical and fun maps. For example, if you’ve already determined through previous rolls that an area contains a particular feature of a specific size, then a nearby feature that overlaps the same area along the strut can’t simultaneously be there. At least, not without some interpretation. You have several options. Reposition Through Rotation: Because each strut has a circumference of several miles, it’s easy to rotate the result along the curve so that even though both features lie at the same distance from an arbitrary point along the strut’s length, they don’t overlap. This is probably the best method. Overlap: Maybe the feature you just rolled does exist contiguously with the previously rolled feature. Many times, it’s not an issue. For instance, in the case of a strut and a cable overlap, there’s no reason the cable couldn’t simply be connected to the strut. Likewise, if a creature abode is generated, it probably intersects one or more cables, is associated with a chamber, or has some other feature that the creatures have figured out how to exploit for their own gain.

MAPPING THE ENGINE Change or Ignore It: If nothing else works, remember that the map generator serves you, not the other way around. Change the feature to something that makes sense, or just ignore the result and move on. Congratulations. You’ve just begun mapping the Engine of the Gods.

MAKING CONNECTIONS TO KNOWN LOCATIONS If the characters are trying to find their way to a specific location or reach that is known (like many of the areas described in chapter 4), random feature generation can’t possibly get them there. Instead, look at the relative distances and direction already mapped, and decide whether the characters are close enough to the site they’re seeking for a connection to plausibly be made on the map you’re generating. If so, at some point along the map, stop rolling and make a newly generated feature the sought-for location.

STRUT Struts are the largest component of the latticework that forms the open, three-dimensional framework of the Engine. They not only help define borders between various reaches within the Engine, they are akin to highways or wide corridors, in the sense that by traveling along a strut, one eventually finds interesting secondary structures, new avenues to explore, creatures, and so on. Any given strut is miles in diameter. This means that PCs traveling along the length of a strut may not notice any given feature unless they take a spiraling route, as if following the imaginary stripes on a candy cane, as they move along. If characters do so, their reward is about three times the number of features rolled for any given length of strut, though they only travel about one third as much distance down the length as the xi-drake flies. To casual observation, struts appear to be dark metal, capable of absorbing a small

fraction of the unrelenting glare of the sun. Under very close scrutiny, the metal resembles a variety of hardened, metallized foam. Procedure: Roll or choose a result on the Struts Table. Each result indicates the distance traveled along a strut before another new feature is encountered. PCs following a spiraling path move one third less far along the strut’s length, but can survey its entire outer circumference as they travel along it. Whenever a feature is indicated, roll on the Engine Feature Table to determine what is found. Unless the result is a joint, continue rolling on the Struts Table for the separation between additional new features farther along the strut, as necessary or desired.

STRUTS TABLE d10

Feature Separation Along Strut

1

50 feet (15 m) to next Engine feature

2

100 feet (30 m) to next Engine feature

3

1,000 feet (300 m) to next Engine feature

4

2 miles (3 km) to next Engine feature

5

5 miles (8 km) to next Engine feature

6

6 miles (9.5 km) to next Engine feature

7

7 miles (11 km) to next Engine feature

8

8 miles (13 km) to next Engine feature

Chapter 4: Exploring the Engine, page 31

Tailor the maps generated to your needs, using judgment and common sense to curtail or adjust the results as necessary to ensure an interesting series of locations. In effect, use the generator as a guided series of design prompts to get the most out of it. Strut: level 7

9–10 9 miles (14.5 km) to next Engine feature

ENGINE FEATURE Roll on this table whenever you wish to generate an Engine feature. These features are usually located along a strut or cable.

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POCKET CHAMBER

ENGINE FEATURE TABLE d100

Engine Feature

Page Reference

01–20 Cable

60

21–58

Pocket chamber

60

59–75

Creature

66

76–82 Module chamber

67

83–90 Access tube terminal

69

91–00 Hazard

70

CABLE Cable: level 6

Chamber Features Table, page 62

Cables connect distantly located struts along much thinner intermediary lengths (or to other cables, which are in turn connected to distantly located struts). Cables provide a secondary structural component to the Engine. They also offer a large amount of additional surface area for the placement of installations, other machines, storage vaults, and other needful things. Thus, each cable is like a much thinner, flexible strut. As with struts, sections along a particular cable might be colonized or coopted by entities inhabiting the Engine. If a cable result is rolled on the Engine Feature Table, the endpoint of a 10-foot (3 m) diameter metallic braid of synthsteel is found bolted along the strut. The other end extends inward, reaching toward the center of the Engine. Procedure: To randomly generate what might be attached to the cable, use the Struts Table and the Engine Feature Table, adapting and interpreting the results as necessary to establish points of interest along a 10-foot (3 m) diameter cable instead of connections along a much more massive strut. For starters, interpret all pocket chamber results (spaces normally located inside the cylindrical length of a strut) as if they were module chambers (attached structures with internal space). If the result is a joint, a nexus of cables is reached (rather than a nexus of struts), all connecting to a synthsteel donut-shaped ring about 100 feet (30 m) in diameter. For the most part, results that make sense along a strut also make sense along a cable.

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Purpose-built chambers in a hollow within the immense struts of the Engine are common. If a pocket chamber result is rolled on the Engine Feature Table, the characters find an accessway on the strut’s exterior, usually appearing as a circular vault-like door some 25 feet (8 m) in diameter, complete with a control surface or physical controls. Like prior-world ruins found elsewhere, it’s difficult for explorers with merely human-level expertise to determine the original purpose of the pocket chamber. Despite that, explorers can sometimes discover useful things.

LIGHT Unless noted otherwise, pocket chambers are usually dark. Procedure: To generate a pocket chamber, roll once on the Chamber Condition Table and once on the Pocket Size Table. Next, determine contents. About 15 percent of the rooms discovered are empty; however, if you determine that one isn’t empty, roll on the Chamber Features Table to populate it with interesting and weird things. Last, roll percentile. About 15 percent (01–15 on d100) of pocket chambers connect to another pocket chamber (and so on from there). Generally, the conditions in the first pocket chamber are the same as for the second, but with different features. However, you could roll a separate condition for each connected pocket chamber if desired. Pocket chambers are generally spherical in shape. They usually also contain insets, cubbies, basins, nooks, and so on. It’s not necessary to explicitly detail the room’s shape to describe the situation to the PCs, but the GM can do so if desired.

MAPPING THE ENGINE CHAMBER CONDITION TABLE

POCKET SIZE TABLE

d20

Chamber Condition

d20

Pocket Size

1–2

Sealed with working airlock; interior is pressurized with breathable air that renews itself

1–2

Closet-sized*

3–4

5–17

Sealed with working airlock; interior is pressurized with breathable air, but air-renewing mechanism is fragile Unsealed, open to vacuum, but if sealed and air-renewing mechanism repaired, could be pressurized; salvage tasks hindered

18

Vault door missing, making airlock useless; open to vacuum; salvage tasks hindered

19

Sealed with working airlock, but claimed and repurposed by a creature; roll on Creature Table

20

Burned out completely by some past disaster; roll on Engine Hazards Table; salvage tasks hindered by two steps

3–6

15 feet (5 m) across*

7–15

30 feet (9 m) across**

16–18

50 feet (15 m) across

19

60 feet (18 m) across

20 90 feet (27 m) across *Too small for augmechs (page 84) **Uncomfortably tight for augmechs

CHAMBER FEATURES The chamber features described here are provided as inspiration, and the GM can develop them into a full encounter should PC explorers attempt to interact with a device. All effects, task difficulties, and defenses triggered by pocket chamber features are, on average, level 6, but feel free to vary that. For example, to figure out what a particular device or machine does, a character probably has to succeed on a difficulty 6 understanding numenera task. Generally, features of a pocket chamber— such as devices and machines found

Pressurized chambers are safe for beings normally unable to survive on the Engine, providing relief not only from vacuum, but also from environmental damage from the sun’s heat and radiation.

Creature Table, page 66 Engine Hazards Table, page 14

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Salvaging, page 108

within—are integrated into the room and can’t be removed without destroying them. They might be inset, emerge from a wall or floor, or be powered by something else in the chamber. (Exceptions are possible, if PCs employ ingenuity.) Any chamber that has a feature can probably be meticulously salvaged, or quickly salvaged for one or two cyphers and 1d10 shins.

09

Temporal decelerator; activity in room takes ten times as long from POV of anyone outside

10

Temporal accelerator; activity in room takes one tenth as long from POV of anyone outside

11

Seed repository from previous epochs of vegetation long extinct on Earth and other planets

12

Displays mostly incomprehensible symbols that fluctuate over time; on successful understanding numenera task, a user can obtain some comprehension:

CHAMBER FEATURES TABLE d100

Machine extrudes arbitrary lengths of 1-inch (2.5 cm) diameter synthsteel strands

02

Machine braids thinner synthsteel strands into cable-size braid

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Information Shown Sun “weather” and status

2

Halo orbital dynamics

Machine extracts all liquid from specified object or volume placed on/in adjoining receptacle

3

Engine structural status

4

Engine thruster status

5

Viridian proximity

04

Machine sears to ash any object placed on/in adjoining receptacle

6

Spline population centers

05

Free-floating translucent spheres, each filled with quivering yellow gel

7

Lliran population centers

8

Crèche locations and status

06

Machine displays other parts of the Engine, Halo, or sun surface

9

07

Device causes vibration of arbitrary frequency in object or volume placed on/in adjoining receptacle

Viridian “infection” spots on Engine (pruthastan activity, usually)

10

Solar system’s projected path through universe

Viridian, page 22

Access Tube Terminal, page 69

d10 1

03

Pruthastan, page 117

Chamber Feature

01

08

13

Breathable air and pressure generation; connects to adjoining access tube terminal in the strut

14

Tissue sample repository from previous epochs of life extinct on Earth and other planets

15

Flesh regenerator; allows PCs free recovery rolls on successful tasks to use installation

16

Flesh generator; if provided tissue sample, can grow a clone body part (or entire body)

17

Flesh recompiler; infects flesh with nanovirus that converts pure flesh to biomechanical flesh over several days, after which subject gains 3 Armor against radiation and heat

Fluid storage, roll for variety: d10

Fluid

1

Fresh water

2

Salt water

3

Methane (super cooled)

4

Iron (molten)

5

Acid

6

Pesticide/fungicide

7

Heavy water

8

Ethanol

9

Mercury

10

Programmable nanite slurry

MAPPING THE ENGINE 18

Racks of thousands of crystal ampules filed with mostly degraded nanites

19

Temporal apparatus (malfunctioning) physically ages nearby creatures one day per minute

33

Map of the Engine showing current vehicle ports with spacecraft in dock (most records are millennia out of date)

34

Crèche-like chamber containing dozens of powered-down level 1 cleaning automatons

20

Flesh illuminator; creature gains a spot on skin/surface that glows with bright light at will

35

Crèche-like chamber containing dozens of powered-down level 4 defense automatons

21

Fossil collection, mostly of weird starfish-like creatures in slate with oddly human eyes

36

22

Control surfaces provide augmech remote control from a crèche located elsewhere

Control surface for directing an Engine-mounted particle beam defense system with erratic reliability

37

Protein extrusion machine, adjustable to a wide variety of viable consumables; erratic reliability

38

Trash compactor; cleaning automatons deliver trash, and later it’s compacted and jettisoned into sun

39

Racks containing 1-foot (30 cm) cubes of frozen water, each bearing a unique symbol (a number)

40

Racks containing metallic pods, each filled with red crystal residue; if rehydrated, wraith forms

23

Umbilical ports provide augmech telepresence control from a crèche located elsewhere

24

Umbilical ports provide augmech datapresence control from a crèche located elsewhere

25

Crèche containing a single augmech in need of refurbishment and repair

26

Crèche containing a single working augmech

27

Installation that puts living creatures in state of hibernation

28

Installation that puts anything into stasis through local slowing of time

29

Leaking psychic energy reservoir makes a character believe they are an automaton tasked with some ancient directive

30

Reflective surfaces seem to show viewer and surroundings with visual flicker that constantly changes small aspects of the image; pandimensional energy is strong in chamber

31

Map of the Engine on the macro scale; with some fiddling, could get detailed, real-time views

32

Map of the Earth; with some fiddling, could get detailed, real-time views

41

Machine that dehydrates a living creature placed on/in adjoining receptacle, forming residue

42

Device exerts extreme gravity able to trap those unable to pull away

43

Pressurized, temperature-controlled flesh shelter (see Nardan Flesh Shelter)

Augmech, page 84

Wraith, page 122

Nardan Flesh Shelter, page 36

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Direct transference, page 29

44

Direct transference facility aimed at one of the following locations, which usually has a similar facility pointing back to the initial location, though it may require repair: d10

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1

One Engine malfunction

2

Sun’s increasing temperature

3

Viridian’s approach

4

Location of a crèche

5

Location of a direct transference device

Another part of Engine

2

Halo

3

Ruin on Earth

4

Ruin on Mars (Naharrai)

5

Cloud city on Venus (Urvanas)

6

Asset on next Intellect task

6

Ruin on the moon

7

Location of an artifact

7

Ejection into the sun

8

Location of a cypher cache

8

Adjustable location

9

Songs splines like to sing

9

Toward Viridian

10

10

Toward a defunct space station in outer solar system

Plasmar weakness (acts as an asset in any interaction or combat)

46

Displays strange fiery structures on sun’s surface (possibly plasmar cities)

47

Displays fixed on the Engine city of Wrawn

48

Knowledge Transferred

1

Doll-like synth versions of various Engine-native automatons and biomechanical creatures

Wrawn, page 39

Scintillating symbols on crystal display can upload knowledge directly into viewers’ minds: d10

Transference Destination

45

Plasmar, page 116

49

Scintillating symbols on crystal display act as fascination traps, until victims can look away

50

Hoop duplicates one piece of equipment passed through it

51

Hoop coats whatever passed through it in matte black coating; creatures risk suffocating until they can clear covering from mouth and/or nose; others blinded/deafened/sense deprived until coating cleared

52

Medical machine heals creature but sometimes adds vestigial limb

53

Floor whispers in unknown language

54

Gooey yellow fluid sluggishly flows in complex series of transparent tubes

55

Device with five handle-like controls; if all grabbed, a shudder shakes entire span

56

Machine covered in complex pattern of pulsating spots, going from flat to convex and back again

57

Device permanently imbues object with additional mass (up to ten times as much as normal)

58

Device translates all languages spoken, including machine languages, to language of listener

MAPPING THE ENGINE 59

Window-like pane looking out on realm of ever-changing fractal designs

72

Scuttling automatons draw together, becoming a single dangerous threat

60

Window-like pane looking down on surface of vast sea of silvery fluid

73

Vapor fills the chamber, arising from the unmoving form of an unknown creature

61

Purple column hums and rumbles, sometimes dropping leaf-like scales of synthsteel

74

Metallic plate on the wall vigorously attracts cyphers to its surface

75

62

Cracks in the outer surface of the chamber imply degraded chamber integrity

Device overcharges nearby cyphers, increasing level by +2 or detonating them

76

63

Automatons fall immobile in chamber; biomechanical creatures’ tasks are hindered

Screen flashes the faces of nearby creatures, then displays detailed map of their recent travels

77

64

Light sculpture duplicate of explorer forms and asks for clearance code

Screen is mostly static, sometimes clears to form image of potential future

78

65

Orrery-like mechanism, broken

Machine tries to sort all objects according to size

66

Two eyelike orbs gaze independently; if gaze locks on single target, petrification begins

79

Boxing machine; attempts to containerize nearby creatures and objects

67

Wide surface dyes anything placed on it bright red

80

Iotum repository

81

68

Machine attempts to extract power supply (or organ) of nearby creatures

Device blends two creatures into a single whole (results not always viable)

82

69

Machine gradually freezes objects (and creatures that don’t move away) to absolute zero

Device creates two creatures from a single creature (results not always viable)

70

Machine sprays a fine grit of nanites over target; the nanites behave as follows: d10

71

Nanite Behavior

1

No effect

2

Try to eat target

3

Glow in the dark

4

Replace/add weird eyes

5

Replace/add tentacle

6

Melt equipment

7

Form a new cypher

8

Form a new artifact

9

Enhance sense of touch

10

Grant +1 Armor

Machine dispenses an oddity

83

Device shrinks objects or creatures

84

Mechanism incorporates a cypher carried by a creature into its body

85

Mechanism produces different melodies over various communication channels

86

Jumble of textured metallic cubes sealed in extra-secure vault

87

Memory-affecting machine erases last few minutes of experience

88

Machine recharges a depleted artifact

89

Machine depletes a working artifact

90

Device quizzes creatures on arcane maintenance schedule for Engine

Anything that affects an automaton or biomechanical creature will usually affect an augmech (page 84).

Iotum, page 107

Oddities, page 304

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91

Malfunctioning device transfers machine virus to nearby automatons or biomechanical creatures

92

Synthsteel column holds slithering lines of emerald goo

93

Transparent panes create mazelike path across chamber, currently trapping a random creature

94

Crèche containing an augmech piloted by a malicious datasphere sprite

95

Racks holding library of prosthetic manipulating limbs (including a few fleshy human hands)

96

Huge manipulating arm acts erratically

97

Exit seals after entry, creating a trap

98

Translucent cube tumbles at chamber’s center

99

Shaft of brilliance imparts regular Earth gravity to any creature that enters it (most of the Engine experiences low gravity)

00

Temporal glitch forces creatures to repeat previous few minutes until they can escape

CREATURE Chapter 10: Creatures, page 102

Disassemblers, page 233 Ravage bear, page 249 Laak, page 239

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Creatures encountered on the Engine and Halo are primarily those described in chapter 10. Use the Interaction and Use sections of a creature’s entry to inspire its reaction to the PCs and what it might be up to. Results on the Creature Table provide an option for using creatures presented in other Numenera products. If such a creature is encountered, adapt its circumstances so they make sense in the context of the Engine. For some creatures, adaptation will be minimal. For example, the appearance of disassemblers or other automatons on the Engine doesn’t require much adaptation, if any. On the other hand, if a ravage bear is indicated, perhaps it wandered into a transference device and now is stuck in a pressurized chamber. If laaks are indicated, maybe this variety has been somehow modified to exist in a

pressure-less environment. Any number of human NPCs might have been squatting in a spacecraft that some other entity found and used to travel to the Engine, leaving them stranded. And so on. Procedure: Roll on the Creature Table. Use the Environment section of the creature’s entry to decide how many creatures of the specified kind are encountered.

CREATURE TABLE d100 01–04 05–09 10–14 15–18 19–22 23–26 27–30 31–34 35–38 39–42 43–46 47–50 51–54 55–58 59–62 63–66 67–70 71–74 75–76 77–79 80–00

Creature Encountered Chytrid Drahq Engine parasite Flesh buster Freecycler Gaurn Helioduran Lightning mourn Lliran Locust Monitor Murder bloom Phantom architect Plasmar Pruthastan Ravvle Spline Strut ooze Suneko (titanothaur) Wraith If you have Numenera Bestiary 3, roll a d6 to determine which random encounter table to roll on (otherwise, ignore this result, and reroll or choose from options 01–79 above): d6 Random Encounter Table 1 Exploring Ruins (Table A) 2 Exploring Ruins (Table B) 3 Existing in the Fringes of Civilization (Table A) 4 Existing in the Fringes of Civilization (Table B) 5 Exploring the Night 6 Uncovering an Area Where Nothing Should Live

MAPPING THE ENGINE

MODULE CHAMBER Module chambers are distinguished from pocket chambers because they exist as separate structures (“modules”) attached along a strut or tethered to a cable rather than as compartments inside a strut. If a module chamber result is rolled on the Engine Feature Table, the characters observe the external structure from a very long distance away or even farther. It’s usually easy to find an array of entrances on the module’s surface, ranging from those as small as a circular vault-like door some 25 feet (8 m) in diameter, to vast force-field controlled gaps (when sealed against vacuum) a few thousand feet across that are suitable to be used as docks for incoming spacecraft. Smaller entrances typically feature control surfaces or physical controls. Module chambers are almost always much larger than pocket chambers, since their construction was not bounded to a strut’s interior cylindrical shape. Often, module chambers are constructed of synthsteel. Most include portholes or larger transparent sections at regular intervals.

LIGHT Unless noted otherwise, module chambers have portholes or other transparent sections, allowing the light of the sun to illuminate the interior. Procedure: To generate a module chamber, roll once on the Chamber Condition Table (pocket chambers and module chambers use the same table to determine condition) and once on the Module Size Table. Next, determine contents. About 25 percent of the modules discovered are empty of anything but detritus and wreckage; however, if you determine that one isn’t empty, roll on the Module Features Table to populate the chamber with interesting and weird things. (The Module Features Table has several unique options, but also refers back to the Chamber Features Table.) Last, see if the module is alone or connected to another one. About 10 percent of module chambers connect to another module chamber or—if you prefer and the module is attached to a strut—to a

Chamber Condition Table, page 61 Module Size Table, page 68

Module Features Table, page 68 Chamber Features Table, page 62

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Module chambers are securely attached to the strut (or series of cables). However, in disasters of sufficient magnitude, a module could become detached. If heroic methods are not quickly employed, the detached module falls into the sun.

Salvaging, page 108

pocket chamber. Generally, the conditions in the first module chamber are the same as for the second, but with different features. However, you could roll a separate condition for each connected module chamber if desired. Module chambers are usually boxy or rectangular. Sometimes they are one massive open space, and other times they are broken into smaller sections, especially those 10 or more miles across.

MODULE SIZE TABLE

Hover disc, page 174 Fiery ascender, page 173 Burrower, page 171 Flyer, page 174 Planetary escape pod, page 176 Terapede, page 177 Junkwing, page 176 Voidglider, page 178 Battle flyer, page 170

Creature Table, page 66

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d20

Module Size

1–2

2,000 feet (600 m) across

3–6

1 mile (1.5 km) across

7–15

5 miles (8 km) across

16–18

10 miles (16 km) across

19

100 miles (160 km) across

20

200 miles (320 km) across, reroll, and add distance to previous result

Any module that has a feature can probably be meticulously salvaged, or quickly salvaged for one or two cyphers and 1d10 shins.

MODULE FEATURES TABLE d100

01–08 Spacecraft port or vehicle depot, usually long abandoned and mostly filled with wreckage except for the spacecraft or vehicle rolled on the following table; vehicles are adapted to work along struts or cables; sealed ports feature a working force field covering a large gap that would otherwise be open to space: d10

MODULE FEATURES The module features described here are provided as inspiration, and the GM can develop them into one or more encounters should the PCs attempt to explore inside. All effects, task difficulties, and defenses triggered by module chamber features are, on average, level 6, but feel free to vary that. For example, to figure out what a particular device or machine does, a character probably has to succeed on a difficulty 6 understanding numenera task. Generally, features of a module chamber—such as devices and machines found within—are integrated into the room and can’t be removed without destroying them. They might be inset, emerge from a wall or floor, or be powered by something else in the chamber. (Exceptions are possible, if PCs employ ingenuity.)

Module Features

Port Features

1

Hover disc dispensary

2

Fiery ascender

3

Burrower (moves in struts)

4

Flyer

5

Planetary escape pod

6

Terapede

7

Junkwing

8

Voidglider

9

Battle flyer

10

Roll twice more; apply both results to port/depot

09–16 Depot for legion of strut and cable repair automatons (level 3), usually inactive 17–24

City; 50% chance to be abandoned and mostly filled with wreckage; otherwise pressurized and inhabited; roll on Creature Table to determine current (or former) primary inhabitant

MAPPING THE ENGINE 25–33

Control substation; provides those interested in accessing control over Engine functions two assets to all such tasks, but defenses usually act up to prevent unauthorized access

34–42 Industrial manufactory; 50% chance to be abandoned and mostly filled with wreckage; otherwise tended by workers (who probably tend the machines out of habit, not knowledge); roll on Creature Table to determine nature of workers; the manufactory’s primary output is as follows, usually spread out between massive, module-filling machines; machines that produce iotum require constant tending: d10

Manufactory Specialty

1

Strut sections

2

Braiding cables

3

Responsive synth plating

4

Apt clay blocks

5

Bio-circuitry reams

6

Synthsteel ingots

7

Pliable metal foam

8

Mimetic gel canisters

9

Amber crystal facets

10

Protomatter canisters

43–66 Maintenance pod containing a variety of parts, components, iotum, and several biomechanical beings (such as lliran) or repair automatons in hibernation/stasis that can potentially be activated to deal with an Engine emergency 67–00 Roll on the Chamber Features Table; roll several times as needed to fill a wider space, or assume that except for one or two areas of interest, the rest of the modules are empty of anything but detritus and wreckage

ACCESS TUBE TERMINAL Access tubes exist within almost every strut. Not normally visible except at specific depots, the tubes form a vast internal network reaching throughout the Engine. Someone knowledgeable about access tubes—and who knows which ones are functional and which to avoid—can move about the Engine nearly at will, getting from one point to another within just a few hours. If an access tube terminal is indicated on the Engine Feature Table, characters find an entrance, usually appearing as a circular cavity some 40 feet (12 m) in diameter, open to vacuum. Inside is a wide chamber pierced by a 200-foot (60 m) tube extending in either direction parallel to the strut in which it’s embedded. Two metallic rails extend down the tube in either direction, lying on opposite sides of the tube. Each terminal usually has at least one travel capsule in the depot, which is a cylindrical, train-like vehicle with several separate “cars.” Travel capsules, if understood and operated correctly, race along one of the rails toward a predetermined destination, which can be set either within the control cabin of a capsule or from a control kiosk in the terminal. About 20 percent of terminals on the Engine are burned out, empty of anything but wreckage, and require some repair before a travel capsule can safely traverse its length. In addition, about 20 percent of terminals have acquired inhabitants. For these, roll on the Creature Table to determine what kind of creature (or creatures) have colonized the space. Setting a Destination: Though many inhabitants of the Engine use general directions to get around, those with a deeper understanding of the numenera know that many of its components, including the access tube network, use a specific coordinate system known as the Intraengine Coordinate System, or ICS. This system assigns every 10-foot (3 m) square on the Engine a unique four-coordinate address, which means it’s possible to specify exactly where one wishes to go. Figuring this out (and finding the address of

Travel capsule: level 6; each “car” of the capsule can be individually pressurized

Iotum result table, page 110 Responsive synth, page 111 Apt clay, page 111 Bio-circuitry, page 112 Synthsteel, page 112 Pliable metal, page 112 Mimetic gel, page 112 Amber crystal, page 112 Protomatter, page 112

Lliran, page 111 Repair automaton: level 3, tasks related to Engine upkeep and repair as level 5 Chamber Features Table, page 62 General directions, page 12 Intraengine Coordinate System, page 12

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the desired destination) requires a couple of level 6 understanding numenera tasks. Once a destination is set and the “Go!” command is input, the travel capsule races off through the open tube on one of the two metallic rails. If nothing adverse happens, the capsule reaches the destination in minutes or hours, depending on how far away it is (or how many times the capsule must reroute). The ride is utterly quiet and smooth—again, barring any disruptions— as the capsule first accelerates and then decelerates through the airless tube using magnetic levitation. Trip Disruptions: Like everything on the Engine, the access tube network is no longer in perfect working order. If you wish, choose one of the following disruptions or roll randomly to determine if anything happens. If something does disrupt a trip, present the occurrence as a GM (group) intrusion. Engine Hazards Table, page 14

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ACCESS TUBE TRIP DISRUPTION TABLE d100

Disruption

01–85

No disruption.

86–90 Obstruction. On a failed Speed task to quickly take manual control or reroute the travel capsule, a grazing strike inflicts 6 points of damage to everyone aboard. On a triggered GM intrusion (if a 1 is rolled), the travel capsule is destroyed. 91–00 Creature. On a failed Intellect task to notice in time, a creature hidden aboard another car of the travel capsule launches an ambush attack when travelers are most vulnerable; roll on the Creature Table.

HAZARD The indicated area is compromised with a hazard; roll on the Engine Hazards Table.

PART 3:

THE NUMENERA

Chapter 7: Cyphers Chapter 8: Artifacts Chapter 9: Augmechs

William Kwan (Order #33596357)

72 77 84

CHAPTER 7

CYPHERS Cypher side effect GM intrusions: Gravity fluctuation, nearby device is triggered, old recording begins to play, a monitor (page 113) is summoned, unexpected detonation, invisible machine channels light up like a beacon, encapsulating force field, and so on Augmechs, page 84 Telepresence, page 86 Datapresence, page 87

Equipment Use, page 88

Finding and Identifying Cyphers, page 274

M

any cyphers associated with the Engine of the Gods and its structures are much like cyphers found in other locations. A few new general cyphers are described in this chapter, but most of the new cyphers presented here are intertwined in some fashion with life at the edge of the sun.

PREFERS EXTREME SUNLIGHT A subset of the cyphers in this chapter were not only designed to operate in the harsh conditions near the sun, but actually require them to operate, drawing vitality from the radiant energy. Such cyphers have a “Prefers Extreme Sunlight” tag in the Effect line of their entry. If such a cypher is not used while bathed in the radiation and heat near the sun, the GM intrusion range for the cypher is 1–4 instead of 1. If a GM intrusion is triggered, the cypher may simply fail to work (but not be burned out); however, the effect could be as varied as normal and burn the cypher out, as the GM determines.

CYPHER SUNLIGHT DEGRADATION For many Ninth World cyphers, an equivalent cypher exists on the Engine of the Gods that produces the same effect, but the cypher requires extreme sunlight.

Cyphers that work fine under normal conditions may be more likely to malfunction in the extreme heat and

radiation near the sun. If a normal cypher is used, the GM intrusion range for the cypher is 1–3 instead of 1. If a GM intrusion is triggered, the cypher is likely to generate an odd effect instead of the intended one, or (if the GM desires) the intended effect plus a weird side effect.

AUGMECH CYPHER USE If a PC controls an augmech, especially if doing so via telepresence or datapresence, they can make use of cyphers normally, in most cases. The GM may determine that some cyphers are not usable due to a logical incompatibility that can’t be bridged, but generally, PCs in prosthetic bodies should be able to use the cyphers they find. Even so, sometimes when augmechs use equipment, a related task is hindered because augmechs are larger than humans.

FINDING CYPHERS Cyphers on the Engine of the Gods are found normally. Mechanically speaking, finding and identifying cyphers in any given location works the same way as it does in the Ninth World. Ultimately, it’s up to the GM whether a particular source can be salvaged for cyphers.

Using items of the numenera while constantly being bombarded with radiation hot enough to burn flesh risks item malfunction.

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CYPHERS

CYPHER TABLE When giving cyphers to characters, choose from this table or roll d100 to select randomly. d100

Cypher

46–50 Magnetic grip helm

01–05 Augmech crown

51–55

06–10 Augmech handset

56–62 Penumbra glove

11–15

63–70 Skin of phasing

Biting glove

Mask of machine speaking

16–20 Breather

71–75

21–25

76–80 Spline coder

Cling skin

Spatiotemporal reset

26–30 Engine eyes

81–85

31–35

86–90 Sun shroud

Engine reset

36–40 Eye of mind speaking 41–45

GMs should not be afraid to generate cyphers randomly. Sometimes giving a character something no one expected leads to the most interesting situation.

Sun shield

91–00 Vacuum protector

Helpful thread

A SELECTION OF CYPHERS AT THE EDGE OF THE SUN AUGMECH CROWN Level: 1d6 + 3 Wearable: Head-covering helm studded with strange devices Effect: User can use telepresence to remotely control a keyed augmech for up to 28 hours (or up to 140 hours if the cypher level is 7 or higher).

AUGMECH HANDSET Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Handheld device studded with strange devices; a “hand controller” Effect: User can remotely control a keyed augmech for up to 28 hours. All non-routine actions attempted by the controlled augmech are hindered by two steps. The user must be able to see the augmech to effectively control it with the device. If the cypher is level 6 or higher, the user can control the augmech without seeing it directly (instead, the user sees what the augmech sees through a display projected by the hand controller). Furthermore, the user can be hundreds of thousands of miles away from the augmech without losing control.

Remote Control, page 86

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BITING GLOVE

ENGINE RESET

Level: 1d6 + 1 Wearable: Three-fingered biomechanical glove Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): When first worn, the cypher inflicts 1 point of damage as the glove constricts and makes a connection. For the next 28 hours, while the glove remains active and worn, any task requiring the wearer to hold or manipulate an object is hindered. During the same period, the user can extend short, needlelike synthsteel teeth from the glove as part of another action. While the teeth are extended, the wearer’s unarmed melee attacks inflict additional damage equal to the cypher level.

Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Handheld device Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Produces a pulse attack that renders all devices and machines directly associated with the Engine within a 2-mile (3 km) radius inert for one minute. The pulse does not render automatons or biomechanical beings associated with the Engine inert, but it stuns them for a couple of rounds, during which they are unable to take their turns.

BREATHER The breather also mitigates other negative effects of vacuum on biology, including the effects of zero pressure.

Level: 1d6 Wearable: Mask Effect: For 28 hours, the wearer can breathe normally, even in a vacuum.

CLING SKIN A cling skin cypher does not confer protection against vacuum; a wearer subject to damage in a zero-pressure environment also needs a breather or some other sort of protection.

Level: 1d6 Wearable: Thin wrap of mirror-reflecting material that completely covers wearer’s skin Usable: Mirror-reflective pill Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): For 28 hours, the wearer gains Armor equal to the cypher level that protects against fire and radiation damage.

ENGINE EYES Level: 1d6 Wearable: Lens worn over eyes Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): For 28 hours, the wearer gains two assets on Engine tasks, including tasks for accessing systems, repairing systems, finding directions, and so on. (The effect grants a single asset to tasks related to identifying, using, and otherwise interacting with non-Engine numenera.)

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EYE OF MIND SPEAKING Level: 1d6 Usable: Small metallic disc Effect: When applied to a wearer’s head, the disc immediately unleashes microfilaments that enter the brain. After five minutes, an eyelike milky orb opens in the center of the disc. For the next 28 hours, the wearer gains a sixth sense, allowing them to see all creatures with minds within long range limned in a glowing aura. This allows the wearer to gauge a creature’s relative mental strength (its level) and see its silhouette even in otherwise lightless conditions, or if the wearer’s line of sight is blocked. The wearer can attempt mental communication with a creature they can sense, but the target can refuse contact.

HELPFUL THREAD Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Injector Effect: Injects a tiny wormlike thread that visibly travels just beneath the user’s skin. For the next 28 hours, the helpful thread can communicate telepathically with the user. The helpful thread remembers everything that happens to the user, can have limited conversations regarding the user and their experiences, and generally makes an ideal sounding board for the user. The helpful thread provides an asset to Intellect tasks.

CYPHERS MAGNETIC GRIP HELM Level: 1d6 + 1 Wearable: Head-covering helm studded with strange devices Effect: Once the helm is activated, the wearer can exert force on metal objects within short range for up to one hour. The force exerted is approximately equal to the strength of a fit, capable, adult human. The wearer can use it to slowly move or push off from metal objects, and so on. This force lacks the fine control to wield a weapon or move quickly, so in most situations, it’s not a means of attack.

MASK OF MACHINE SPEAKING Level: 1d6 + 1 Wearable: Mask Effect: Once activated, this mask covers the wearer’s face, neck, arms, and hands with a silvery-gold tracery that pulses with threads of light. For the next 28 hours, the wearer gains an

asset to all tasks related to tracking, salvaging, communicating, attacking, or defending against machines. During this period, the wearer can attempt to take command of a machine within short range that they can sense. An affected machine obeys the wearer’s will for one hour, or until the wearer tries to command a different machine or the machine breaks free of the control in some fashion.

PENUMBRA GLOVE Level: 1d6 + 2 Wearable: Six-fingered black metal gauntlet Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): When first worn, the cypher inflicts 1 point of damage as the glove constricts and makes a connection. For the next 28 hours while the glove remains active and worn, the wearer can extend a light-eating shadow to cover a weapon they wield as part of another action. The shadow dissipates if the wearer stops holding or carrying the weapon. While the shadow cover persists, the weapon inflicts additional cold damage equal to the cypher level.

SKIN OF PHASING Level: 1d6 + 4 Wearable: Thin wrap of glistening material that lies itself across large sections of wearer’s skin Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Once the wrap is activated, the wearer gains control of their phase state for 28 hours. The wearer can slowly pass through physical barriers at a rate of 1 inch (2.5 cm) per round (minimum of one round to pass through any barrier). They can’t act on or perceive anything until they pass entirely through the barrier. Force fields repel movement, returning the wearer to the point of entry. Alternatively, the wearer can change their phase when they make a Speed defense roll, which is eased. Each time they do so, the remaining duration of the cypher drops by one hour.

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SPATIOTEMPORAL RESET

VACUUM PROTECTOR

Level: 1d6 Usable: Handheld device Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): A target in long range is effectively regressed in time to the same state it was in at the beginning of its previous round. Anything it experienced personally is wiped away, including benefits conferred, damage dealt, and memories accumulated, up to and including a catastrophic effect, such as death. No other creature is affected by the reset.

Level: 1d6 + 2 Internal: Subdermal implant Wearable: Bodysuit, belt Usable: Injector Effect: Keeps the user alive in vacuum for 28 hours by protecting against extremes of heat and cold and eliminating the need to breathe for the duration. If the cypher is level 6 or higher, it also grants 5 Armor against environmental heat and radiation of the kind generated close to the sun.

SPLINE CODER

Spline, page 119

Level: 1d6 Wearable: Mask Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): For 28 hours, the wearer has two assets on all interaction tasks with splines.

SUN SHIELD Level: 1d6 Wearable: Device-studded belt or sash Effect: For 28 hours, the wearer has 5 Armor against damage from vacuum, heat, and radiation.

SUN SHROUD Level: 1d6 + 3 Wearable: Cloak of translucent fabric Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): When the cloak is activated, the wearer’s body is shrouded in flames for up to one hour. The fire doesn’t burn the wearer, but it automatically inflicts fire damage equal to the cypher level on anyone who tries to touch or strike the wearer. While the shroud is active, the wearer also gains Armor equal to the cypher level that protects against fire and radiation damage from other sources.

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ARTIFACTS CHAPTER 8

ARTIFACTS

A

rtifacts are rare treasures of the Engine of the Gods that grant multiple uses until depleted. As with cyphers and most objects, the artifacts in this chapter often have specific uses associated with the Engine, though several can be used anywhere on the Engine or the surface of Earth to gain their benefit.

PREFERS EXTREME SUNLIGHT A subset of the artifacts in this chapter were not only designed to operate in the harsh conditions near the sun, but actually require them to operate, drawing vitality from the radiant energy. Such artifacts have a “Prefers Extreme Sunlight” tag in the Effect line of their entry. If such an artifact is not used while bathed in the radiation and heat near the sun, the GM intrusion range for the artifact is 1–4 instead of 1. If a GM intrusion is triggered, the artifact may simply fail to work (but not deplete).

ARTIFACT SUNLIGHT DEGRADATION Artifacts that work fine under normal conditions may be more likely to deplete in the extreme heat and radiation near the sun. If a normal artifact is used under these

conditions, increase the depletion range by 3. For example, if the artifact would normally deplete on a roll of 1 on a d6, d10, d20, or d100, it instead depletes on a roll of 1–4.

AUGMECH ARTIFACT USE If a PC controls an augmech, especially if doing so via telepresence or datapresence, they can make use of artifacts normally, in most cases. A GM may determine that some artifacts are not usable on a case-by-case basis. However, unless a logical incompatibility exists that can’t be bridged, PCs in prosthetic bodies should be able to use the artifacts they find. Even so, sometimes when augmechs use equipment, a related task is hindered because augmechs are larger than humans.

Augmechs, page 84 Telepresence, page 86 Datapresence, page 87 For many varieties of Ninth World artifacts, an equivalent artifact exists on the Engine of the Gods that produces the same effect, but the artifact requires extreme sunlight. Equipment Use, page 88

FINDING ARTIFACTS Finding artifacts on the Engine of the Gods is essentially the same as finding cyphers. They can be found in the possession of other creatures, salvaged from various systems and equipment that exists across the Engine, or created in an Engine manufactory or by an augmech artificer. Mechanically speaking, finding, identifying, and using artifacts in any

“A voice is coming out of this ring. I thought it was a sun demon, at first. But the more it talks, the more I think it might be the Nano who gave us this ring in the first place. Who can know?” ~Grandpa Iron

Salvaging, page 108

Artificer, page 90

Finding, Identifying, and Using Artifacts, page 289

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ARTIFACT TABLE When giving artifacts to characters, choose from this table or roll d100 to select randomly. d100

Artifact

01–04 Augmech controller

50–53

Renewal pod

54–58

Scanner automaton

05–09 Augmech throne

59–62 Sentinel set

10–13

Autarch actuator

63–66 Speaking ring

14–17

Courier automaton

67–70 Stun saber

18–21

Dimensional modulator

71–74

Sunsuit

22–25

Exohand

75–78

Tool of the gods

26–29 Flit

79–82 Universal cutter

30–33

Gravity adapter

83–86 Universal pack

34–37

Hand scanner

87–90 Upgrade module

38–41

Hyber

91–96 Vortex projector

42–45 Mechanic

97–00 Whatsoever case

46–49 Molecular joiner

Technically, the augmech throne and autarch actuator are installations, but that distinction is only important for characters who try to craft one.

Installations, page 154 Telepresence, page 86

given location works similarly to how it does in the Ninth World, with the caveats regarding the volatile environment already described. Ultimately, it’s up to the GM whether a particular source can be salvaged for artifacts; sometimes a given piece of equipment, a defeated augmech, or a larger system has nothing to offer.

A SELECTION OF ARTIFACTS AT THE EDGE OF THE SUN AUGMECH CONTROLLER

Remote Control, page 86

Using an augmech controller is an imprecise method of control, and without training, all actions taken by the user-controlled augmech are hindered by two steps.

Augmech crèche, page 85

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Level: 1d6 + 4 Form: Handheld device with viewscreen Effect: An augmech controller allows a user to control an augmech within very long range for up to 28 hours per use, using the remote control method. Augmech controllers of level 7 and higher can control augmechs within 100 miles (160 km), using the screen to orient the user with the augmech’s location. Level 10 augmech controllers can control an augmech found anywhere in the solar system. An augmech controller is usually found keyed to a particular augmech, or with one of several options available in a nearby augmech crèche. Depletion: 1 in 1d10

AUGMECH THRONE Level: 1d6 + 4 Form: Recliner-like immobile chair with lowerable head-covering helm Effect: An augmech throne requires that the user spend a few rounds settling into the reclining chair and activating it before they can attempt to control an augmech within solar system range using the telepresence control method. An augmech throne is usually found keyed to a particular augmech, or with one of several options available in an augmech crèche anywhere in the solar system. Once control is established, the user can control the augmech for up to ten hours per use. A user of the augmech throne can’t sense their regular body; they feel as if the augmech is their body. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

AUTARCH ACTUATOR Level: 1d6 + 4 Form: Free-standing portal with associated devices Effect: An autarch actuator requires that the user spend one round activating the artifact, and another round entering it. From the perspective of an external observer, the user disappears. From the user’s perspective, they become an augmech. This sense of transformation

ARTIFACTS is provided through datapresence control. Once a user goes through the portal, no one else can enter it until the user abandons control of the augmech (and, in most cases, returns through the portal). An autarch actuator is usually found keyed to a particular augmech, or with one of several options available in an augmech crèche anywhere in the solar system. Once control is established, the user can control the augmech indefinitely. The user has no normal body during a control session; their body is the augmech’s. If the autarch actuator is destroyed while a user is controlling an augmech, the user in their augmech body suffers no harm. However, returning to their own body will require finding another similar artifact or a vertice. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check per control session, no matter how long or short)

COURIER AUTOMATON Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Cylindrical automaton about the size of a human Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Carries a message or a physical object across large distances, usually around the Engine, but it could be dispatched to other planets. The courier’s ability to accelerate high gravities means that messages or objects

are delivered within 1d6 + 2 days of being dispatched, though objects subject to ill effects from high gravity (like most life forms) are crushed in transit. Courier automatons of level 7 and higher can transport objects of up to human size in a stasis field that keeps them safe from high gravity and vacuum, at least during the transit. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

Datapresence, page 87

DIMENSIONAL MODULATOR Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Marble-sized crisscross shape of unknown material Effect: A target within immediate range loses their dimension of breadth (which folds into a higher dimension), rendering them as flat as paper. The target adheres to whatever surface it was attached to, set upon, or standing upon, and resembles particularly realistic art. An affected creature enters stasis. While in stasis, it is unable to take actions, doesn’t age, and is immune to damage and effects. It remains in stasis indefinitely, or until the user returns the target’s missing dimension by using the artifact again, or the artifact depletes. Depletion: 1 in 1d10

Vertices, page 87

One out of every four pruthastans (page 117) carries a dimensional modulator.

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EXOHAND

Free level of Effort, page 103

Level: 1d6 Form: Oversized armlike device Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): A user can spend a few rounds attaching an exohand to themselves, a willing ally or follower, or a fixed location. Once connected, the artifact functions as a perfect prosthetic arm and hand (either as an additional limb, or as a replacement for a lost one if the user attaches it to themselves or an ally). The exohand can reach up to 20 feet (6 m) on telescoping struts. While attached to a character, it adds 4 points to their Might Pool. If attached to a fixed location, the exohand has 10 Might points, and the user can control it while they are within long range and spend their action concentrating. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each month of use)

FLIT Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Chair-like device Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Provides the user with full mobility in low- and zero-gravity environments using a variety of means as conditions allow, including tiny jets, magnetic thrust, and where possible, retractable wheels. Flits of level 6 and higher include an assortment of retractable tools that grants the user an asset to any physical task whose level is equal to or less than the flit’s. Flits of level 7 and higher include a ray emitter that the user can use in combat to target a creature within long range, inflicting damage equal to the artifact level on a successful hit from an x-ray burst. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check per week of use)

GRAVITY ADAPTER Level: 1d6 + 1 Form: Belt-like strip of silvery material Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): The user can choose to feel zero, low, or stronger gravity of up to 1 G (the amount of gravity felt on the Earth’s surface) at whatever orientation they choose.

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Objective gravity is ignored as long as it is not more than 10 G. Nothing except the user, who must wrap the belt around themselves—or around an object whose mass can’t exceed about that of ten humans—is adapted to the chosen gravity gradient. Changing the gravity orientation and gradient is equivalent to moving an immediate distance, so a user could redefine their personal gravity and take a normal action. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

HAND SCANNER Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Handheld device Effect: Provides two assets and one free level of Effort to any perception, analysis, or related task enabled by the device’s multiple sensors, which are capable of interrogating all aspects of the environment within short range, up to the artifact level. Analysis requires one round to complete. Hand scanners of level 7 and higher can be worn like glasses. Depletion: 1 in 1d100

HYBER Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Metallic pod large enough to hold subject; for artifacts of level 7 and higher, a metallic band that can be fitted over head Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Induces deep hibernation in living creatures, including biomechanical creatures, as well as many self-aware automatons. The hibernation lasts for a specified period, usually a minimum of ten days up to about a hundred years, during which the subject is effectively dormant, requiring no food, water, or air, and having 3 Armor against radiation, heat, and damage inflicted from vacuum. Fail-safes can be set to bring a user out of hibernation, including loud noises, movement, someone addressing the user, or other triggers. Users find themselves extremely well rested after each use. Depletion: 1 in 1d100

ARTIFACTS MECHANIC

SCANNER AUTOMATON

Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Bulky luggable device Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): If connected to a target via an umbilical, the mechanic eases any healing task made on an automaton or biomechanical creature (and for mechanics of level 7 and higher, creatures of mere flesh as well). This use does not require a depletion roll. An alternate, more extensive use for the mechanic is to provide a free ten-minute recovery roll. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check for each recovery roll)

Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Cylindrical automaton about the size of a human Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Travels to an indicated location—usually somewhere on the Engine, but it could be dispatched to other planets—and surveys the area as if the user was physically present. (The automaton arrives at the location described within 1d6 + 2 days of being dispatched.) The survey provides two assets and one free level of Effort to any perception, analysis, or related task enabled by the device’s multiple sensors, which are capable of interrogating all aspects of the environment within short range, up to the artifact level. Analysis requires one round to complete, at which point the scanner automaton returns to the user. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

MOLECULAR JOINER Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Handheld device Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Creates a seamless, nearly unbreakable bond between any two touching physical surfaces of up to 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter within immediate range. The level of the joined materials cannot exceed the artifact level. If blending two substances that are reactive, a detonation occurs. If joining edges of a wound or rupture, bleeding or leakage can be stopped. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

RENEWAL POD Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Bulky luggable device Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): This mobile (though awkward) device includes handles to make transport less burdensome. If an artifact depletes, the renewal pod can be attached to it via an included umbilical and renew the artifact. However, it works only if the target artifact depleted because it ran low on power, which is not always obvious. Depletion: 1 in 1d6

SENTINEL SET Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Metallic band that can be fitted over head Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): User can activate an augmech from a nearby crèche. The augmech remains active for up to ten hours per use. It is not directly controlled by the user (nor is it amenable to being piloted). Instead, the augmech is controlled by a temporary personality synthesized by the datasphere; treat the augmech as if controlled by a generally friendly NPC. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

Augmechs, page 84

Piloting, page 86

SPEAKING RING Level: 1d6 Form: Metal hoop that can be worn as a ring or badge Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): User can speak to others who also have a speaking ring, as well as to augmechs and many other machines using a special digital radio channel that can reach hundreds of miles—and sometimes if conditions are right (such as if the signal is picked up and transmitted via some other means,

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usually through the datasphere), it can reach a hundred thousand miles (160,000 km) or more. A secondary function allows the user to ask the datasphere a question, and get a very short answer if the user succeeds on an Intellect roll against a difficulty assigned by the GM. The more obscure the answer, the more difficult the task. On a failed roll, feedback or perhaps a defense from the datasphere itself inflicts 4 points of Intellect damage on the user (ignores Armor), and the ring depletes. Action. Depletion: Depletes on a failed attempt to question the datasphere

STUN SABER Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Handheld device similar to a bladeless sword hilt Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Produces a 3-foot (1 m) blade of snapping electricity that cuts through any material whose level is equal to or less than its own. Can be wielded either as a medium weapon in one hand (4 damage) or as a heavy weapon in two hands (6 damage). It ignores 3 points of a target’s Armor, except from force fields. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check per minute of use)

TAKING DAMAGE IN A SUNSUIT Effects of Vacuum An unprotected character in vacuum moves one step down the damage track each round. At the point where they should die, they instead fall unconscious and remain so for about a minute. If they are rescued during that time, they can be revived. If not, they die.

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Taking damage while protected from the effects of vacuum, heat, and radiation in a sunsuit requires one additional defense roll, but only on a GM intrusion. On a failure, the suit breaches and begins to spew precious air, heat, and pressure into the void. Sunsuits can self-repair the puncture within a round or two. But during any round in which a suit is leaking, all tasks are hindered as the spray of venting atmosphere jerks or even spins the character around, and the character suffers environmental damage from heat and radiation during that period.

SUNSUIT Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Heavy suit with helmet and gloves Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Serves as light armor and keeps the user alive in vacuum for one week per use by protecting against extremes of heat and cold and providing breathable and survivable pressure for the duration. In addition, the suit grants 5 Armor against environmental heat and radiation of the kind generated close to the sun. Sunsuits of level 7 and higher allow the wearer to operate as if under normal Earth gravity if so desired (turning this effect on or off requires an action), or normal to any surface with low and zero gravity. Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (Roll for depletion for each full week of use. If depleted, suit regains function after spending 28 hours in an area of extreme sunlight.)

ARTIFACTS TOOL OF THE GODS

UPGRADE MODULE

Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Handheld device similar to a bladeless sword hilt Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Useful in a wide variety of circumstances, the tool generates an invisible field that can extend the user’s reach by up to a short distance, allowing for normal manipulation of the surroundings, or for fine detail work such as attempting to pick a lock, unscrew a hidden bolt, and so on. All such tasks are eased by one step (or two steps if the artifact is level 7 or higher). Manipulating the field means the tool can be used for analysis, as a microphone, for tracking movement in range, or even as a beam weapon that inflicts force damage equal to the artifact level in a short-range ray. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

Level: 1d6 + 1 Form: Pack-like device Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): User attaches the pack to their body and activates the upgrade module on their turn. The pack explosively distributes nano-threads deep into their body, “upgrading” it by effectively granting them five augmech shifts, which are distributed as the GM wishes. However, the upgrade is lethal, burning out the user and killing them within a few weeks, whether they are an automaton, a biomechanical creature, or made of mere flesh. If applied to an augmech, the module simply drops off again, unused. Depletion: Automatic

UNIVERSAL CUTTER Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Bulky luggable device with cutting head Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): This mobile (though awkward) device includes handles to make transport less burdensome. If the user applies the cutting head for several rounds, it can cut through almost any solid material. In materials whose level is equal to or less than the cutter’s level, it can create a cut that is 10 feet (3 m) long and 1 foot (30 cm) deep. For materials whose level is higher than the cutter’s level, but no higher than level 9, it can create a cut that is 1 foot (30 cm) long and 1 foot (30 cm) deep in about a minute. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check per minute of use)

UNIVERSAL PACK Level: 1d6 + 1 Form: Backpack-like container of silvery material Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Complex dimensional folding allows for an arbitrary number of objects to be stored inside, as long as they fit in the pack’s 3-foot (1 m) diameter mouth. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each day the pack is used)

Augmech shifts, page 88

VORTEX PROJECTOR Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Handheld device similar to a bladeless sword hilt Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Treat as a long-ranged heavy weapon that emits tiny slugs that burrow through regular armor (except Armor provided by force fields). Vortex projectors of level 5 and higher can make the primary attack, and as part of the same action, make up to three additional ricochet attacks on targets within short range of the original target. Each ricochet attack successively increases the GM intrusion range by 2. If a GM intrusion is triggered, the ricochet attack hits something other than what the attacker intended.

A character who uses a vortex projector on a group of foes could attempt to attack up to four of them with one action; however, the GM intrusion range on the last ricochet attack would be 1–7 on a d20.

The universal cutter is too awkward for most creatures to use as an effective weapon.

WHATSOEVER CASE Level: 1d6 + 1 Form: Backpack-like container of silvery material Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): User can cause the case’s smart matter to convert itself into nearly any object or piece of equipment of an equal or lower level, excluding artifacts and cyphers. The replicated object can be converted back to its base state as a separate action. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

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CHAPTER 9

AUGMECHS

T

“There is no greater thrill than taking over an augmech directly, controlling it as you would control your own body.” ~Carsis Than, recent discoverer of an augmech crown Bloodfist, page 91 Infiltrator, page 93

Cyclops, page 92

Augmech Model, page 87

The Mega, page 99

Iotum, page 107

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he Architects of the Engine required mighty tools to build, service, repair, and protect their amazing creation. Many persist to this day. In the traditional sense, physical objects of all sorts can be found in the many workshops of the great structure. In a figurative sense, “tools” in the form of automatons, biomechanical creatures, and even a few flesh-enrobed descendants of servitor species left behind can still be found in the Engine and Halo.

AUGMECH LOCATIONS The majority of augmechs are ensconced in crèches on the Engine of the Gods, waiting for users to bring them to life. However, a few can be found elsewhere, including several resting in silent stasis on Earth. If a GM decides to include augmechs in a terrestrial adventure, it’s worthwhile keeping in mind that allowing PCs unrestricted access to an augmech in the Steadfast, for instance, could unbalance things. Consider using mitigation strategies, such as calling for depletion rolls and requiring regular infusions of high-level iotum to prevent malfunctions. An unused augmech is inactive in its crèche, which itself is usually hidden. Anyone who physically discovers a crèche usually also finds one or more control methods. If an augmech is roused from stasis by use of a control method, it may be just fine. Then again, after a sleep of a million years or more, sometimes minor repairs are required.

However, by far the mightiest tools created by the Architects were the augmechs.

AUGMECHS Augmechs are artificial bodies a character can temporarily use. Augmechs grant users an entirely different shape and suite of abilities than they normally have. Often, an augmech can be controlled remotely, which allows a character’s actual physical body to remain protected while the augmech is active. Some augmechs, like the bloodfist, are designed for combat. Others, like the infiltrator, are perfect for getting into small places without notice. Most have a single specialty, but a couple have two specialties, like the cyclops that can either snipe or protect a nearby ally. The full number of constructed augmechs stored in crèches across the solar system is not known. However, most fall into one model category or another, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. (According to clues in the datasphere, there is a singular model of augmech called the Mega. Unlike other augmechs that require only one user, several characters are required to activate and use the Mega.) Characters can access augmechs in a variety of ways.

AUGMECH CONTROL Four broad augmech control methods exist. Characters are usually not in a position to choose which method they use; instead, it’s a function of what method they find during

AUGMECHS

Augmechs grant users an entirely different shape and suite of abilities than they normally have. the course of their explorations. The four methods of control are as follows. • Remote control • Piloting (cockpit control) • Telepresence • Datapresence Regardless of the particular control method, the installation or device found that allows a creature to take over an augmech is keyed to at least one augmech of a particular model, such as a cyclops or a weaver.

AUGMECH CRÈCHE When a control method is found, it is usually keyed to at least one augmech that rests in a powered-down, stasis-like state in a facility called a crèche. Crèches exist all across the Engine and the Halo. A few may exist at other sites in the solar system. Sometimes a particular control method provides a user the option to choose among several augmechs resting in the same crèche. For instance, when first activating a telepresence control device, the user might be given a choice between a cyclops, bloodfist, infiltrator, and paramedic.

Weaver, page 98

FINDING A CONTROL METHOD When a device that offers control of an augmech is discovered, PCs may not realize it unless someone else provided instructions along with the machine. Otherwise, the characters must identify it and figure out how to use it. Identifying a control method is based on Intellect and modified by skill in understanding numenera. The GM sets the difficulty of the task, but it is usually equal to the level of the control method. (Various control method cyphers and artifacts are presented in chapter 7 and chapter 8, respectively.) It takes fifteen minutes to three hours, the same as if identifying an artifact. Even if a control method has been identified, using it still requires an Intellect action—at least for the first few actions taken. Using a control method is disorienting the first time, regardless of the type of method. Whether controlling a massive body with a handset or suddenly finding oneself in an entirely new body, confusing options are everywhere. The GM sets the difficulty of the task, but it is usually equal to the default level of the augmech (not the control device). However, once a PC gets the hang of operation, routine tasks no longer require Intellect rolls to initiate.

CHOOSING AN AUGMECH When a device gives a choice between multiple augmechs, the information provided to a PC is sparse. They learn each augmech’s name and a high-level summary of its general role. Making the choice is as simple as picking one augmech and establishing control of it, as described hereafter for each kind of control method. (After control is established for a new augmech, the first few actions still require an Intellect roll to control it.) Once a choice is made, a user can later change to a different augmech, assuming the others haven’t since been claimed by other controllers and left the crèche. Control methods usually have the capacity to be keyed to additional augmechs not part of the original list of choices. But doing so requires specific knowledge of the augmech to be added, as well as a successful understanding numenera roll whose difficulty is equal to the level of the augmech to be keyed. When an augmech is first wakened from its crèche after control is established, it usually takes about a minute for it to fully power up and emerge, assuming it hasn’t sustained damage and require repair. Luckily, self-repair functions for resting augmechs are robust.

Chapter 7: Cyphers, page 72 Chapter 8: Artifacts, page 77

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REMOTE CONTROL Some cockpit control mechanisms aren’t part of the augmech. Instead they operate more like a remote control, but with far better, cockpit-like control. Augmech handset, page 73 Augmech controller, page 78

Augmech crown, page 73

Augmech throne, page 78

Remote control for an augmech is the least effective control method and one that doesn’t count as having a prosthetic body, but sometimes it’s the only thing available to a character. Augmech remote controls usually appear as handheld devices with a screen and a control surface that a creature must manipulate with their hands. Examples include the augmech handset and the augmech controller artifact. Sometimes, a user must be able to see the augmech being remotely controlled and be within a few miles of it. Some remote control devices allow a user to be much farther away, relaying on the screen what the user sees from the perspective of the augmech. It depends on the device found. Remote control through a handheld device is an imperfect process. It requires that a user spend their turns actively controlling the augmech, even if they are attempting a routine task that doesn’t require a roll (such as simply moving the augmech forward). However, if in the midst of a complex situation, such as combat, a repair task, an interaction task, and so on, rolls could be required. In this case, all Speed- and Might-based tasks, attacks, and defense rolls attempted by the augmech (as controlled by the user) are hindered by two steps. (Augmechs possess limited self-control mechanisms, which is why routine tasks are not hindered.) On the other hand, the character could spend their turn attending to a more immediate need, even dropping the remote control or setting it aside at a moment’s notice, without requiring an action to leave a cockpit or concentrate on relinquishing telepresence or datapresence control. Any turn the user spends not controlling the augmech is a turn in which it continues moving and/or acting as it did in the previous round.

PILOTING (COCKPIT CONTROL) Piloting an augmech has some positive and negatives compared to remote controlling one. In some ways, piloting an augmech is like operating a vehicle, but one of advanced complexity. As suggested by this

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control method’s name, a user rides in a special compartment in the augmech, directly integrated into the machine. Not every augmech has a cockpit, but many do. Piloting is an ideal control method if the character has no other way to control the machine. Piloting an augmech is easier than remotely controlling one. Instead of being hindered by two steps, a character without augmech training or specialization has an inability in all Speed- and Mightbased tasks, attacks, and defense rolls the augmech attempts while directed by the user. (As with remote control, the inability doesn’t come into play for routine tasks.) Piloting requires that a user spend their turns actively controlling the augmech if in the midst of a complex situation, such as combat, a repair task, an interaction task, and so on. Any turn the user spends not controlling the augmech is a turn in which it continues moving and/or acting as it did in the previous round.

TELEPRESENCE Telepresence is an amazingly effective control method for using augmechs, fulfilling the promise of having a prosthetic body. An augmech telepresence control device appears either as a device worn on the head, such as an augmech crown cypher, or a larger device that the user reclines upon or within, such as an augmech throne artifact. By design, a telepresence control device can be located hundreds of thousands of miles away from the augmech(s) keyed to it, even across an entire solar system. In some cases, a telepresence device and the associated crèche of augmechs could be located in the same place. Telepresence control of an augmech, once active, makes a user feel as if they have a completely new body: the augmech keyed to the device, wherever that augmech is. Telepresently controlling the augmech is no different than when a user takes actions in their own body. In effect, the user gains a prosthetic body and can use its abilities as if their own. If the user ends

AUGMECHS the control session by spending their turn concentrating on disengaging, they wake up in their own body. The user’s real body enjoys no particular protections from harm during a telepresence session. It enters a light state of hibernation, during which its need for air, food, and water is decreased by an order of magnitude. If the user’s body takes damage, the user telepresently controlling the augmech may not even notice; they must succeed on a difficulty 3 Intellect defense roll to realize that something is wrong. If a third party separates a user from a telepresence device, the user finds themselves propelled back into their body, and they must succeed on a difficulty 3 Might defense roll or descend one step on the damage track.

DATAPRESENCE Datapresence control is just as effective as telepresence in giving a user the illusion of possessing a prosthetic body. It has one additional major benefit: the user’s body enjoys far more protection during the session. An augmech datapresence control is usually provided via a specific installation that the user “enters,” such as an autarch actuator artifact. From an outside perspective, the user’s body disappears. It doesn’t reappear until the user gives up control of the keyed augmech by spending an action concentrating on disengaging. During the period of control, the user has no physical body that can be attacked, age, grow hungry, and so on. Even more impressively, if the device that enabled the user to datapresently control an augmech is destroyed, the user isn’t necessarily hurt. However, to regain their original body, they may have to explore the realm of the datasphere to find a different exit point able to reconstitute their form. The user doesn’t have to understand how datapresence works to gain the benefit of a device or machine that offers this method of control. But those with greater understanding may recognize a datapresence control device to be a special-case vertice. Vertices are locations, installations, or devices with the ability to

transcribe creatures and objects into and out of the datasphere. A few special-case vertices are described in this book, such as the aforementioned autarch actuator. It’s a special case because while it transcribes a PC into the datasphere, it then allows the user to telepresently control the augmech from the datasphere itself. More information about how people enter and leave the datasphere is described in Voices of the Datasphere. But the direct connection between the mind of the user and the prosthetic body of the augmech is already established, requiring no additional knowledge by the user, or even the realization that they’re being hosted by the datasphere.

For more information about the datasphere and vertices, see the Monte Cook Games book Voices of the Datasphere.

WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE VOICES OF THE DATASPHERE? The Numenera book Voices of the Datasphere details transcribing into the datasphere and exploring its regions. But you don’t need it to use Edge of the Sun. Unless you want the PCs to find methods for controlling augmechs by exploring the datasphere, you can simply present them with one of the datapresence control mechanisms in this book. In the same way that characters usually don’t understand how a cypher or artifact works, the method by which datapresence control works can remain similarly opaque.

Autarch actuator, page 78

AUGMECH MODELS Several dozen distinct augmech models exist. Each model was created by Architects of the prior worlds to fulfill a particular need on the Engine or Halo. Thus, any given augmech shares many characteristics (including its name) with other augmechs of the same model. A substantial number of augmechs of the same model are scattered across the Engine and Halo.

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MECHANICS OF CONTROL Recovery roll, page 111

Regardless of the control method, a PC uses the Might and Speed Pools of the augmech they are controlling (not their own) when the augmech attempts a Might- or Speed-based task, defense, or attack.

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The following pages present a variety of augmech models. Almost all could be activated and used by a character who finds an associated control device. When an augmech is not under control by a character, it usually stands idle or follows some preprogrammed but very simple standby behavior. Regardless of other differences, all character-controlled augmechs can communicate, both over speakers and in a vacuum, over a broad range of invisible machine channels accessible to other augmechs and many other machines. AUGMECH POOLS PCs use the Might and Speed Pools associated with the augmech they’re controlling for all Might and Speed tasks, defenses, and attacks the augmech attempts. The PC uses their own Intellect Pool for Intellect tasks and defenses (and attacks, if any are noted) the augmech attempts. Because augmechs use points in Pools as if they were PCs, they do not have a level like creatures or objects. They accomplish tasks, defenses, or attacks (or fail at them) by a roll of the dice, if the action they’re attempting is not routine. The difficulty for such tasks can be modified by a PC spending Effort from an augmech’s Might or Speed Pool, or from their own Intellect Pool. Depending on the augmech, a controlling PC gains a benefit from a built-in augmech shift, as described hereafter. If attacking, a PC can choose to spend Effort to increase damage rather than decrease difficulty, as normal. A level equivalent is provided in the margin of each augmech entry. This is useful if the augmech is encountered while controlled by an NPC, or if a PC finds an inactive augmech and wants to access it or key it to a control method. Note that the level equivalent already takes into account the augmech shifts possessed by the augmech.

RECOVERY ROLLS When a PC controlling an augmech makes a recovery roll, the standard rules apply. PCs can add recovered points to whichever Pool they choose, whether that’s one of their own Pools, or one of the augmech’s Pools. Regardless, the number of recovery rolls a PC has available to use each day remains the same, as does the bonus +1 point per tier regained (and any other bonuses the PC might enjoy). DAMAGE TRACK Whether an augmech is impaired or debilitated depends on the state of its Pools, just as if it were a PC. While under a PC’s control, an augmech can make recovery rolls as if a normal character. If all of its Pools go to zero, it is destroyed. At that time, assuming the PC has points left in their personal Pools, control ends, but the character survives. If the PC’s real body becomes impaired or debilitated, the augmech continues to act normally (if it has points in all its Pools), up to the point where the PC’s real body is killed. At that point, the augmech either goes limp or reverts to base programming, which usually has it find the crèche from which it emerged and return itself to stasis. EQUIPMENT USE Augmechs controlled by PCs can use equipment, including cyphers and artifacts, as if they were the characters themselves. That said, many augmechs are substantially larger than most PCs, so some equipment sized for characters might require adaptation. Alternatively, the augmech’s use of the equipment could be hindered. AUGMECH SHIFTS Augmechs are stronger, tougher, and faster than regular creatures, especially those of living flesh. They come with larger Might or Speed Pools than most characters have, which those controlling an augmech can take advantage of. However, simply bumping up stat Pools or Edge doesn’t fully represent this dramatic increase in power. Instead, those controlling an augmech enjoy 3 augmech shifts.

AUGMECHS Augmech shifts are like permanent levels of Effort that are always active. They don’t count toward a controlling character’s maximum Effort use (nor do they count as skills or assets) when the PC is using an augmech ability with a shift. They simply ease a task by an indicated amount, as noted in each model’s description. Each shift eases a specified task (except for shifts that affect damage or Armor, as indicated in the augmech description). Applying 2 shifts eases the task by two steps, and applying 3 shifts eases the task by three steps. For example, a character finds an augmech with all three shifts configured for strength. Whenever the character-controlled augmech lifts something heavy, smashes through a wall, or throws an object, the task is eased by three steps before applying Effort, skill, or assets. Thus, all difficulties from 0 to 3 are routine for them. They smash through level 3 airlocks as if they don’t exist. Augmech shifts ease tasks that fall into specific categories, which include (but are not necessarily limited to) the following. Accuracy: All attack rolls Dexterity: Movement, acrobatics, initiative, and Speed defense Espionage: Speed defense rolls, stealth tasks, talking to machines Furtiveness: Perception, stealth, and initiative tasks Healing: One extra recovery roll per shift (each one action, all coming before other normal recovery rolls), but which normally apply only to the augmech’s Pools, not the PC’s Pools Intelligence: Intellect defense rolls and all knowledge, science, and crafting tasks Power: Use of a specific power, including damage (3 additional points per shift) but not attack rolls Resilience: Might defense rolls and Armor (+1 per shift) Single Attack: Attack rolls and damage (3 additional points per shift) Strength: All tasks involving strength, including jumping and dealing damage in melee or thrown attacks (3 additional points of damage per shift) but not attack rolls

AUGMECH SHIFTS: REWIRING OPTION Instead of using the specified power shifts for a given augmech model, you could allow a character to rewire the augmech (a several-hour process, requiring a difficulty 4 understanding numenera task for success). Under this rule, the character assigns their three augmech shifts as desired. A character could divide up their shifts among multiple augmech options, or put all three in one category. Once assigned, the shifts are permanent unless the character rewires the augmech again. If a character later establishes control with a new augmech, even one of the same model, it begins with the base augmech shift configuration.

CHALLENGING A PC IN AN AUGMECH With augmech shifts at play, situations will arise where it will be impossible for low-level foes, like a lone locust, to hurt a PC controlling an augmech. That’s okay. There are different ways you can handle it. Allow the augmech to wade through the lesser threats easily; you don’t even need to play it out using mechanics. Alternatively, use a GM intrusion now and again to represent a malfunction, the lone locust finding others and becoming a higher-level swarm, the appearance of a higher-level augmech controlled by an NPC, and so on.

Locust, page 112

AUGMECH MODELS This chapter provides stats for the following augmech models: • Artificer, page 90 • Bloodfist, page 91 • Cyclops, page 92 • Infiltrator, page 93 • Interlocutor, page 94 • Paramedic, page 95 • Speedstar, page 96 • The Mega, page 99 • Turtle, page 97 • Weaver, page 98

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ARTIFICER

If not controlled by a PC, treat the artificer as a level 7 creature with 25 health. Character-controlled artificers don’t follow the same rules as PC Wrights.

Numenera Plans, page 135 Crafting, page 117 Iotum, page 107 Iotum Result Table, page 110

GM intrusion: On a failed difficulty 7 crafting task, the crafting project is ruined.

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Standing about 12 feet (4 m) tall, the artificer model features a dozen grasping mechanisms, ranging from two massive arms for holding large objects all the way down to slender manipulators capable of fine detail work. The artificer also sports an insect-like metallic compound eye with thousands of smaller light-sensitive components, allowing it to focus on work at a variety of different scales. Anyone who controls an artificer discovers several new channels of information containing a variety of numenera plans for cyphers, artifacts, and installations. Even if the controller doesn’t understand the plans, they can initiate auto-construct programs inducing the artificer to begin crafting. Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to craft numenera Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 15 Speed Pool: 15 (Edge 1) Intellect Pool: As controlling character Damage Inflicted: 5 points Armor: 1; Armor 5 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Short Modifications: Three augmech shifts to intelligence (easing Intellect defense rolls and all knowledge, science, and crafting tasks by three steps); grants training to crafting numenera tasks. Combat: An artificer usually carries a few combat-related level 5 cyphers (generally, acid detonations) in case they’re forced into a fight. They can also use their large arms to batter a foe for 5 points of damage. Obviously, combat is not this augmech model’s strength. Instead, a controlling character can access an array of plans of up to level 6 for building various devices of the numenera. Most of the cyphers described in this book, for instance, exist as plans in the artificer’s datastore. The GM may decide to add further cyphers, artifacts, and installations. If a particular plan isn’t stored in the artificer, its datastore may know where on the Engine to look for a copy. Likewise, many common types of iotum and other parts are contained within the artificer, but if it doesn’t have what it needs, it probably knows where to look. Once a numenera crafting project is initiated, the artificer automatically produces it within 1d10 hours, assuming it isn’t destroyed or the controlling character is forced to take a different action. Interaction: As controlling character. Use: The PCs need an object of the numenera, and an artificer augmech may be the fastest way to obtain it. Loot: An artificer can be broken down and salvaged for 1d6 cyphers, two or three results on the Iotum Result Table, and maybe an artifact.

AUGMECHS

BLOODFIST Vividly blue and red, a bloodfist is an automaton-like creature obviously constructed for conflict. Over 20 feet (6 m) tall, its impressive size makes it one of the larger augmechs, and that doesn’t even include its long tail set with serrated blades. Its wide mouth always yawns with a robotic predator’s rictus. Bloodfists have a built-in cockpit, partly visible as a glassy dome on their back. Those who control a bloodfist by telepresence or datapresence note that some influence of the augmech seems to seep back through the interface, making the controller more likely to try brute force as an answer to any given challenge. Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to fight Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 30 (Edge 1) Speed Pool: 15 Intellect Pool: As controlling character Damage Inflicted: 10 points Armor: 3; Armor 2 against electrical attacks; Armor 5 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Short; short when leaping in low gravity Modifications: Two augmech shifts to punch attack, easing the attack by two steps and inflicting 6 extra damage (already figured into Damage Inflicted); one augmech shift to resilience, easing Might defense rolls and increasing Armor (already figured); positive interaction tasks attempted by controlling character are hindered. Combat: The bloodfist’s primary attack is its punch, which inflicts 10 points of damage. Alternatively, the bloodfist can attempt a “shield slam” attack, which inflicts 4 points of damage and stuns the target so that they lose their next turn. A bloodfist can attack with both fist and shield on its action, but both attacks are hindered. In addition, a bloodfist can project four electric darts at targets within short range as their action. On a hit, a target takes 2 points of damage per dart each round from the electrical discharge, until they spend a round picking the dart out of their body (one round per dart, if struck by more than one). Interaction: As controlling character (see Modifications). Use: A rival organization has unearthed a crèche containing a bloodfist. But the cockpit is damaged, so they haven’t found a viable control method—at least, not yet. Loot: A bloodfist can be broken down and salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and an artifact.

If not controlled by a PC, treat the bloodfist as a level 8 creature with 30 health.

GM intrusion: The controlling character must succeed on a difficulty 7 Intellect defense roll, or suddenly attack the creature they were trying to negotiate with due to the subconscious influence of the bloodfist augmech.

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CYCLOPS

If not controlled by a PC, treat the cyclops as a level 7 creature with 25 health.

GM intrusion: The controlling character must succeed on a difficulty 5 Intellect defense roll, or a glitch in the augmech’s systems causes it to randomly teleport to a location unknown to the character.

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These hovering augmechs have a large mechanical eyelike cavity that they can focus on a target to achieve one of two effects: either a massive discharge of energy meant to snipe distant targets, or a more localized energy discharge that offers some degree of additional protection to a nearby ally. A cyclops contains not only an internal cockpit for a potential controller, but also a small pressurized cabin for up to three other human-sized creatures, which is able to sustain life support for several months before needing to recharge. Access to the cockpit and cabin is through the central eye. Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to fight Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 15 Speed Pool: 30 (Edge 1) Intellect Pool: As controlling character Damage Inflicted: 8 points Armor: 2; Armor 5 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Short when flying Modifications: Two augmech shifts to furtiveness, easing perception tasks, stealth tasks, and initiative tasks by two steps; one augmech shift to energy blast, easing the attack roll and inflicting additional damage (already figured into Damage Inflicted). Combat: The energy blast extends up to very long range, assuming direct line of sight, and eases stealth tasks to surprise targets more than a long distance away. Anytime a cyclops attacks with surprise, or attacks before a target has acted in the encounter, the 8 points of force damage it normally inflicts increases to 15 points of damage for that attack. Thereafter, its energy blasts inflict 8 points of damage against targets aware that a sniper is near. Alternatively, as its action the cyclops can envelop a target within short range in a force shield that grants the target +3 Armor against damage. The character-controlled cyclops must spend its turn each round maintaining (or renewing) this effect. Interaction: As controlling character. Use: A sniper attacks the PCs from a distant location with an energy blast. The weapon? An NPC-controlled cyclops. Loot: A cyclops can be broken down and salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and an artifact.

AUGMECHS

INFILTRATOR Perfectly reflective, other times perfectly camouflaged or even actively displaying false coloration and patterns, these silvery machines can move almost soundlessly. Only about 7 feet (2 m) long, infiltrators generate a personal gravitational field such that they can hover in place or fly to their destination without need for putting down legs. However, they can extend small mechanical arms or umbilicals for stealthily accessing other systems. The infiltrator is too small to contain a cockpit, so controlling one by piloting is impossible. On the other hand, since the infiltrator is about human-sized, it could, in theory, control a larger augmech by entering the other augmech’s cockpit. Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to craft numenera Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 12 Speed Pool: 30 (Edge 1) Intellect Pool: As controlling character Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 1; Armor 5 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Short when flying Modifications: Three augmech shifts to espionage, easing Speed defense rolls, stealth tasks, and talking to machines. Combat: An infiltrator usually seeks to evade notice, let alone combat, but if forced to fight, it can employ several tricks, the first of which is a short-range invisible gravity fist that can pummel a target for 4 points of damage. Alternatively, it can exert finer control over the gravity pulse and try to push a target within short range up to 20 feet (6 m) with a successful Might roll by the controlling character. In the low gravity of the Engine or Halo, this could repel the target out of combat range. Mainly, the infiltrator relies on its ability to become effectively invisible for up to ten minutes at a time when it uses an action. While invisible, the augmech is specialized in stealth and Speed defense tasks (in addition to the benefits provided by its augmech shifts). This effect ends if the augmech does something to reveal its presence or position—attacking, using an ability, moving a large object, and so on. Interaction: As controlling character. Use: The PCs discover that a component they need is locked down in a well-defended place. They need a burglar to get in and get out with the goods. Loot: An infiltrator can be broken down and salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and maybe an artifact.

If not controlled by a PC, treat the infiltrator as a level 7 creature with 20 health.

GM intrusion: An unexpected feature of the environment ends the current use of invisibility.

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INTERLOCUTOR

Wrawn, page 39 If not controlled by a PC, treat the interlocutor as a level 6 creature with 20 health.

GM intrusion: The psychic interface with the interlocutor, necessary for the controller to gain the Intellect-based benefits of the augmech, shorts out, inflicting 3 points of Intellect damage and preventing the PC from accessing the augmech for at least one round.

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About 9 feet (3 m) tall, the chassis of this augmech model is usually unadorned and simple, though individual augmechs might be decorated in colors or symbols associated with a particular group or faction. For instance, a trader in Wrawn typically relies on an interlocutor whenever it needs to interact with potential or existing clients, and it has painted its augmech in iridescent reds with a prominent series of symbols that translates to “Ask about the amazing sales!” An interlocutor enhances and expands the oratorical and persuasive talents of its controller. These augmechs are most often used to broker deals, negotiate treaties, and attempt to find peaceful solutions to conflicts. In a pinch, the interlocutor cockpit also provides additional protection if the controller is physically present. Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to negotiate Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 22 Speed Pool: 22 (Edge 1) Intellect Pool: As controlling character Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 1; Armor 5 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Short Modifications: Three augmech shifts to diplomacy, easing interaction tasks by three steps and easing Intellect defense rolls by three steps. Combat: An interlocutor is built for talking, not fighting, but it can batter a foe for 4 points of damage if need be. These models are much better at influencing situations toward peaceful resolutions or bringing an ongoing fight to an early close, though sometimes doing so requires bluffs, bluster, or outright falsehoods. Interlocutors have one additional surprise they can bring to bear about once per hour: creating an electro-sonic feedback loop able to stun all selected targets within short range (even in a vacuum) so they lose their next turn on a successful Might attack by the interlocutor. Interaction: As controlling character. Use: While attempting to take down an enemy stronghold, the PCs are greeted by an interlocutor that attempts to convince them that they are working under incorrect information. Loot: An interlocutor can be broken down and salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and maybe an artifact.

AUGMECHS

PARAMEDIC This bulky, white machine stands about 15 feet (5 m) tall and about half that around, with the barest humanoid form. The paramedic can walk or hover as the situation warrants. In addition to a couple of larger manipulators, it can extend a variety of smaller tools, medical instruments, or umbilicals specialized for repairing other augmechs and machines, as well as for healing any living creatures it has internal files for. In addition to a cockpit, the paramedic has two cramped cavities into which it can pop wounded creatures and store them in stasis for up to several months. Those in stasis do not suffer further harm from wounds or diseases, if any, while they remain encapsulated. Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to aid allies Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 22 (Edge 1) Speed Pool: 22 Intellect Pool: As controlling character Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 1; Armor 5 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Short when flying Modifications: Three augmech shifts to restoration, easing healing tasks by three steps and providing three additional recovery rolls a day, which the augmech can save for itself, or dole out to other augmechs or living creatures. Combat: Though not kitted out for fighting, a bulky paramedic can inflict 4 points of damage with an arm slam. They prefer to support allies. Thanks to their onboard systems, they can restore 5 points of health (or points to a Pool of the controlling character’s choice) to an adjacent target, as long as the paramedic takes no damage during the round (it acts in initiative order if using this automatic healing option). If forced to, a paramedic can use onboard chemicals to create an electrostatic spray that numbs the senses of living machines and creatures alike, stunning all such beings within immediate range on a successful attack so they lose their next turn. Each use of this ability uses up one of its three extra recovery rolls for the day. Interaction: As controlling character. Use: Someone the PCs need to talk to is stored in one of the stasis cavities of an augmech that is nowhere to be found. Loot: A paramedic can be broken down and salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and maybe an artifact.

If not controlled by a PC, treat the paramedic as a level 7 creature with 25 health.

GM intrusion: A medical reagent reservoir in the augmech begins leaking. Until a successful difficulty 7 repair task is completed, all healing tasks are hindered by two steps.

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SPEEDSTAR

If not controlled by a PC, treat the speedstar as a level 7 creature with 22 health.

Free level of Effort, page 103

GM intrusion: A mechanism strips; until the PC succeeds on a difficulty 7 repair task, the augmech’s speed is reduced to long (from very long).

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The lines scratched in surfaces left behind by the blindingly fast passage of a speedstar are often mistaken for some kind of signal, writing, or purposefully scribed trail meant to be followed. But if traced to their endpoint, the only thing one is likely to find is either a dark crèche, where many great automaton-like entities rest in stasis, or an active speedstar, which can go many different ways, depending on the controlling intelligence. The worst possible outcome is that the speedstar’s controller feels like displaying its lethal swiftness by tearing into new targets. Speedstars are about 12 feet (4 m) long, not including their tails—the barbed, razor-sharp ends of which they use to such lethal effect while speeding. Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to escape consequences of run-by attacks it might make Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 15 Speed Pool: 30 (Edge 1) Intellect Pool: As controlling character Damage Inflicted: 6 points Armor: 1; Armor 5 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Very long; long when leaping in low gravity Modifications: Three augmech shifts to dexterity, easing movement tasks, acrobatics, initiative, and Speed defense. Combat: The primary way a speedstar attacks is by running up to a long distance and passing a victim at maximum speed while slashing with their trailing tail, which inflicts 4 points of damage on up to three targets along the augmech’s path. The combination of high speed and the bladed barbs combine to cut through most standard Armor (though not Armor provided by a force field effect). Usually, a speedstar can attack and move far enough away from a victim in the open latticework of the Engine to avoid being attacked in turn. However, a speedstar can choose to concentrate its attacks on a single creature instead of making a run-by attack. When it does, the controlling character can apply a free level of Effort to the attack to reduce the difficulty or increase damage. On a hit, the target also bleeds (hydraulic fluid, power, blood, or what have you) for 1 point of damage each round until it spends a turn patching itself up. Interaction: As controlling character. Use: An inactive speedstar was caught in a stellar web strung between two struts. If it could be retrieved, perhaps it could be controlled. But what strung the web? Loot: A speedstar can be broken down and salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and an artifact.

AUGMECHS

TURTLE Able to roll on any surface, including struts, walls, and ceilings, and even in full gravity, turtle augmechs are about 20 feet (6 m) in diameter. Though not particularly fast, they are hard to stop once they get rolling, and little gets through their thick protective plates. In fact, a turtle is built first for protection, which serves its secondary role as a mobile listening and observing post. The internal cockpit of a turtle is cramped. However, anyone inside is well protected. Should the turtle itself ever be disabled, the cockpit (if crewed by a pilot) is ejected in a tiny escape pod that jets away from the danger. Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to observe Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 30 (Edge 1) Speed Pool: 15 Intellect Pool: As controlling character Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 5; Armor 7 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Short (moves on any surface in any orientation) Modifications: Two augmech shifts to resilience, easing Might defense rolls by two steps and increasing Armor (already figured); one augmech shift to use the Detect and Observe ability. Combat: A turtle can slam into a foe in immediate range, inflicting 4 points of damage. Mainly, it soaks up damage with its high Armor. However, about once every hour, a turtle can release a force detonation from its surface, stored within internal kinetic reservoirs, that inflicts 7 points of damage on all creatures within immediate range. The turtle controller can use its Detect and Observe ability whenever it pays the Might cost. Detect and Observe: (4+ Might points): The turtle sends out a force pulse finely tuned as a probe. Turtle systems detect all creatures—living, automaton, and augmech—within long range, even if they are behind cover, though not if they are behind a force field. The detection reports each creature’s general location (to within an immediate range). If the controller spends another Might point, they can observe events in the vicinity of one detected creature’s location for up to one minute. Action; action per round to observe a target. Interaction: As controlling character. Use: Whenever the PCs make a plan, their foe seems to know about it, almost as if they were being secretly observed. Loot: A turtle can be broken down and salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and an artifact.

Escape pod: level 5; flies a very long distance per round for up to ten rounds

If not controlled by a PC, treat the turtle as a level 7 creature with 25 health.

GM intrusion: Severe damage reduces the turtle’s Armor by 1 point until it is repaired (a process taking several minutes and a successful difficulty 5 Intellect-based roll).

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WEAVER

Artificer, page 90 Weaver web: level 6 A weaver can selectively choose how adhesive to make a given strand or section of its webbing, even after spinning it, because the webbing is a smart material. If not controlled by a PC, treat the weaver as a level 8 creature with 25 health.

GM intrusion: The augmech’s reservoir containing web constituents is damaged, requiring repair before the character can spin webs again.

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Weavers can produce a whitish caulking material that can be spun out in lacy webs, thick cables, or adhesive patches capable of sticking even massive struts of the Engine together until such time as an artificer or some other entity arrives to create a more permanent fix. Though similar in conception to a spiderweb, a weaver web is stronger, more durable, and fundamentally smart material capable of repairing itself if cut. These many-legged augmechs stand 15 feet (5 m) high and are capable of sticking to nearly any surface in order to apply their webbing where needed. Besides being used for repair, weavers can deploy their webs to catch thieves, neutralize enemies, blind foes, and so on, making them extremely useful in a conflict. Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to spot-repair broken struts Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 22 Speed Pool: 22 (Edge 1) Intellect Pool: As controlling character Damage Inflicted: 5 points Armor: 2; Armor 5 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Short; short when climbing Modifications: One augmech shift to healing, granting an extra recovery roll; two augmech shifts to attack rolls made with weaver webbing. Combat: A weaver can slam a foe with one of its limbs for 5 points of damage in a pinch. However, its ability to spin webs is probably a better asset in a fight. The weaver can explosively produce a volume of web capable of entangling all creatures it chooses within a sphere a short distance in diameter, centered on a point within long range. A target is entangled, unable to move or take physical actions, if the weaver succeeds on a Speed-based attack. A target remains entangled until it can escape with a successful difficulty 6 Might-based roll, until the webbing is destroyed (it has 18 health and regains 2 health per round), or until the weaver chooses to release them. If the weaver desires, it can cause the webbing around one target to squeeze for 5 points of damage each round the target remains entangled, though it must concentrate on the target as its action each round. Weavers can attempt to create simple objects using their webbing, lay sticky traps, create tow lines, and likely be useful in many other ways that creative augmech controllers can devise. Interaction: As controlling character. Use: Ancient strands of smart material entomb a component required for a task. Finding a weaver that can command the smart material would be one way to release it. Loot: A weaver can be broken down and salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and an artifact.

AUGMECHS

THE MEGA The Mega is a special augmech of enormous size. Only a single model was ever constructed—thus its name, “the Mega.” Special rules apply for controlling it. The metallic surfaces of the Mega vary between iron grey, rust red, and silvery expanses almost as reflective as mirrors. Various limbs and weapon extensions bristle across the massive body, which stands well over 300 feet (90 m) when in a full-gravity environment. Though it has no true head, a cavity burning with glowering red energy serves as a focus. Weapon pods across the Mega’s back and extending from its limbs compete for attention. The Mega has a well-protected internal cockpit with control surfaces suitable for three human-sized controllers. In addition to the cockpit, it has an extensive internal complex consisting of several distinct chambers. (These chambers are detailed in the adventure “Waking the Mega.”) Anyone controlling the Mega from one of the surfaces in the cockpit is subject to mental feedback in the form of strange dreams. Information from the Mega’s datastore is apparently somewhat corrupted, and controlling characters are subject to several nights of vivid dreams thereafter, in which they recall battling—as the Mega—a vast green entity far larger than even the giant augmech. Sometimes, those dreams affect characters while they’re still controlling the Mega.

The claim that only a single mega-class model exists can be confirmed by questioning the datasphere. If not controlled by PCs, treat the Mega as a level 10 creature with 100 health. Waking the Mega, page 155

CONTROLLING THE MEGA Unlike other augmechs, the Mega can be controlled only via piloting within an internal cockpit; neither telepresence nor datapresence control is available. Another difference is that the Mega requires three pilots working in concert to fully control all its functions. If only two pilots are available for control, all tasks attempted by the Mega are hindered. If a single character attempts to control the augmech, all tasks are hindered by two steps.

Piloting (Cockpit Control), page 86

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Debilitated, page 110

GM intrusion: Uncoordinated control of the Mega has a bigger impact than it seemed at first, and an enemy takes advantage, systems overload, or some other mishap occurs that inflicts 7 points of damage to all the controllers in the cockpit, or 3 points on a successful difficulty 5 Might defense roll.

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If three pilots and/or controllers are available, each can independently take a turn, as if they were the sole controller of the Mega. All the pilots share the Mega’s Might and Speed Pools, but use their own Intellect Pools normally. The upshot is that if the Mega has three pilots, it can take three turns during a single round. The three controllers should try to coordinate their actions. Since each one controls the Mega’s movement on their own turn, there is a chance that the Mega’s actions during the round could seem to be confused. For instance, if the first controller causes the augmech to jet toward a threat, and the second controller decides that the Mega should flee or move toward some other objective instead, they could end up wasting a round. Such an occurrence is a good lesson for the controllers, who may decide to act with better coherence in later rounds. The three controlling characters must draw upon the Mega’s single Might and Speed Pools for any Effort they may wish to use. Since each controller uses their own Intellect Pool for actions attempted, even if the augmech’s Might and Speed Pools are exhausted (and the augmech is treated as if debilitated), the Mega is still “alive” as long as at least one PC controller retains points in their Intellect Pool. Finally, the Mega has five augmech shifts that PC controllers can take advantage of, instead of the three that regular models enjoy. Motive: As controlling characters; if NPC-controlled, usually to fight Environment: Engine or Halo Might Pool: 50 (Edge 2) Speed Pool: 30 (Edge 1) Intellect Pool: As controlling characters Damage Inflicted: 20 points Armor: 5; Armor 10 against environmental heat and radiation Movement: Short; long when flying Modifications: Two augmech shifts to slam attack, easing the attack by two steps and inflicting 6 extra damage (already figured into Damage Inflicted); two augmech shifts to gamma-ray blast, easing the attack by two steps and inflicting 6 extra damage (already figured into Damage Inflicted); one augmech shift to resilience, easing Might defense rolls and increasing Armor (already figured). Combat: When the Mega slams a foe, which can be any creature within long range, it inflicts 20 points of damage. If all three controlling characters use this ability, the Mega could make up to three such attacks on its turn. In addition, the Mega can target a foe up to a very long distance away with a gamma-ray blast, though this attack can be used only once on each of the Mega’s turns (so only one controlling character can use it during a given round). The target, as well as every creature along a line between the Mega and the target, takes 10 points of damage from the blast and is dazed on their next turn. Even if a particular creature is missed, it still takes 5 points of damage. Once during any ten-hour period, the augmech can use its Mega Fury attack, which requires that all three controlling characters use their action to trigger it. Each must also contribute Pool points to the ability’s cost. Mega Fury (5 Intellect points): This ability triggers multiple gamma-ray blasts against up to five targets (as well as anything along the lines between the Mega and each target). Actions of all three controllers during the same round. Interaction: As controlling characters. Use: Finding and activating the Mega is the only thing standing between safety and a ravaging titanothaur. Loot: The Mega can be broken down and salvaged for 3d6 cyphers and 1d10 artifacts.

PART 4:

CREATURES

CHAPTER 10: CREATURES 102 CHAPTER 11: NPC s 123

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CHAPTER 10 ALETHIN GORLAN

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CREATURES

T

Understanding the Listings, page 222

Philethis, page 247

he creatures in this chapter live in or on the Engine of the Gods, the Halo, or the sun itself, or they are closely associated with those locations. Though many of these creatures have an origin in a particular region, over time many have wandered, so that in most cases, any of them could be encountered just about anywhere in the locations described in Edge of the Sun. The Engine also hosts a variety of creatures from other locations in the solar system that have, over the millennia, made their way to the construct and stayed (or at least their descendants have). This means the GM is free to use any creature from the Ninth World as a potential encounter on the Engine or its environs, assuming a rationale for its presence is possible. For example, it’s reasonable that the PCs might encounter a philethis, a sarrak, or even an anhedon.

Sarrak, page 250

UNDERSTANDING THE LISTINGS Anhedon, page 253

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The most important element of each creature is its level. You use the level to determine the target number a PC must reach to attack or defend against the opponent. In each entry, the target number for the creature is listed in parentheses after its level. The target number is three times the level. A creature’s target number is usually also its health, which is the amount of damage it can sustain before it is dead or incapacitated. For easy reference, the

entries always list a creature’s health, even when it’s the normal amount for a creature of its level. For more detailed information on level, health, combat, and other elements, see the Understanding the Listings section in Numenera Discovery. CREATURES BY LEVEL Engine parasite

2

Locust

2

Lliran

3

Plasmar

3

Lightning mourn

4

Murder bloom

4

Spline

4

Wraith

4

Chytrid

5

Gaurn

5

Ravvle

5

Flesh buster

6

Freecycler

6

Helioduran

6

Strut ooze

6

Monitor

7

Drahq

8

Pruthastan

8

Phantom architect

9

Suneko (titanothaur)

10

CREATURES

CHYTRID

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Chytrid evolved from simpler kinds of fungus, but number among the lucky few that developed an extensive array of adaptations allowing them to survive the harsh radioactive environment of the Engine, as well as various systems meant to exterminate such growths. In its torpid state, a chytrid appears as a series of silvery metallic nodules encrusting a metallic strut or expanse of wall. Most observers don’t even realize what they’re seeing. However, chytrids become active when they sense the vibration of movement near them. Then large, many-legged bodies unfold from the nodules, revealing themselves as dangerous hunters. Their mirrorlike surfaces are more than mere camouflage; they can reflect the ambient sunlight to create beams intense enough to short out the visual senses of living creatures and automatons. Not very intelligent, chytrids hunt whatever comes their way. That said, when one finds a working device able to relay information, they may record ancient messages on them in pulses of light. (Most of these messages are in languages no longer spoken by anyone or anything still alive.) Motive: Hungers for flesh Environment: Engine or Halo Health: 25 Damage Inflicted: 6 points Armor: 2; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum; Armor 10 against all damage if in inactive form Movement: Short; short when climbing Modifications: Stealth tasks as level 6 when not moving; attacks and Speed defense as level 6 due to visual glare Combat: A chytrid can use its legs to slam up to two foes next to each other, inflicting 6 points of damage with each leg. Instead of physically attacking, a chytrid can focus and amplify reflected sunlight into a burning beam that targets a creature within long range, inflicting 6 points of damage. It can also accomplish other things with its ability to generate and shape light, including: Blind all targets within immediate range for about a minute if they fail a Might defense task. Induce a seizure in one living creature within short range that lasts for one minute on a failed Might defense task. Interaction: Characters who can generate light and use it to signal a chytrid might be able to open communications, though it is only about as intelligent as a dog. Use: While investigating strange flashes and reflections up one arc of the Engine, the PCs find a miles-wide field of reflective globular growths encrusting a section.

Usually only a single chytrid is active at one time, even if near a field of other chytrid nodules. In this way, each individual avoids competition with its fellows if potential food should happen along.

GM intrusion: A second chytrid emerges from its fungal state of estivation.

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DRAHQ

GM intrusion: On a failed Might defense roll, the character is effectively blinded by the drahq’s attack, as mechanisms that normally provide sight or similar sensing abilities short out.

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A solar storm is a disturbance on the sun that can affect the entire solar system, reaching all the way to Earth. Sometimes these storms birth self-aware entities of knotted magnetic force churning with rage, plasma, and metal-fusing induction. A drahq resembles a flare, miles long, with an interior “skeleton” of twisted magnetic field lines, creating a creepy, clawlike body limned in plasma. Drahqs can move under their own power, independent of the storm that created them. Usually they prey upon other entities that live in the upper layers of the sun. Sometimes they’re drawn to the nearby Engine, where they delight in causing as much destruction as possible, especially among automatons and biomechanicals sensitive to magnetic attacks. Motive: Delights in destruction Environment: Engine and Halo (and sun’s surface) Health: 40 Damage Inflicted: 12 points Armor: 3 (see Combat) Movement: Very long when flying Modifications: Perception as level 9; Speed defense as level 3 due to size Combat: A drahq can scour an area up to a very long distance away with violent magnetic flux, inflicting 12 points of damage to all creatures in an area up to a short distance in diameter. Automatons and biomechanicals (as well as augmechs, or even fleshy beings in bulky protective suits) in the area must also succeed on a Might defense roll if they are touching a solid metallic surface. Those who fail are fused to the surface and can’t move until they break free (inflicting 8 points of damage to themselves in the process). In areas of particularly strong energy fields (strong enough to damage regular creatures), drahqs regenerate up to 10 points of health per round and can double or triple their maximum health. If encountered directly on the surface of the sun, they can increase their health by an order of magnitude, rendering them effectively immune to the immense damage that would otherwise destroy most other life (except for that engineered to live on the sun). Interaction: A drahq possesses the instincts and intelligence of a predatory creature, and will attempt to flee back to the sun if faced with a credible threat. Use: The PCs are asked to deal with a marauding drahq by someone who the characters want a favor from in return.

CREATURES

ENGINE PARASITE

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These silvery insect-like creatures, composed of metallic wires and wafers, range in size from too small to see to 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter. They emit short pulses of violet-colored light in needle-thin rays to sense and sample their environment. Self-assembled or evolved on the Engine of the Gods over several hundred million years, Engine parasites are vermin that all other creatures on the structure have learned to hate. Despite taking steps to avoid an infestation, residents of the Engine may learn they have Engine parasites only when a swarm boils up from a crack in the cabling or seam in the deck plating after being agitated by some other disturbance. If that disturbance is combat or another dire emergency, Engine parasites thrown into the situation make everything worse. Motive: Defense, harvest numenera materials necessary to self-replicate Environment: Engine or Halo Health: 6 Damage Inflicted: 3 points Armor: 1; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Short; short when climbing Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to size Combat: Only large Engine parasites—those about 1 foot in diameter—are a danger to other life forms, and can intensify their light sources enough to inflict 3 points of damage on a creature within immediate range. When four or more parasites coordinate their attacks, treat the attack as if made by a single level 4 creature that inflicts 5 points of damage, and on a failed difficulty 4 Might defense roll, the attack holds the target in place until it can escape. A held target automatically takes 5 points of damage each round, or more if other Engine parasites in the area pile on. Targets may also be blinded as described in the GM intrusion. Interaction: By and large, Engine parasites behave like social insects, though some people claim that large numbers of them have acted with greater intelligence and forethought than mere unthinking insects should be able to manage. Use: A swarm of Engine parasites floods into the hold and makes off with an important device, dragging it into the crevices and walls of the area. Loot: Swarm nests often contain a few valuable cyphers or working pieces of equipment.

GM intrusion: The Engine parasite flashes its light attack directly into the character’s eyes, blinding them until they succeed on a difficulty 4 Might-based roll as their action. The roll to regain sight is hindered by two steps for augmechs and other automatons, as the light is tuned specifically to damage those systems.

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FLESH BUSTER

Flesh shelter, page 36

GM intrusion: The nanite load injected by the flesh buster mutates, and the character is no longer immune to the creature’s next touch.

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Flesh busters are composed of a volume of nanites able to shape themselves into forms of roughly human size. They take on human form only if they encounter humans they deem to be in a zone of the Engine they are not authorized to enter. Such regions are essentially any locations that are not specifically designed to maintain a temperate environment and breathable air, which a flesh buster calls a “quarantine zone.” So, from the perspective of a flesh buster, any kind of life it discovers outside of flesh shelters and similar quarantine zones is an infection that is its duty to eliminate, be it mold, fungus, or humans. Flesh busters attack their prey by injecting them with pellets of flesh-eating nanites. Those who succumb simply turn to dust and blow away on the solar wind. Motive: Eliminate unauthorized life Environment: Almost anywhere on the Engine (though usually not in temperate, regulated zones) Health: 22 Damage Inflicted: 6 points Armor: 1; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Short Modifications: Stealth tasks as level 8 due to ability to mimic nearly any object or creature Combat: A flesh buster’s touch inflicts 6 points of damage (ignores Armor) and infests the target with a small quantity of flesh-eating nanites. The target must succeed on a Might defense roll on their next turn or descend one step on the damage track. The target must continue attempting Might defense rolls on their turn or fall additional steps on the damage track. If the target succeeds on a Might defense roll, the nanite load is neutralized. If a target is killed from this effect, their body is turned to ash, but their equipment is unharmed. A target who succeeds on a Might defense roll is immune to the flesh buster’s nanite touch for the next several hours. Interaction: A flesh buster can reorganize itself to speak using any number of methods or languages (including using its voice to speak the Truth). It is difficult to dissuade from doing what it believes to be its duty, but a flesh buster can usually be convinced that a life form wandering beyond a temperate zone might be trying to improve the Engine, instead of just another instance of infection. Use: A route from one part of the Engine to another is being predated by a flesh buster.

CREATURES

FREECYCLER

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Like flies to a dead corpse, freecyclers always seem to know when an Engine component has had its day. Then they move in, dissect it, “consume” it, and (assuming everything goes well) extrude a waste stream that includes usable parts and components into their lairs. Sometimes those lairs are maintenance pods that exist at various locations around the Engine. Other times, when a freecycler has gone rogue, it’s more like the lair of a biological creature. Whatever the ultimate destination of a freecycler’s stream, they are dangerous entities, especially for automatons, biomechanical creatures, and augmechs. In the sensory stream of many freecyclers, the only thing separating an active automaton from one suitable for trash collection and recycling is a meeting with their cutting arms or severing lasers. Motive: Recycle machines Environment: Almost anywhere on the Engine or Halo, alone or in pairs Health: 35 Damage Inflicted: 9 points Armor: 3; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Short; short when flying Modifications: Understanding numenera as level 7 Combat: During its action, a freecycler can bring to bear three sawlike spinning blades on targets within immediate range, each inflicting 9 points of damage. Alternatively, a freecycler can target a creature up to a very long distance away with lasers that inflict 9 points of damage on a hit, and on an additional failed Might defense roll, blind the creature. Blinded creatures can choose to use their action attempting to blink away (or otherwise repair) the effect by succeeding on a Might-based task. If a single target is struck by all three of a freecycler’s blade attacks, they must succeed on a Might defense roll or be stunned and unable to take actions. Each round a creature remains stunned, it automatically sustains damage from three spinning blade attacks, which for the purposes of Armor is treated as a single attack instead of separate ones. A stunned creature can throw off the effect with a successful Might defense roll on its turn, the only task it can attempt. Interaction: Freecyclers are barely self-aware, and use what intelligence they have to pursue trash collection and recycling. They may negotiate if convinced that helping another creature will lead them to a prize. Use: The PCs require a rare component. Various leads point them to a freecycler in the vicinity that may have it. Loot: An inactive freecycler can usually be salvaged for a couple of cyphers, possibly an artifact, and iotum.

Iotum, page 107 GM intrusion: The character attempting to use a cypher, artifact, or other device against the freecycler risks losing it, unused, when the creature snatches it and tries to recycle it on the spot.

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GAURN

Gaurn range in size from 10 feet (3 m) in diameter to well over 100 feet (30 m).

Radiation sickness, page 13

GM intrusion: The character is dazed, which hinders all their actions, while they suffer from radiation sickness.

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These massive creatures formed of magnetic field lines are mostly mouthlike vortex—and surrounding mouthparts—that serve two functions. One is to sing in x-ray frequencies that are beautiful beyond anything most people have ever heard, but which is lethal to most other creatures not protected against the medium in which the music is transmitted. But to gaurn and other entities of the sun, the sound is a form of communication, connection, and celebration. The other function of the mouth is, of course, to eat. Gaurn feed on other entities of the sun, gaining sustenance from breaking down bodies of magnetic flux and plasma. In the rare instances that a gaurn leaves the sun’s corona and ventures into “the Cold,” they have been known to try to eat regular matter and flesh, but only as a last resort. Most gaurn are fickle, unconcerned with the laws of other creatures, and dangerous because of that, though a few have developed a persona of self-control in order to interact with plasmars as well as entities of the Engine. Motive: Hungers for complex concentrations of magnetism and plasma Environment: Usually in the sun’s corona, but can exist in less extreme environments, such as the Engine or Halo Health: 27 Damage Inflicted: 8 points Armor: 2 (see Combat) Movement: Very long when flying Modifications: Speed defense as level 2 due to size Combat: A gaurn can flash a target up to a long distance away with withering x-ray radiation that inflicts 8 points of damage. In addition, creatures without Armor that protects against radiation (or those wearing armor not insulated against radiation) must succeed on a Might defense roll or suffer 3 points of ambient radiation damage. Those that die from this damage are consumed and swallowed by the central maw, torn apart and integrated into the gaurn. Creatures that failed their initial Might defense roll must make it again every minute, or suffer another 3 points of damage. (Treat this as an instance of radiation sickness.) Interaction: If communication can be opened, gaurn are flighty and irresponsible, as a rule. However, they are enthralled by all forms of song, and some sort of exchange of songs might go far in earning one’s cooperation. Use: Although gaurn can be encountered randomly, sometimes they can be lured by song to serve as unwitting guards or attackers on behalf of a third party.

CREATURES

HELIODURAN

6 (18)

Although not natives of the sun like plasmars or gaurn, heliodurans are still one of the most radiation-resistant creatures known to exist. Presumably engineered from life that was already classified as extremophile—something able to withstand a variety of harsh conditions—a helioduran is a reflective, crested insect-like organism able to reach lengths of 100 feet (30 m) or more. Usually, it bathes in the full light of the sun on Engine struts and Halo components that receive full exposure, gaining a substantial portion of its energy. However, a helioduran needs to supplement its diet with living matter and rare metals, which means it is an equal opportunity predator of both automatons and creatures of flesh. The vacuum-adapted helioduran can spook its prey into immobility when it flashes them with a blast of stored radiation and light. Motive: Hungers for radiation, flesh, and rare metals Environment: Engine and Halo Health: 32 Damage Inflicted: 12 points Armor: 2; Armor 20 against damage from heat and radiation; Armor 5 against effects of vacuum Movement: Short; short when climbing Modifications: Hides on sunlit struts as level 7; Speed defense as level 5 due to size Combat: A helioduran slithers along major Engine struts or large structures of the Halo, soaking in the sun while waiting in ambush for any mobile prey that happens by. When it attacks, it flares with radiation and light that stuns all creatures within long range that were not aware of the helioduran, but that have direct line of sight to it. Ignorant targets that fail a Speed defense roll to look away are stunned for two rounds and blinded for three, and those who were aware of the helioduran and succeed on their defense roll are unaffected. Whether its prey is stunned or not, the helioduran slithers forward to attack, even launching itself through open space to reach distant prey. Its bite inflicts 12 points of damage. Interaction: Heliodurans might ignore potential prey if they are not hungry, but otherwise they act like smart predators with animal-level intelligence. Use: On an expedition to repair a component of the Halo, the PCs encounter a field of bathing heliodurans that are blocking the light the component needs to help lift fuel into the Engine’s mouth.

Plasmar, page 116 Gaurn, page 108

GM intrusion: The helioduran bites a stunned foe, automatically hitting and ignoring Armor.

109 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

LIGHTNING MOURN

GM intrusion: A piece of the character’s equipment, usually a device such as a cypher or artifact, is targeted. The character must succeed on a Might defense roll— which is hindered—or the item loses power, possibly for good.

110 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

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These biomechanical winged insects about half the size of humans are like vermin, seeking out shorts and other instances of extreme electrical activity. Whether the activity is a malfunction of a mechanism or installation or merely the result of normal operation, lightning mourns absorb the excess energy and siphon it off to ground. In the frenetic environments of the Engine, this often has the result of, if not fixing a damaged machine, at least shutting it down long enough that some other resident can come along and fix it before it burns itself out. However (as is true for so many other creatures of the Engine), in the intervening millions of years, programing drift has made lightning mourns far less selective. They’re just as likely to go after fully functional devices that use electricity as those that have an issue. That includes automatons, biological creatures that use devices, and even components of the Engine. Motive: Siphoning electrical current Environment: Anywhere machines function Health: 12 Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 1; Armor 20 against damage from electricity; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Short; long when flying Modifications: Perception tasks to detect electrical activity as level 7 Combat: Lightning mourns attack by firing one javelin-like spear each round at a target within short range. Each javelin trails a net of thin metallic wires. On a hit, the attack inflicts 4 points of damage and the target must succeed on a Speed defense roll or become entangled and unable to take physical actions until they succeed on a Might task as their action. Each round a creature remains entangled, it automatically suffers 4 points of ambient damage, or 8 points if it is an automaton. In addition, automatons that normally have any sort of automatic health regeneration lose that ability while entangled. Sometimes, a lightning mourn attacks a creature’s equipment rather than the creature itself; see the GM intrusion. Interaction: Lightning mourns have animal-level intelligence, but they might give up one source of electricity in exchange for the offer of something even more energetic. Use: An infestation of lightning mourns in an Engine substation risks rendering the entire region subject to being ejected from the structure by command and control intelligences. Loot: A lightning mourn’s form can usually be salvaged for a cypher.

CREATURES

LLIRAN

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“O Engine, almighty Keeper of the Eternal Promise, in unity with the Halo, all glory and honor is yours, keeping us safe from the ever-encroaching Viridian.” ~ from a lliran ritual Lliran are everywhere on the main body of the Engine. Which is lucky, because their rituals, which glorify the “world” (the Engine itself), are vital components in keeping the overall structure in general repair. As broken down as some regions have become, it would be far worse if not for the eternal, sacred efforts of the lliran. Their culture is highly formalized, putting reverence for the Engine ahead of everything else, even their own safety. If lliran notice a leak, blowout, or other hazard of the Engine, most of them would not think twice about sacrificing their own lives to do what they can to effect a repair. However, that’s not to say the lliran do not value their own lives. It’s just that they believe that any that give their life for the Engine become saints, and are taken up to live with the Architects in the Halo. The center of Engine worship for lliran is in the holy city of Wrawn. Motive: Defense, repair of the Engine (as part of ritual worship) Environment: Engine Health: 12 Damage Inflicted: 3 points Armor: 1; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Short Modifications: Crafting numenera (especially as relates to repair) as level 6 Combat: Lliran use heavy tools at hand in a fight, though with their knowledge of Engine systems, a lliran can usually trigger a level 6 effect similar to a detonation or a ray emitter after spending a round working at any regular surface in the Engine. With a minute of work, they could achieve other, more elaborate effects, up to and including jettisoning a section of the Engine into the sun—possibly even the section the lliran is in, if it believes that is in the best interest of the structure. Interaction: Lliran are cautious with strangers they meet, especially those who have a history of dealing damage to the Engine. Lliran can access a record of such actions, and any damage is considered a debt. Malefactors can pay off their debt by aiding lliran rituals. Use: PCs in danger while moving through a failing section of the Engine encounter a group of lliran priests conducting a ritual of repair. Loot: A lliran always has a couple of tools, some of which may seem like oddities, and at least one cypher.

Hazards of the Engine, page 14 Lliran are biomechanical beings, with living flesh fused with automaton-like components. Wrawn, page 39 GM intrusion: Before the negotiation continues, the lliran displays a record of the character salvaging numenera from the Engine, and demands recompense.

111 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

LOCUST

Hazards of the Engine, page 14

GM intrusion: The locust uses a cypher—possibly the one just pilfered from the character— on the character.

112 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

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Countless varieties of automaton move about the Engine and the Halo, each conducting some minor service for the overall health of the system the way that insects participate in the ecosystem of a living biome. Normally, they ignore creatures and automatons with greater agency, and they are likewise ignored. They scuttle on magnetic limbs, flit on reactor mass, or slide snakelike with tiny digits holding them to the surface. However, on rare occasions, an electronic madness afflicts these “repairers” and changes their behavior. They multiply far beyond their normal limit and go on a grand tour of one or more sections of the Engine, ingesting everything and everyone they encounter, becoming a true hazard of the Engine. Motive: Hungers for flesh, components, iotum, and raw matter in a pinch Environment: Anywhere on the Engine or Halo, usually in groups of no fewer than a dozen, often many times that Health: 6 Damage Inflicted: 2 points Armor: 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Short; short when flying Modifications: Speed defense as level 3 due to size Combat: Locusts stab, bite, electrify, or otherwise use their specialized body parts—usually meant to repair the Engine—to cause harm instead. Most often, four or more can act in concert to become a swarm, acting as a single level 4 creature that inflicts 5 points of damage. A swarm may also attempt to pilfer the PCs’ cyphers. If a PC is damaged by a swarm, they must also succeed on a difficulty 4 Intellect defense roll or lose one cypher from their possession. If a swarm is left on its own, it strips an area of other machines and devices in about ten rounds of activity, then moves en masse to a new section of the Engine. Interaction: Locusts are not usually intelligent and do not communicate, though a rare few can exhibit intelligent behaviors and advanced motives for a time. As repairers, these automatons seem normal. It’s only when their behavior trips and they become locusts that they become non-communicating threats. Use: The characters, looking for a pressurized section of the Engine where they can rest, witness a troop of repairing automatons go from normal behavior to locust behavior after a triggering event. Loot: A cypher or oddity can usually be salvaged from a defeated locust.

CREATURES

MONITOR

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Monitors are a residual population of biomechanical creatures created by the Architects, charged with keeping various aspects of the Engine in working order. Epochs later, the population is much reduced, and installations still able to produce fresh versions are themselves forgetful and in need of repair. As such, monitors are more like ghosts than inspectors, watching in silence for the most part. However, for reasons not always obvious to others, monitors may stir into action upon noticing a defect in the Engine, and attempt to rally other nearby entities to repair the issue, or punish those responsible for creating the problem in the first place. Monitors usually act alone, possibly retreating into the datasphere via a vertice for decades at a time before reappearing. But when the need arises, many monitors may work in concert to deal with a particular issue or threat. Motive: Enforcement of Engine protocols (sporadically) Environment: Engine and Halo, usually alone Health: 33 Damage Inflicted: 12 points Armor: 3; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Short; short when flying Modifications: All numenera tasks as level 8; perception tasks as level 9 Combat: When forced to act, a monitor can deploy changeable smart-matter flesh fists or blades to batter or slice up to four foes within short range, or grab them and hold them in place until they can escape. The monitor can squeeze caught foes, inflicting 12 points of damage each round until the foes can escape. If a monitor focuses all four attacks on one creature, treat it as a single level 9 attack that inflicts 15 points of damage, and if attempting to hold the target in place, the Might task to escape is as if against a level 9 opponent. Monitors usually deploy their smart-matter flesh to enact repairs. Once every other round, they can convert their flesh into nearly any object or piece of equipment of up to level 5, excluding artifacts but including cyphers. Apparently, monitors can generate a nearly infinite supply of the substance, given enough time and while they remain in the energy-rich area near the sun. Interaction: Characters can use language to negotiate with monitors, or use invisible machine language while in the airless void, especially if an aspect of the Engine requires repair. Use: The PCs’ conflict with some other group rouses a monitor to check on the damage they inflicted to the Engine. Loot: A few cyphers can be salvaged from a deceased monitor. Sometimes, a monitor may gift a PC with a cypher created from their smart-matter synthesizers.

Vertices, page 87

GM intrusion: Just when it seems as if the monitor is on the character’s side, the character does something that risks engaging the monitor’s Engine-protection functions, to the character’s detriment.

113 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

MURDER BLOOM

Murder blooms are on the rise, a hazard instigated by the approaching Viridian. Viridian Hazards, page 23

GM intrusion: A higher-level Viridiantouched creature appears, such as a pruthastan (page 117).

114 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

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Insect-like in shape, these beautiful and deadly flowers come in various emerald, ruby, and sapphire shades. But when the blooms flap their wings and take flight, it is almost certainly to kill the observer and convert their remains to fresh fertilizer. These dangerous creatures arise mysteriously from plants of almost any kind, developing from buds that are uncharacteristic for the plant they appear on. When the flower unfolds from the bud, it flaps its petals, meets with any nearby fellows, and begins devastating all non-plant life nearby with poisonous stingers. Even a single sting can create a runaway allergic reaction in a target that ends suddenly in a detonation of blood and flesh—perfect fertilizer for more murder blooms. Motive: Hungers for flesh Environment: Near plants Health: 15 Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 1 Movement: Short when flying Combat: A murder bloom’s bite inflicts 4 points of damage, but its sting is what living things should avoid. A sting inflicts 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) from poison. If the victim fails a Might defense roll, a runaway allergic reaction occurs, inflicting 2 points of damage the first round, 4 points the next, 8 the next, and so on, until the victim succeeds on a Might defense roll on one of their subsequent turns or until they die, at which point they literally explode. Four murder blooms can act as a single level 6 creature inflicting 6 points of damage whose toxin requires a difficulty 6 Might defense roll to resist. Each bloom must be attacked singly as normal. The blooms are hindered by smoke or other strong fumes, and retreat from it. They are also inactive in non-natural light. Interaction: Murder blooms act as large, aggressive, hungry insects. However, in the presence of other Viridian-touched creatures, they gain a semblance of intelligence, enough to follow the commands of more intelligent spawn of the Viridian. Use: A trip to the botanical garden becomes a harrowing experience as the flowers animate.

CREATURES

PHANTOM ARCHITECT

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Half composed of metal and half of fluid nanites held in a cradle of invisible force, phantom architects are sometimes witnessed moving along a strut or wandering through a station in the Halo. Most other beings give them a wide berth, because their name alone suggests an important lineage. If indeed these creatures are echoes of the Architects themselves, how could they be anything but disappointed at what has become of the Engine? Phantom architects don’t seem to have lairs—or, at least, not physical ones. Instead, they are somehow physically printed from special devices (which some call vertices), and remain for only a little while before returning to whatever non-realm they came from. If a phantom architect ever manifests near a pruthastan, the phantom does everything within its power to utterly destroy the pruthastan, demonstrating a brutal instinct to eradicate them. Motive: Defend the Engine Environment: Engine and Halo Health: 50 Damage Inflicted: 13 points Armor: 4; Armor 10 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Long when flying Modifications: Speed defense as level 7 due to size Combat: In addition to being able to make two battering attacks each round, inflicting 13 points of damage per strike, a phantom architect can employ its deep connection with the Engine to create a variety of effects. These include raising an arbitrary number of level 5 long-range laser weapon turrets (one each round), opening previously undetected pocket chambers, creating force field barriers, and so on. Essentially, a phantom architect has a sort of remote control of nearby Engine devices and machines, including those lying inactive beneath a strut plating or just out of sight along a length of cable. Interaction: Generally, PCs must do something destructive to get the attention of a phantom architect, though that could lead to a conflict. However, sometimes a phantom architect decides that characters could be useful in an obscure repair project, and it sets the PCs on a task in return for something they want, popping up display screens out of a nearby Engine component to communicate visually. Use: When the PCs accidentally destroy a piece of Engine equipment, a phantom architect appears. Loot: A defeated phantom architect can be salvaged for several cyphers and a couple of artifacts.

Vertice, page 87 Pruthastan, page 117

Pocket chamber, page 60

GM intrusion: The character is sucked into a nearby pocket chamber and (on a failed Speed defense roll) trapped when the entrance fades away.

115 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

PLASMAR

Unlikely as it seems, a small population of plasmars survives on Earth, dwelling in subterranean tunnels around active volcanoes and in areas that generate the sort of energy fields the creatures depend on to survive.

Plasmars view the world differently than regular living creatures do, since they need energy fields the way that other creatures need air.

GM intrusion: A plasma blast fired by a plasmar hits a PC and destroys one of the character’s cyphers, chosen by the GM. If the cypher is a detonation, it also explodes.

116 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

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Plasmars are tall, space-black humanoids swaddled in magnetic skins of luminous plasma. They’re intelligent “phenomena” that sometimes appear in areas or times of energy discharge. Many dwell in massive arcing cities on the face of the sun itself, though several inhabit the Engine in small communities built up around energy sources. Plasmars can be strongly territorial, especially if they believe that visitors risk disrupting their energy fields. Motive: Territory, defense, knowledge of undiscovered areas emitting energy fields Environment: Areas rich in energy, preferably electromagnetic Health: 12 (see Combat) Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 1 (see Combat) Movement: Short; long if a plasmar chooses to “ride the lightning” and appear in another area within a larger (or connected) energy field, though this kind of movement requires a plasmar’s entire turn Combat: Plasmars attack with a fiery plasma touch or short-range bolt against a single target that inflicts 4 points of damage. A plasmar can augment an attack, both easing it and increasing the damage to 8 points each time it saps 1 point of health from itself or a willing plasmar ally. A plasmar within short range of an immobile energy field regenerates 1 point of health per round. In areas of particularly strong energy fields (strong enough to damage regular creatures), plasmars regenerate up to 10 points of health per round and can double or triple their maximum health. If encountered directly on the surface of the sun, they can increase their health by an order of magnitude, rendering them effectively immune to the immense damage that would otherwise destroy most other life (except for that engineered to live on the sun). Interaction: Plasmars are wary of strangers. They speak either by magnetic induction directly to each other, or by causing metallic objects nearby to buzz with sounds that mimic regular language. Use: While exploring the Engine of the Gods, travelers come upon a plasmar caught between energy sources, slowly starving. Loot: Sometimes plasmars give a level 7 plasma detonation cypher as a gift (or leave one behind if they are discharged).

CREATURES

PRUTHASTAN

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Entities of strife and misfortune, the pruthastans were introduced to the Engine from somewhere else, possibly even a parallel dimension where the Engine failed and the Viridian caught up to the solar system. Others believe—based on a datasphere disclosure—that the pruthastans may have been among the Architects of the Engine. Obviously not those who were responsible for saving everyone, but instead the criminals, the thieves, and the failed leaders whose backward policies would have led to calamity if they had not been exiled into an artificial prison dimension. Whether new to this continuum or having finally escaped confinement, pruthastans are loose on the Engine and the Halo, and even seem capable of troubling those able to live on the sun’s surface. Insane and slavering for a taste of reality, they regard all the creatures of the Engine—whether automaton, flesh, or biomechanical—as something to be eaten. Apparently, they gain sustenance not only from material they ingest, but also from the terror their acts inspire. Motive: Hungers for any living or mechanical thing; can also consume emotions, as well as any kind of rude matter, and if nothing else is at hand, possibly even spacetime itself Environment: Engine, Halo, and the sun Health: 33 Damage Inflicted: 10 points Armor: 3; Armor 10 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Long; long when flying Modifications: Perception tasks as level 10 Combat: A pruthastan prefers to use exotic weaponry, if available. For instance, about one in four carries a dimensional modulator. Otherwise, a pruthastan’s slam inflicts 10 points of damage and also requires the target to succeed on an Intellect defense roll or suffer 1 additional point of Intellect damage each round. This ongoing psychic leakage continues until the target succeeds on an Intellect-based task to withstand the fearful intrusion into their mind. Interaction: Pruthastans consider all other creatures to be nothing more than food. And they love to play with their food. Use: A pruthastan with a plan—rather than just one causing trouble by eating whatever it comes across—might well prove to be the powerful mastermind behind any number of world-ending plots. Loot: Pruthastan lairs are littered with trophies of past feedings, which could include a handful of cyphers and an artifact or two (including a dimensional modulator). However, a hungry pruthastan could eat any and all of this.

Viridian, page 22

Dimensional modulator, page 79 GM intrusion: After striking the character, the pruthastan also destroys or devours a small piece of the character’s equipment.

117 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

RAVVLE

Wraith, page 122 GM intrusion: Instead of attacking separately, one of the other ravvles also injects a grabbed character, inflicting an additional 6 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor).

118 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

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Ravvle prefer the stark shadows to the direct searing sunlight. Black as space themselves, a lone hunter or ravvle raiding party slips up on unsuspecting biomechanical creatures and automatons in order to destroy them, then salvage useful loot from their remains. Sure, they could salvage similar components from mute Engine mechanisms making up their environment, but there is no sport in raiding unintelligent devices. Ravvle glory in the thrill of the hunt, often taking trophies from defeated foes to adorn their own bodies if they cannot directly incorporate or ingest it. Ravvle fight among themselves constantly for power, position, and salvage rights for recently downed prey. However, those who bear trophies of mighty enemies are sometimes given first pick. Even among ravvle, there is a sort of honor. Ravvle are about 12 feet (4 m) tall, ebony skinned, and when they wish to show themselves, they glow with angry red spots like tiny dying suns. Motive: Hungers for salvage (especially cyphers and artifacts) from automatons and biomechanical creatures Environment: Engine and Halo, alone or in three-ravvle raiding parties Health: 20 Damage Inflicted: 6 points Armor: 4; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Long when flying Modifications: Speed defense as level 6 due to quickness; perception and stealth tasks as level 6 Combat: When a ravvle raiding party sees something they desire, they jet toward it. A single ravvle attempts to grab and immobilize a target who fails a Speed defense roll by wrapping many arms and other limbs around it. On subsequent rounds until the target is able to escape (a hindered Might task, due to all the arms), it repeatedly injects an oily acid that inflicts 6 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) as it breaks down all kinds of advanced materials, from flesh to synthsteel. A ravvle regains a number of points of health equal to the level of the cypher, artifact, or similar device that it absorbs into itself on its turn. Interaction: Ravvle communicate via a private invisible channel, but can adjust their speech to a channel that most other creatures on the Engine can hear. Sometimes they make demands before attacking, enjoying the fear their threats engender. However, even if they are given what they want, they may still attack. Use: Just as the characters seem to be getting somewhere in their negotiations with a tribe of wraiths or other intelligent species on the Engine, ravvle pirates attack.

CREATURES

SPLINE

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Protected by metallic red carapaces about 12 feet (4 m) in diameter, most automatons of this kind are not motivated by much. Splines spend most of their hours lost in morbid, sullen thoughts. They sometimes congregate with others, attempting to find some purpose in community and helping their fellows. Some achieve success. However, it wouldn’t be wrong to characterize this “species” of machine as dreary and, often enough, welcoming the end of their own pointless existence. Ages ago, the splines were once mindless automatons integral to various Engine repair tasks. Over time, they evolved minds and culture, forgetting their purpose. That dearth gives many a hollow feeling that only a few ever manage to fill. Those that turn their talents to repair, especially maintenance of their environment, are usually the most fulfilled in any gathering of splines. Motive: Usually to be left alone to dwell on dreary thoughts Environment: Anywhere on the Engine or Halo Health: 12 Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 1; Armor 5 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Short Modifications: Tasks related to repairing the numenera as level 7 Combat: If forced to defend themselves, splines can produce a cutting electro-force blade that can slice through almost anything, including armor (except for armor reinforced by force fields), inflicting 4 points of damage. If two or more splines are next to each other and allied, one can choose to use its action to repair a damaged spline for 10 health that round. Interaction: Most splines are gruff, angry at being pulled from their internal thoughts, and unwilling to indulge the desires of others, especially non-splines. However, if this initial reluctance can be overcome, most splines can be lured into almost any situation by awakening their desire to fix machines. Use: The PCs are told that a nearby spline can fix their sunsuit or augmech. However, the spline they find is a moody, angry individual without any desire to help. Loot: A few cyphers can be salvaged from a deceased spline.

In spline culture, it’s considered passé and childish to want to fix things. How that meme got started is anyone’s guess, but it probably grew out of an earlier epoch’s effort to gain independent thought by distancing themselves from their preinstalled program.

GM intrusion: The cutting implement degrades the character’s Armor by 1 point on a failed Might defense roll.

119 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

STRUT OOZE

Strut ooze resting patterns are not unlike how moss grows more thickly on the sides of trees in the Ninth World that get the least amount of sun; in the northern hemisphere, that’s the north side of the tree.

GM intrusion: The character must succeed on an Intellect defense roll or be inundated with so much detailed physiological knowledge of past victims of the strut ooze that they are stunned on their next turn.

120 William Kwan (Order #33596357)

6 (18)

Strut ooze is a very specific manifestation of rogue nanites that clump together like a great dark slick of oil that turbidly boils and sparkles, usually on struts along the circumference facing directly away from the sun. Sometimes it forms great treelike structures connecting two different surfaces. Strut ooze is not quite as resistant to heat and radiation as many other Engine natives. Usually, it remains quiescent, so much so that most natives don’t go too far out of their way to avoid a patch. But occasionally, a solar flare, sharp vibration, unexpected play of light, or even unfamiliar chatter over the invisible channels that the strut ooze can apparently “hear” can rouse it. That’s when the ooze animates, becoming aggressively inquisitive. It interrogates targets by absorbing them and breaking them down to base chemicals, not as food, but in the pursuit of analysis. Motive: Hungers for information Environment: Engine Health: 23 Damage Inflicted: 7 points Armor: 1; Armor 3 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Short Modifications: Grabbing and holding as level 7 Combat: The strut ooze animates and can batter foes with its pseudopods of dark, oily substance, attacking up to two targets within immediate range, or one target within long range by ejecting an oily projectile. On a hit, the oil clings and attempts to infiltrate a target who must succeed on a Might defense roll. If they’re successful, the oil fails to find purchase. If unsuccessful, the target takes 7 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) every round until they succeed on a Might defense roll. Meanwhile, the strut ooze is free to make additional attacks on a target already taking damage. Successful additional attacks don’t inflict more damage; instead, each one cumulatively hinders the target’s Might defense roll by one additional step. The ooze absorbs the oily residue of a target that is destroyed by the process. Interaction: Natives might not take pains to avoid strut ooze, but they try not to provoke it. If some method of communication could be established, any given strut ooze has detailed information on almost every other creature, and many individuals, that it has previously absorbed and analyzed. A potential method of negotiation is offering a new object or creature that it can scan in return for other information. Use: An automaton in Wrawn is looking for someone to venture to a dark pool in a nearby pocket chamber. Upon investigation, a “lake” of strut ooze is found.

CREATURES

SUNEKO (TITANOTHAUR)

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Suneko is a mindblowingly gargantuan creature, a unique instance of a larger class of apex predators called titanothaurs. Thus, “Suneko” is a proper name. In appearance, Suneko is lithe, like a great snake nearly 500 feet (150 m) long. Its body is so hot that its skin glows like red coals, a halo around its head blazes like the sun’s corona, and its eyes are akin to beaming searchlights. When Suneko appears, it is attracted by artificial structures, the more densely situated and elaborate the better, which it seeks to batter to rubble or, better yet, incinerate. Motive: Destruction Environment: Usually near communities containing many high structures Health: 140 Damage Inflicted: 15 points (see Combat) Armor: 7; Armor 30 against fire and radiation damage Movement: Long; very long when flying Modifications: Speed defense as level 8 due to size and speed (unless in combat against a similarly colossal foe, then as level 10) Combat: Any creature or object within short range of Suneko must succeed on a Might defense roll each round or suffer 5 points of damage from sun-hot plasma (which ignores most Armor, except for Armor from force fields); this effect requires no action by the titanothaur. Suneko can bite and tail lash the same or two different targets within long range as its action, inflicting 15 points of damage with each strike. Instead of biting or tail lashing, it can make a rampaging attack that inflicts 15 points of damage plus an additional 5 points of sun-hot plasma damage on everything within short range. Even those that avoid the attack with a successful Speed defense roll take 5 points of damage from the rampage. About once per minute, Suneko can also emit twin rays of plasma from its eyes in a focused beam that can reach as far as the horizon, which from its height above the ground (assuming the surface of the Earth) is about 22 miles (35 km). The twin eyebeams inflict 30 points of sun-hot plasma damage, which ignores most Armor except Armor from a force field. Suneko regains 10 points of health per round, or twice that in a region of heat or radiation that is damaging to other creatures. If Suneko dies, it could be revived again many years later if left in a hot, fiery place. Interaction: Suneko seems to be a creature of pure destruction. Use: See the adventure “Waking the Mega.”

Appearances of colossal creatures like Suneko are rare events that usually don’t last for more than a few days. In that sense, they’re akin to hundred-year storms and at least as destructive.

Chapter 13: Waking the Mega, page 155 GM intrusion: Despite insulating Armor or other protections, the character fighting Suneko begins to burn for 5 points of damage from sun-hot plasma each round until they succeed on a Might defense task to smother the flame.

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WRAITH

Wrawn, page 39

GM intrusion: The attacked character must also succeed on a Might defense roll or take an additional 3 points of ambient damage and contract radiation sickness (page 13).

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Wraiths are living creatures capable of existing in the vacuum of space by directly metabolizing high-energy charged particles that are abundant in the void, especially close to the sun. According to wraith lore, the Architects derived them from living creatures similar in form and mind to humans. Even if that could possibly be true, they seem utterly alien in body in the present. Wraiths sometimes conceal themselves in layers of shroud-like tissue, and other times they reveal themselves as wispy, elongated things of glowing red plasma. As with many other entities encountered in the Engine and the Halo, wraiths can function and work without issue in the sun’s never-ending light. However, wraiths are not a cohesive group; different tribes live all across the Engine, though most of them haunt the Halo. Some are certainly a threat to other creatures, while others (such as some encountered in the city of Wrawn) might see humans as somehow sacred, having been the model from which the wraiths were created by the Architects. Whatever else motivates a group of wraiths, most are proficient in some capacity in repairing various functions of the Engine and the Halo, and they understand that a threat to either is a threat to everything. Motive: Varies with individual or group Environment: Anywhere near or in the Engine and Halo Health: 15 Damage Inflicted: 6 points Armor: 10 against damage from fire and radiation Movement: Short when flying Modifications: Perception and stealth tasks as level 7; understanding, crafting, and salvaging numenera as level 8 Combat: Wraiths can unfold from their concealing shrouds and attack with radioactive limbs to deal 6 points of Speed damage from ionizing radiation (ignores most Armor) or, if available, cyphers or artifacts that inflict damage. Some can direct ionizing radiation as long-distance attacks, though doing so costs the wraith 1 point of health. Interaction: Wraiths communicate by an invisible channel that many machines can also connect to. They react to outsiders differently depending on the particular group the PCs find. For instance, a particular wraith might be considered a sage by others, and encountered as an urbane purveyor of knowledge. Others may be more dangerous. Use: A ragged band of wraiths that have forgotten their history is encountered in a shuttered, unused section of the Engine. At first, they try to kill anyone that finds them, wanting to keep their presence a secret. Loot: Some wraiths carry valuable items and equipment.

KARNA’S ETERNAL RETURN NPCS CHAPTER 11

NPCs PHIUS LIVIC

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Always lost in conversation with an unseen other, muttering and nodding, listening then speaking, Phius Livic is a scholar of the numenera who never goes anywhere quietly, though he’s rarely loud, either. Until he becomes caught up in the events described in chapter 12, Phius moves about, buying books and—after reading them—selling books, and looking for sources of knowledge that go beyond the printed word. Having lost his eyes to a ravage bear attack when he was young, Phius relies on a device that whispers an ever-unfolding description into his ears, even going so far as to read books written in any language Phius cares to try. To him, it’s all the Truth, because that’s what the mechanism speaks.

CHEVARA A fail-safe function in Phius’s visor imprinted the mind of Chevara (the Aeon Priest who originally gave him the device) upon the death of the priest’s physical body. Able to interact with the world only through Phius as an intermediary, Chevara convinced him to become her partner in saving the world from the Viridian by reigniting the Engine of the Gods, as described in chapter 12. Motive: Books, knowledge, companionship; to save the Ninth World Environment: Almost anywhere books can be found, until events of chapter 12 unfold Health: 24 Damage Inflicted: 4 points Movement: Short Modifications: Most Intellect-based tasks as level 6; stealth tasks as level 2 due to constant murmuring Combat: Phius is unable to effectively defend himself physically. However, the mechanism invested with Chevara’s mind can produce a short-range sonic blast that inflicts 4 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) on a target creature and everything next to it. Interaction: Phius never quite looks at who he speaks with, and his eye sockets are always hidden behind a visor in any event. But he is friendly and engaging, though most of his conversations are interrupted with side questions he asks of the mechanism that describes the world for him (normally inaudible to others). Use: Phius inquires after rare books but has recently had a revelation about the imminent end of all things. He seeks others to help him travel to Qi so he can warn the Amber Pope of the danger associated with the breakdown of a prior-world mechanism at the sun’s edge—something Phius calls the Engine of the Gods. Loot: Phius’s mechanism is built into his visor, but it could be salvaged for a few cyphers.

Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move, page 126 GM intrusion: Phius notices something about the character that other people never do, and that perhaps even the character hadn’t realized (because the mechanism saw it and described it to Phius).

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DENIZEN

Freedom Society, page 51 Viridian, page 22 Miash, page 139 Interpreter, page 41 Wrawn, page 39 Pruthastan, page 117 Accessing the Control Center, page 149 Denizen can infect automatons with instances of her mind, resembling a glob of nanite protoplasm adhering somewhere on or in the device. Such instances are deployed around the solar system. GM intrusion: The lie Denizen tells confuses an ally of the character into inaction for a few rounds.

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The woman known as Denizen is highly modified with the numenera, fusing flesh with various living devices native to a “prison plane” called the Liminal Shore that she claims to have escaped in her childhood. Given that most of her other claims prove to be lies, it’s probable that her origin story mixes as much falsehood with truth. Since her arrival on the Engine well over two hundred years ago, Denizen has been driven to bring it offline, going so far as to create an organization among the natives called the Freedom Society to help her achieve these ends. Publicly, she describes her aims as helping liberate those imprisoned by ancient directives that no longer have any meaning. Why go through these maintenance tasks each day when the Engine seems fine as it is? Secretly, however, she wants the Viridian to catch up with the solar system. She has various agents (such as Miash, first counselor to the Amber Pope, and an instance of herself that counsels the Interpreter in Wrawn) that work toward her aims around the solar system. In addition, she has a pact with the pruthastans, who sometimes aid her. Currently, Denizen has taken over the Engine’s Control Center. Motive: Achieve union with the Viridian Environment: Anywhere on the Engine Health: 33 Damage Inflicted: 8 points Armor: 4; Armor 5 against environmental heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum Movement: Long Modifications: Persuasion, deception, and understanding numenera tasks as level 8 Combat: Denizen (and some of her instances) wears nanite battle armor that provides 4 Armor and restores 5 points of health per round. It also provides needful objects, including weapons. For instance, she can project tiny energy orbs at up to three targets within long range each round. Each energy orb inflicts 8 points of acid damage. The suit can also become effectively invisible (easing her stealth tasks by two steps) if she crouches and doesn’t take any actions. It grants her the ability to fly a long distance each round for up to ten minutes. Finally, it can provide nutrition and filtered water, or even create a small pressurized bubble capable of sheltering up to three other human-sized creatures. It’s effectively a wearable manufactory. Interaction: A consummate liar, Denizen always tries to befriend strangers, especially capable ones. In so doing, she hopes to mislead them into helping her. She reveals her true plans only if forced to, or if confronted with incontrovertible evidence of her actions. Use: The PCs are in trouble, but Denizen shows up and helps them, then introduces herself as a friend—and someone who knows a lot about the Engine. Loot: Denizen’s living combat suit might be salvageable, but it is essentially controlled utterly by a strange sentience extending from the Viridian.

PART 5:

ADVENTURES

Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move Chapter 13: Waking the Mega

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CHAPTER 12

THE SUN DOTH MOVE “T

he Sun Doth Move” is an adventure that can begin almost anywhere in the Ninth World. It is suitable for higher-tier characters, though it could be adjusted for middle-tier or even beginning characters by easing all tasks by two or three steps, respectively.

SYNOPSIS Phius Livic, page 123 Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods, page 8 Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge, page 18 Viridian, page 22

Evidence of Malfunction, page 18

Augmechs, page 84

Denizen, page 124

The adventure is laid out in four parts. Part 1: The Rescue describes a small village where a scholar named Phius Livic is desperate for aid. If the characters rescue him from virulent growths infesting a clave, the scholar reveals an even greater threat, one so vast it endangers everything on the planet if his warning is not heeded: the Viridian is coming. Part 2: The Journey includes a series of encounters for those who decide to help Phius travel all the way to Qi, where the Order of Truth must be warned of the coming threat. If convinced of the need for intervention by being given compelling evidence of malfunction, the Order provides a method of travel from Earth to the very edge of the sun. Part 3: The Engine details how the characters can empower themselves to effectively become agents for change on the structure that is malfunctioning, which requires that they find and inhabit prosthetic bodies called augmechs. Part 4: Reignition depicts challenges the characters must overcome to restart the Engine of the Gods, which include finding and defeating Denizen. Number of Sessions and Bonus XP: This adventure will likely take about eight sessions to complete, plus or minus a few. Because of that, consider providing 1 or 2 additional XP to the PCs at the end of each session, even if the characters haven’t reached the

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wrap-up (and XP awards) presented for a given part. For example, if the first session in part 1 ends just as the PCs discover Phius in the hothouse, consider giving them each 1 XP for at least having gotten that far. When they finally do finish all the encounters in a given part, provide the full award indicated there as well.

BACKGROUND

The situation setting the stage for this adventure is described in Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods and Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge. To summarize, prior-world architects built an engine to move the solar system away from a threat, and their creation was doing its job until the last few hundred years, when the Engine of the Gods broke down. About ten years ago, an Aeon Priest named Chevara began to notice evidence that not all was right with the sun. As it happens, celestial phenomena was her favorite topic of study. She came across old records suggesting that the sun once had a tiny “braid” that had not been seen for so long that everyone had forgotten it was ever a feature. Unfortunately, an accident killed Chevara’s physical body. Only by dint of an unexpected side effect did her psyche survive the event, within an artifact she’d previously provided to a friend and traveling scholar: Phius Livic. With her words to guide him, Phius continued Chevara’s work, finally piecing together enough evidence to come up with the broader picture. Collecting a few physical samples of the effects of the approaching Viridian was all Phius and Chevara needed to confirm their hypothesis, and provide a strong case to the Order of Truth in Qi. Collecting that final piece, however, turned out to be more fraught than the two had expected.

THE SUN DOTH MOVE

PART 1: THE RESCUE In the process of helping the village of Otaki with its troubles, the PCs meet the scholar Phius Livic.

ADVENTURE HOOKS The PCs could become involved in this adventure in one of the following ways. Each PC might have a different hook, share some hooks among them, or merely get caught up in the situation as it unfolds. Local Made Good. One or more of the PCs grew up in Otaki. They are returning home after a long absence, during which time they grew in experience and ability. The PCs may have family in town that they haven’t seen in years. If so, one character’s relative might be Lanard the flower seller. Seeking Rare Components. If the PCs are involved in long-term play or regularly seek hard-to-find iotum, they might have heard of a substance called “scarlet leaf” that can be had only in the distant village of Otaki, where a clave specializes in its growth. Solving a Mystery. The PCs may have already discovered hints in previous adventures that something is wrong with the sun. To find out more, they need to track down the acknowledged expert, an Aeon Priest named Chevara, whose focus is the sun and the stars. The PCs determine that she lives in a clave in the village of Otaki.

OTAKI

Otaki is a small village with a population of about 220 people. It’s far from any large city. The small farmer’s market in the center of the village is daily attended by at least a fifth of the population, who browse the carts that contain grains, fruits, roots, small caged vermin, meats cooked to order, and candies. A few sellers specialize in dried fish, which are brought in from a distant village over the mountains. Others sell crafts, clothing, and simple but needful things. A cart owned by Lanard the flower seller contains gorgeous arrangements of striking

flowers of every kind—at least, it usually does. Depending on when the PCs arrive, they may see that no one is running the cart and the remaining lonely blooms are wilted and dying. Nearby sellers say Lanard didn’t show up for market hours; see Village Gossip. Newcomers in Otaki are not completely out of the ordinary; the clave on the edge of town draws travelers every few months looking to obtain cuttings of scarlet leaf. Townsfolk are happy to direct the PCs in that direction. If characters ask after Chevara, they’re given the sad news that she passed on some years ago. Her friend Phius now tends the “Hothouse” (a term they use interchangeably with the clave) on account of all the weird plants that grow inside. A broad-shouldered woman named Marana is the acknowledged leader of Otaki. She mediates disputes, keeps order, and leads in the defense of the village against any threats.

VILLAGE GOSSIP People in Otaki love to talk about the weather, crops, and the highlights of a game that many of the younger locals play called “crateball.” Two topics might be of interest to the PCs. First, something’s not right in the clave. No one will approach it ever since Lanard the flower seller failed to return from there a few days ago. The clave is where Lanard collected some of her most impressive specimens thanks to the terrarium located inside. Likewise, no one has heard from Phius Livic (the caretaker since Chevara the Aeon Priest died) either. Something bad must have happened inside. Out of an abundance of caution, Marana posted a “Dangerous—No Entry” sign out front. Second, a stranger covered in wrappings and a dark cloak and hood came to town several weeks ago, also asking about Chevara. When the stranger was told about Chevara’s death over a year prior, they seemed confused. Then they paid an obscene amount of shins for the exclusive use of a shack from a farmer named Mern. According to Mern, the stranger asked not to be disturbed. That was a few weeks ago, and according to Mern, the stranger hasn’t

Marana: level 4; Armor 2; greatsword attack inflicts 6 points of damage

Iotum, page 107

Claves are small cloistered groups of Aeon Priests in the Beyond. If this adventure is not set in the Beyond, the cloister isn’t technically called a clave; it might be referred to as a semblage instead, or merely “the Hothouse.”

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Stranger automaton: level 6; health 33; Armor 3; twin long-range disintegration beams each inflict 6 points of damage

emerged since. He’s wondering if maybe he shouldn’t go and check on things, but he’s too afraid. Especially with the trouble at the Hothouse also making people edgy. If characters inquire about the clave (or Hothouse) and spend a little time ingratiating themselves, they can eventually learn that Chevara’s death was accidental. She was up on the clave’s exterior doing some work when a rainstorm blew in. She slipped off, struck her head, and that was that. Not long after, her friend Phius showed up and took over the place. That was several years ago. It was during his tenure that the Otakans started calling the clave the Hothouse, because he’s the one who introduced all the plants.

MERN’S SHACK

Mern’s shack: level 2

Foyer: level 5; attempts to pick the locking mechanism or break the door are hindered Denizen, page 124

Located just outside of town on Mern’s farmstead (which includes a house where he and his family live with a variety of livestock), Mern’s shack is a rundown wooden structure hardly larger than an outhouse, with no windows and a single door. The door is barred from the inside. If it is forced open, the characters find a humanoid completely wrapped in clothing, sitting in a corner with its legs pulled up to its chest. The stranger doesn’t initially respond to queries. That’s because the stranger is actually an automaton in a powered-down surveillance state. Though apparently “dead,” its systems are recording everything in the vicinity of the clave. It was dispatched to Otaki to find Chevara, courtesy of a datasphere-coded override instruction from someone named Denizen. The override instruction wiped away everything else, including what its purpose was before. Not particularly imaginative, the automaton simply decided to wait when told of the Aeon Priest’s death, just in case Chevara somehow showed up anyway.

The stranger automaton may power up if PCs attempt to talk to it. The automaton is not sophisticated. It refers to itself as “this one.” It reiterates its purpose, up to a point, including the name Denizen. However, it doesn’t know who Denizen is, nor where Denizen can ultimately be found. If asked why it wanted to find Chevara, it indicates that it is to deliver a message, the contents of which are encrypted. (The message turns out to be a secret directive for the stranger automaton to immediately kill Chevara. Breaking the encryption is a task hindered by two steps.) If the PCs encounter the automaton before checking out the clave, it follows them, either traveling with them (if the characters allow it) or trailing after them later. If the PCs don’t check out Mern’s shack first, the stranger automaton surprises them while they are investigating the situation in the clave. Its systems note the activity there, and it wakes and heads that way.

THE HOTHOUSE CLAVE The clave, visible from most locations in Otaki, appears as a smaller structure of yellowed synth (the foyer) abutting a much larger dome constructed of dark metal and crystal (the terrarium). The crystal is translucent, not transparent, but warm, sunlike glows sometimes shine through it at night. FOYER The foyer has no windows and only a single door, also of yellowed synth. No one comes to the door if anyone knocks upon it. The door is locked with some kind of mechanism. If characters gain entry, they discover a many-roomed space that appears well lived in, with a few books on celestial phenomena, pillows scattered about on

“This one seeks Chevara. This one has been informed that Chevara is no more. So this one waits. The directive to seek Chevara outweighs all other prior purposes.” ~the stranger automaton

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THE SUN DOTH MOVE

couches, dishes and cups on the tables, and so on. Mechanisms and control surfaces are mixed indiscriminately through the space. Whoever lives here (not present when the PCs first enter), they obviously enjoy flowers and other plants, which are potted in every corner, hanging from the ceiling in small planters, and lying in various states of dissection across small tables. At first glance, it seems the foyer combines living quarters and plant research. However, those who succeed on a difficulty 4 understanding numenera task realize that most of the mechanisms in the chamber were once used for measuring and characterizing distant locations, using something called a “celestial scope” located in the adjacent “observing dome.”

PHIUS “SEES” VIA HIS VISOR From the PCs’ perspective, Phius responds to his environment as if he can see it normally. In fact, his visor constantly whispers an ever-unfolding description of his surroundings into his ears. He’s so used to the experience that he takes in his environment at essentially the same rate as sighted creatures. But those close to him can sometimes overhear the whispers.

Given several hours of effort, someone trained in understanding numenera could reconstruct the research Chevara started and Phius Livic finished from the records stored in the devices in the chamber. However, Phius will gladly tell characters this tale directly, if they rescue him. He’s in the terrarium (as is Lanard the flower seller). TERRARIUM A sealable entrance, currently closed, leads from the foyer to the terrarium, which is a dome of translucent crystal hosting riotous plant growth. Brilliant flowering plants, hanging vines, trees, shrubs, reeds, and all manner of intricate leaf shapes cover this wide space. Weirdly, the plants are rooted in the wreckage of an array of numenera devices. At the chamber’s center, something bright gleams through the trunks and leaves: the celestial scope. Dangerous Situation: Phius Livic and Lanard are trapped at the center of the terrarium in a maintenance cubby at the base of the celestial scope. A flock of several dozen murder blooms has them pinned down. The threat may not be immediately obvious to characters first arriving on the scene. The murder blooms initially appear as just more beautiful flowers that come

Phius Livic, page 123 Lanard: level 2, tasks related to trade and flower arranging as level 4 Murder bloom, page 114

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Mern’s shack, page 128

Celestial scope: level 7; provides real-time image of distant objects in the solar system and galaxy

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in various shades of emerald, ruby, and sapphire. But when these flowers flap their wings and take flight, they swarm and buzz like murder hornets. Each murder bloom is a challenge to an average human, so the swarm of several dozen blooms (about forty in total) might be something the PCs retreat from, then come up with a plan for dealing with. For example, murder blooms are repelled by smoke and inactive in the dark. A complicating factor is the appearance of the automaton stranger from Mern’s shack. It may at first seem an ally that can help the PCs deal with the murder blooms, which attack it, too. However, when the opportunity presents itself, it tries to kill Phius Livic (introduce as a GM intrusion). Celestial Scope: This great mechanism is cube shaped, about 40 feet (12 m) to a side. The upper section of the celestial scope is crystal, while the lower portion is metallic and set into the ground. The upper section displays a brilliant image of the sun, as bright as the real thing, when it’s night in the Steadfast. (This makes it constantly light

in the terrarium, which means the murder blooms are always active.) The lower section has a small maintenance and operation cubby, which currently contains the missing Otaki resident and Phius. They are weak from hunger and thirst, but not dead because they’ve been able to steal out, grab a fruit or two from a nearby tree, then get back to safety before the murder blooms can reach them. Sooner or later, this will go badly for them. They’re already on the edge of incapacitation. Exterior controls (covered in vines) could be uncovered and accessed, though doing so would require a few rounds for clearing growth, then a round to understand the numenera quickly enough to turn off the scope. If it’s night outside, this might be just the trick for dealing with the murder blooms. The automaton stranger is a different matter. CONFERRING WITH PHIUS AND CHEVARA If Phius is saved and nursed back to health, he describes his situation to the characters, beginning with how a “version” of Chevara is with him always, talking to him through

THE SUN DOTH MOVE

“Yes, yes, I know. I’ll say it just that way. ‘Travelers, you will not only have our thanks; you’ll have the thanks of the entire world if you agree to ward Phius Livic on his epic quest bearing a message to the Amber Pope, a message of doom for all the world unless the Engine of the Gods is reignited!’” ~Phius Livic, relaying Chevara’s plea his prosthesis. And through him, Chevara has a dire warning for the PCs, as well as an appeal for aid on the grandest scale. Phius and Chevara ask the characters to safeguard Phius on a trip to Qi so he can meet with the Amber Pope and present the evidence of approaching disaster. Talking With Phius Livic: Phius often has conversations with the mental image stored in his visor, which seems to the uninitiated as if the man is talking to himself. He’s a quiet, inward-looking person by nature, but Chevara is always after him to look at this or that, or tell someone something significant. Which is why Phius often begins a sentence with “All right, I’ll tell them!” or “You want me to look where?” Phius doesn’t resent Chevara; he has immense gratitude toward her. He just needs prodding to move from one issue to the next, and Chevara is not afraid to provide it. The Warning: Phius relates that a great mechanism rests at the edge of the sun, something he calls the Engine of the Gods. Built by one of the prior worlds, the Engine protected the world for time out of mind from two different threats. One lesser threat is the aging sun itself, which will eventually heat the world past its ability to host life—or would have, if not for the past efforts of the Engine. The other threat is more serious and pressing. The main focus of the Engine was to push the sun and solar system away from a cosmic mistake, an intelligent inversion in spacetime called the Viridian, that has marked the sun as its prey. The Engine kept the sun well ahead of this expanding front of altered, inimical physics. The problem is, the Engine malfunctioned about two hundred years ago. And no one

noticed. Or if they did, they were silenced by a mysterious force before anything could be done about it. (If no PC makes the connection, an NPC will wonder if the stranger automaton’s attack could be related. In fact, it is.) If the PCs require more knowledge of Chevara, she can relate through Phius the broad outlines of what is described in chapter 1 and chapter 2. That said, she does not know why the Engine malfunctioned or any details about the conspiracy against the Engine other than that there seems to be a secret organization in the Ninth World suppressing research into the sun, one that’s been around for some time. (The details of this conspiracy will become more clear as this adventure plays out.) With Chevara’s death, Phius took over her research, which had reached the “gathering physical evidence” stage. One of the side effects of the approaching Viridian is that it has a malefic influence on plants. So Phius finished the effort that Chevara had started, which was to plant a variety of sensitive crops in the observatory and bathe them—not just in light from the unfiltered sun through the dome, but all night long, too, using sunlight from the celestial scope. Chevara hoped this double dose of the Viridian-tweaked sun would create physical changes in the plants. She was correct. The murder blooms, however, proved far more dangerous than either Chevara or Phius was prepared for. On the other hand, assuming Phius survives, he takes a single restrained murder bloom (which can be scavenged from the fight aftermath) in a special planter, carefully packs it up in a stasis pod, and readies it for a trip to Qi to present to the Amber Pope.

Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods, page 8 Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge, page 18 Engine Malfunctions, page 25 Conspiracy Against the Engine, page 26

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Marana, page 127

Qi, page 144

The Appeal: Chevara and Phius Livic both ask the PCs to aid in seeing him across the land—a dangerous journey at the best of times—to the headquarters of the Order of Truth, all the way in Qi. Seeing as how things played out in the clave, it’s apparent that Phius needs protectors at minimum, or better yet, capable allies committed to the same cause. Will the PCs agree to help?

PART 1 WRAP-UP Sansifar: level 3; Armor 2; spear or bow inflicts 4 points of damage

Cyphers, page 272

Salvage, page 108

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The PCs each earn 1 XP if they save Phius Livic, 1 XP if they save Lanard the flower seller, and 2 XP if they agree to help Phius journey to Qi and present his case to the Amber Pope. In addition, Phius will show the PCs to a cache of the numenera that he and Chevara previously salvaged from the clave, which includes five cyphers. (The PCs can try their hand at salvaging the clave themselves, if they wish, and pull out another couple of cyphers, or possibly some other salvage.)

If the PCs invest any time in the village of Otaki, they may have made other acquaintances besides Lanard, such as the leader, Marana. If the village was made aware of the threat of the murder blooms in the Hothouse, and if the PCs subsequently solve that problem, the Otakans are especially grateful. They give the PCs food, small gifts (including a couple of oddities), and a place to stay for as long as they like. If it’s made known that Phius Livic and the PCs plan to head out on a long journey, foodstuffs good for an extended trip are prepared for them. In addition, a young starry-eyed woman named Sansifar asks to join the group. She says she wants to see more of the world, and that she’s good with a weapon. The PCs can take her up on the offer or not. If they decline, she may follow after them, secretly if possible. (If the PCs leave on a vehicle, she may attempt to stow away on it.)

THE SUN DOTH MOVE

PART 2: THE JOURNEY The Journey (part 2) covers the PC’s trip from Otaki to Qi (Overland Trip), their attempt to arrange an audience with the Order of Truth (Meeting the Amber Pope), and hopefully, with the Amber Pope’s aid, a method for quickly traveling to the edge of the sun (Trip to the Edge).

ADAPTING THE MATERIAL The PCs may have their own ideas about traveling to the Engine of the Gods. For instance, instead of petitioning the Order of Truth for help, which is Chevara and Phius Livic’s plan, the PCs may know of a spacecraft, a world gate, or even a vertice that they’re confident would work without the need to involve others. In this case, they might head in a different direction entirely. Adapt the material in part 2 to that scenario as seems useful, and ignore the rest. For example, the Overland Trip encounters apply to nearly any trip the PCs make across the Ninth World. The Meeting the Amber Pope section, on the other hand, is fairly specific, though it might be used with changed names, in part, if the PCs ever have to petition a powerful entity for aid. Trip to the Edge might contain details different from the method of travel the PCs have in mind, but the requirements for survival on the Engine remain the same. However, Chevara and Phius believe that the Order of Truth can provide additional resources the PCs probably lack, and they continue to point this out for as long as it seems they might convince the characters that building a larger team is a smart move.

OVERLAND TRIP The way to Qi is far; you may know exactly how far, if you’ve sited Otaki at a specific point on your Ninth World map. Regardless, it should be a trip of at least several hundred miles, so that even if the PCs have a vehicle that’ll shorten the trip, some stopovers are likely. (If the characters

are traveling in a water craft or a flying craft, adapt any of the optional encounters provided here that seem like the best fit.) The PCs generally know where to find Qi. Of course, that doesn’t mean they know of a road that safely bypasses the weird landscapes and dangerous ruins, not to mention other habitations of humans and other creatures. Unless you can precisely calculate how long it should take them to reach Qi based on their method of travel, indicate that the trip will last about a week.

Meeting the Amber Pope, page 135 Trip to the Edge, page 141

ENCOUNTERS ALONG THE WAY If in an overland vehicle, the PCs are most likely to have unexpected encounters when they stop moving to rest (or to recharge the vehicle). Otherwise, one of the optional encounters noted here could happen at any time (and, in the case of Chevara’s Plea, even after the PCs reach the Engine). The more time the characters spend traveling, the more encounters they potentially have. Include at least one of these encounters, or one you make up—even if it’s just seeing something weird—each time the PCs travel overland for more than a few days. The two encounters related to Viridian effects on plant life might actually precede the adventure, serving as a catalyst for the PCs’ curiosity about weird sun effects and a reason for seeking the sun expert Chevara. On the other hand, Sky Stain might happen after the PCs reach the Engine and, while looking away from the brilliant sun, notice the weird stain in the vacuum of space. HARROWERS A group of three humans riding stilters— red and white striped creatures with thin legs—confronts the PCs. They are dressed in ragged, pieced-together bits of roadstained clothing. They call themselves harrowers and demand that the characters offer them tribute. The PCs may notice that all of the harrowers have green stains about their mouths. If asked about it, they grin fiercely, revealing equally stained teeth. They say they are “fortified with gable fruit.”

Sky Stain, page 135

Stilter: level 4; moves a long distance each round; rearing attack inflicts 6 points of damage

Harrower: level 5 while high on gable fruit; level 2 normally

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Gable fruit infection: level 4

Red Crystal (Artifact) Level: 2 Effect: Adds 2 points to wearer’s Intellect Pool. Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (check whenever Intellect Pool is drained)

Wall discontinuity: level 7 Chevara, light projection: level 5 for nonphysical tasks

The harrowers are essentially brigands, but they’ve been driven into a strange frenzy due to the fruit they’ve been consuming. A lightly growing green fungus infests their rations (and infects any new rations added), and they call the result gable fruit. When under the effect of the altered food, humans are stronger and faster, a lot more talkative, and mentally ill in a way that drives them toward violence. The harrowers who’ve accosted the PCs have been eating the infected food nonstop for several months. Dealing peacefully with the harrowers is difficult, because even if the PCs offer tribute, the frenzied humans don’t actually care. It’s just a pretext for their eventual attack. (If a harrower could be non-violently neutralized, then prevented from eating any more gable fruit, they would revert to a much more peaceful state and wonder why they are so far from their stilter ranch.) If the PCs defeat the harrowers and get a sample of the gable fruit, Phius and Chevara claim some for themselves to examine. PCs who eat any food found in a harrower’s bag risk becoming similarly affected. When Phius and Chevara’s analysis is complete, they caution against eating it and describe the strange fungus, which they are pretty sure is more evidence of the Viridian. Phius takes a sample, adding it as a complement to the restrained murder bloom he keeps as evidence. WALL OF LIGHT A shimmery wall made of nothing but air is faintly visible rising from the ground into the sky. The discontinuity seems to extend for miles. It’s possible to see the terrain through the discontinuity, though hazed with multicolored residue like an oil slick. A successful analysis of the wall by PCs with the means to do so reveals that it is akin to a minor fault in existence, like faults

are visible in some exposed cliff faces. A faint transdimensional energy is also associated with the wall. The PCs aren’t sure if simply walking through the wall would be dangerous. Certainly, wildlife nearby seems to avoid doing so. Tossing stones or other objects through doesn’t have a noticeable effect on the tossed item. Going around the wall will add a few days to the characters’ trip. If the PCs pass through the wall, select one character to make an Intellect defense roll (introduce as a GM intrusion). On a failed roll, the target disappears. Though it’s not immediately clear what has happened, the character is transdimensionally deflected into another parallel timeline. They reappear, as if finishing walking through the wall, a full minute later, from the perspective of everyone who got through without incident. From the affected PC’s perspective, one moment they were passing through the wall, and the next, they were encased (like an insect in amber) in red crystal that seemed to go on forever. They didn’t need to breathe, they didn’t feel warm or cold; they just were. Time seemed to forget itself. Then, after an interminable period, the PC found themselves completing the transit, the memory of their time away already fading. The only souvenir of their unexpected trip is a red crystal embedded in their flesh, either in their forehead or in the palm of one hand. CHEVARA’S PLEA At some point while Phius is deeply asleep, his visor lights up, projecting the image of a woman in the garb of an Aeon Priest. Chevara appears before one or more characters who are awake (or the image wakes a PC if none are available). She introduces herself and asks if the PC is willing to talk in confidence.

“We are harrowers! We ride where we wish, take tribute wherever we want, and put the fear of demons in whoever stands against us. Because our strength is equal to demons!” ~typical greeting of a harrower

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THE SUN DOTH MOVE

“My appreciation would know no bounds if you excised my mind from this device after we conclude this business. Existence is meaningless if that existence will not eventually conclude. Everything we love is dear to us because we understand that, eventually, it will all pass away.” ~Chevara If the character assents, Chevara explains that she is very much invested in traveling to the Engine and putting things right, if it’s possible to do so. However, she has a favor to ask in return, if the characters are successful in their venture. She says that having her consciousness downloaded into the device she’d created for Phius has allowed her to continue her study of the sun, the Engine of the Gods, and the approaching Viridian. And that’s been vital, important work. But her existence has become a hollow continuation of her previous self. Days pile up even as eternity beckons, making her actions and thoughts seem pointless. If the characters fail and the Viridian catches the sun, well, she expects the worst. But if the characters succeed, she wants the PC to promise to erase her from Phius Livic’s visor. Phius almost certainly won’t agree to it; he loves her. The PC, however, could convince Phius to do it, she’s sure, adding their voice of reason to her own request when the time comes. Whether the character agrees or disagrees makes no difference at this juncture, though if Chevara chooses to reveal a light projection of herself again, she may mention it in passing. SKY STAIN One evening, one PC spies something new in the sky: a sort of faint stain, greenish and hazy, like a nebula. Anyone with any knowledge of the stars understands that it’s a new phenomenon. If Phius Livic is told about the faint image—or if he hears the PCs discussing it—he listens to Chevara describe it through his visor. Then he nods, indicating that it’s almost definitely another characteristic of the approaching Viridian. Somehow, it has the means to reach out and affect things, despite the fact that its growing physical

boundary is still some ways behind the drifting solar system. Above and beyond his concern about the stain, Phius is chagrined as well. If the PCs notice and draw it out of him, he explains that had he known that a physical, visible sign of the Viridian would appear “in the iron-winded sky,” he wouldn’t have spent so much time trying to force-grow and gather a Viridian-influenced plant sample as physical evidence. That may be as far as this encounter goes: a visible sign that things are changing. However, if a PC has some means to reach further, either psychically or perhaps through a cypher-mediated channel to ask questions of the datasphere, there is a chance that the Viridian notices the direct observation. The character must succeed on a difficulty 5 Might task or gain a psychic disease known as green dream. The disease manifests as a sudden chill that passes, only becoming more serious after the PC goes to sleep.

Green dream, page 24

MEETING THE AMBER POPE In this section of the adventure, the PCs have a chance to explore Qi, should they wish. When they’re ready, they’re greeted by an Aeon Priest named Mecula, who leads them via a dimensional shortcut through an extra-dimensional citadel to the Amber Pope’s palace. There, they first meet an archbishop, who they must convince to let them meet the pope. If they succeed in meeting the pope and convincing him of the danger facing the world, the Order of Truth provides aid, information, and a method for the PCs to travel to the edge of the sun.

NAVIGATING QI Eventually, the PCs’ journey ends at the edge of the city of Qi in Draolis. Without contacts or someone else to arrange an

Qi, page 144 Draolis, page 144

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Membership Benefits, page 216

audience with the Order of Truth (and, as Phius seems determined to do, talk to the Amber Pope himself), the process might seem daunting. Even to those outside the order, his position looms large, and the pope is the face—as remote and impersonal as that may be—of the order to almost everyone. Depending on their experience in large cities, the PCs may be somewhat overwhelmed by the massive city of Qi or take it in stride. Qi is an exception when it comes to large masses of people living together, compared to the isolation the Ninth World normally imposes on people. But as it serves as the seat of the Order of Truth, many of its citizens enjoy greater access to life-improving systems and devices than the average villager who regards it all as magic and Aeon Priests as sorcerers. ARRANGING FOR AN AUDIENCE Phius Livic says there’s no reason not to head to the Durkhal immediately, make their demands to see the Amber Pope, and hope for the best. The PCs may agree and let him take the lead. Alternatively, they may disagree, believing that they need to, at minimum, buy some supplies, rest up after their journey, and

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possibly take care of personal business before moving to a phase of involvement that might not allow them to divert later. And if a PC has a contact in the Order of Truth (which is certainly true if a character is a member of the order), they discover that Chevara has already made initial contact, as described hereafter under Greetings. But the additional influence the PC provides through their connection helps prioritize Chevara’s request. One way or another, the PCs eventually head into the Durkhal. THE DURKHAL The Durkhal complex at the heart of Qi is almost a city unto itself—a vast sprawl of libraries, laboratories, warehouses, living quarters, and administrative buildings. At the center of the complex is the holy palace, serving as residence and office of the Amber Pope. More than a thousand people work and live within the Durkhal. However, the characters are greeted even before they reach the complex. Greetings: If the PCs allowed Phius Livic to take the lead on arranging things, they might be surprised that upon entering Qi, they are fairly quickly greeted by an Aeon

THE SUN DOTH MOVE

“You are expected. I have reviewed the claims made by our old associate, Chevara, and I find them compelling. But your journey to an audience with the Amber Pope himself is not finished. Before that can happen, you must also convince an archbishop of the Order of Truth that such an audience is necessary.” ~Mecula, Aeon Priest Priest named Mecula and several acolytes with large placards reading “Chevara of Otaki Clave” who are apparently scanning the crowd, looking for someone. (Phius seems just as surprised.) If the PCs tried to arrange a meeting with a contact within the Order of Truth themselves, this greeting should not come as a surprise. That’s because their contact informs the PCs that they have been waiting for the PCs and Chevara to arrive for some time. Chevara has access—through Phius Livic’s visor—to invisible machine channels that allow her to communicate with nearby devices and other compatible numenera. She’s been sending out requests for an audience ever since they got in range of Qi. And if the PCs were at all involved in requesting an audience through their own contacts, that was enough of a clincher to bring the characters into the fold and at least introduce them to an archbishop important enough to make the determination whether their entreaty should be allowed, and if so, in as timely a manner as Chevara wishes. If the PCs didn’t involve themselves, Mecula wants to put them and Phius up in housing for visiting Aeon Priests for a few days, while things are sorted out. However, a couple of successful interaction tasks could speed Mecula’s decision to move things forward. Citadel of the Conduit Shortcut: When Mecula is ready to advance the petition for an audience, he directs the PCs and Phius a short distance to a seemingly blank wall and makes a complex hand gesture. A doorway phases into existence and he ushers them through, indicating that he’s taking a “shortcut through the Citadel of the Conduit.” Through the doorway is what is obviously an “otherspace,” some kind of artificial

dimension. Mecula leads the characters through a citadel containing all manner of weird things that he merely moves past without explanation (including energy blisters, stuffed creatures of immense size, spinning cubes hanging in the air, and many, many more weird objects). Several Aeon Priests work in the Citadel of the Conduit, and the PCs get the sense that the place is quite large. If PCs ask and succeed on an interaction task, Mecula explains as they go that the citadel is a secret fortress in a parallel dimension. Only certain people have access rights to enter. A doorway can be opened only within Qi and a small area outside of it. Because the distances in the citadel don’t correspond to the distances between destinations in Qi, it is possible to use the fortress as a shortcut to parts of the city. Mecula quickly leads them through a periphery corridor to another wall, where he repeats the procedure, which opens a doorway into, he explains, the palace.

Mecula: use Aeon Priest stats

Aeon Priest, page 264

Access rights to the Citadel of the Conduit require a person to have a specific kind of nanobot in their bloodstream, activated by thinking a precise combination of thoughts.

HOLY PALACE OF THE AMBER POPE Mecula leads the characters and Phius from their shortcut into what he explains is one of the many wings of the pope’s grand palace. This structure is a triumph of design, and the PCs probably see only small parts of it. The hallways are wide and high, made of polished marble-like stone and lit with indirect lighting. Great pieces of art are displayed in alcoves inset along the hall. Mecula takes the PCs a few dozen feet to a closed door set with thin metal

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“I’m not the one you have to convince; I’m just making sure you’re not here as enemies, with some desperate story designed to get you in front of the Amber Pope so you can attempt to assassinate him. Though I warn you that if you were assassins, you’d find our pope a difficult mark.” ~Nadret Lann, archbishop of Draolis

Nadret Lann: level 6, perception and understanding numenera as level 7; uses an artifact that inflicts 6 points of damage and sometimes painfully reshapes the target’s body into a cat-sized aneen-like creature

wires. Even as he approaches, a mechanical eye opens on the door and blinks. “Yes?” comes a voice. The Aeon Priest pushes open the door and leads them into a chamber that is small and cramped with dozens of oddities, and not a few half-dissembled devices. It smells strongly of oil and burst insulation. A man elbow deep in a crafting or repairing project looks up. He is ordinary looking but wears many devices in the forms of rings with mechanical eyes, resembling the one on his outer door. “Well?” says the man. “Spit it out. I’ve got a Zhev shortage to manage, among many other things.” Mecula introduces the PCs to Nadret Lann, archbishop of Draolis, and asks the characters to make their case. Nadret continues to work on fixing his device as he listens to whatever the PCs have to say and glances at whatever evidence they present, not reacting strongly one way or the other, except maybe to grunt a few times. At one point he swears “Calaval’s eyes!” when he drops a repair tool, which clatters loudly.

Aneen, page 225

Court juror: level 6; tasks relating to memory, record keeping, and communication as level 7

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Nadret’s Test: When the PCs wind down, Nadret asks if they’re done. He then asks if they’d like to declare any secrets that might be germane to their meeting with the head of the Order of Truth, or if they’ve lied or otherwise misrepresented themselves. Assuming the PCs are able to handle that question, he finishes his task, then uses a couple of his rings with the mechanical eyes to closely study them. (PCs sensitive to esoteries may realize he’s using an enhanced scan-like feature on them. If they want to resist the scan, they can attempt a difficulty 7 Intellect defense roll.) Assuming the PCs are not secret Gaian spies, Convergence magisters, or something else worrisome that they have

not previously divulged, Nadret sighs and nods. He explains that he and other archbishops have received similar reports of weirdness around the Steadfast and the Beyond related to strange plant growths, though no one’s put everything together like Chevara, Phius, and the PCs seem to have done. Maybe they’re onto something. He doubts it, given “everything else,” but it’s not up for him to decide; he’s not the pope. (If the PCs ask, he doesn’t explain what he means by “everything else,” other than to say that they will see when they get their audience.) He asks Mecula to guide the characters to the Amber Pope’s audience chamber, indicating that he’ll see to an audience within the hour. AMBER POPE’S AUDIENCE CHAMBER Mecula leads the characters from the archbishop’s chamber, through what seems like miles of the same wide and high polished hallways, set with art and oddities of every kind displayed in alcoves along the hall, and finally to a truly resplendent set of double doors, which glide open with a touch. Revealed is a colossal chamber, smoothly oval and featureless like the interior of a giant pearl, shining with a nacreous glow that banishes all shadows—except for the center of the chamber, where the light fades, creating a spherical absence of light. The PCs are first to arrive. Mecula asks that they stand along one side and await the pope’s arrival. Court Jurors: Next to arrive after the PCs are three humans, each wearing a sash displaying a symbol of the order. Mecula says they are court jurors whose job is to keep an accurate record of everything that happens in the audience chamber, provide interpretation if not everyone present

THE SUN DOTH MOVE communicates the same way, and, if need be, serve as bailiffs should someone talking to the pope become aggressive. Miash, First Counselor: After the jurors enter, another human walks into the audience chamber. Her body is entirely wrapped in lengths of yellow cloth, except her unlined, expressive face. Before Mecula can tell the PCs who she is, the newcomer approaches them and introduces herself as Miash, first councilor to the Amber Pope. Miash seems open, genuine, and friendly. Mecula and the jurors immediately respond positively to her. Miash has risen to an ascendant position over the last decade, having helped steer the order out of several dangerous situations. Many, including the pope, have come to trust her take on difficult issues. Despite her good advice on so many other topics, Miash has soured the pope on any alarming news regarding changes to the sun and plant life. Most of the order accepts her judgments on this subject, given her other successes. Which means that the fact that the PCs have managed to get an audience with the pope is something of a fluke; others with similar warnings have not gotten this far. Secretly, Miash is an agent of Denizen. In fact, she is a mental “instance” of Denizen, downloaded into an automaton body, though one that seems fully human, at least outwardly. Underneath the layers of fake skin, the Miash body is similar in some ways to the stranger automaton, but far more sophisticated and able to pass as human—especially with a copy of Denizen’s mind (which is a glop of sticky protoplasm adhering to the machine under the wrappings) providing good ideas in all areas except when it comes to addressing

potential problems with the sun. Miash attempts to create a believable counterpoint to any narrative the PCs present to argue their position. Durranet VI, Amber Pope: Finally, a man enters from the opposite end of the chamber, simply walking out of the wall. He wears shining garments of scarlet, white, and gold, and a peaked cap that emanates a complex aura. Everyone comes to attention, and the court jurors formally announce the man as Durranet VI, the Amber Pope. Durranet is wise and has great knowledge of the numenera and a comprehensive understanding of human psychology, history, and politics. His mind is already made up about the warning the PCs bring, but he knows that listening to new evidence on a previously settled topic can’t hurt. The pope greets the travelers, then says, “On the advice of Archbishop Nadret, I have agreed to hear your presentation, as I have been told that you possess new evidence to support a long-debunked claim. Please proceed.” Unless the PCs step in, Phius Livic, speaking for Chevara, presents the same warning he gave to the characters when they first spoke with him in Otaki. That warning describes Chevara’s discovery of the Engine of the Gods, the problems it was built to solve, and the fact that it is malfunctioning. He decides not to go into his conspiracy hypothesis, unless the PCs insist. In addition, Phius presents new evidence, including the murder bloom sample he gathered. He also points out the strange new stain in the sky’s appearance, which can’t be ignored. Certainly, it heralds something dire. (The pope waves at the well of darkness at the center of the chamber, which resolves as a numenera device capable of viewing distant

Miash: level 7; persuasion, deception, and understanding numenera tasks as level 8 Durranet VI, Amber Pope: level 6; Intellect defense, attacks made with esoteries, diplomacy, knowledge (history, psychology, and other fields), persuasion, resisting trickery, and understanding numenera as level 7; health 24; Armor 3; special combat options (see page 140)

The Warning, page 131 Denizen, page 124 Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods, page 8 Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge, page 18 Engine Malfunctions, page 25 Conspiracy Against the Engine, page 26 Stranger automaton, page 128

“Felicitations and warmest greetings! It’s not often we get complete strangers in the court of the Amber Pope. It’s clear that you’re extraordinary people. And unless I miss my guess, your knowledge and experience are broad and deep, probably equal in many ways to that of the Aeon Priests of the order. I’m so happy to make your acquaintance!” ~Miash

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objects. He adjusts it until it shows the very blot Phius describes.) Everyone listens quietly; however, one PC notices that Miash seems to roll her eyes when talk of the Viridian comes up (present as a GM intrusion). After the PCs and Phius conclude, the pope turns to Miash. “What do you say to this new evidence?” The Counter-Argument: Miash stands, smiles, and gives a statement that makes the following points. • How could something so monumental as the Engine of the Gods exist, and the Order of Truth not know about it before now? • Lately the Gaians have been spreading lies and propaganda to weaken the Steadfast; clearly, these claims— obviously believed by these brave but naïve souls—are just that.

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• The Ninth World is full of dangers of the prior worlds, and weird growths and mutations are nothing new. We don’t need to invoke some massive construct pushing the sun around to explain it. • Miash has personally looked into all these claims many times, at the pope’s request, and found them to be false. As everyone knows, Miash doesn’t do shoddy work. But to be on the safe side, she would be happy to begin a new investigation.

SPECIAL COMBAT OPTIONS OF THE AMBER POPE Durranet is always accompanied by protectors, such as the court jurors, who would lay down their lives for him. In addition, his esoteries and equipment are mainly used to keep him out of harm’s way or escape a dangerous situation. They grant him Armor and resistance to Intellectbased attacks. His peaked cap is an artifact that prevents most people from remembering details about specific encounters with him. He can make a force or fire blast attack at long range. As an action, he can use any of the following abilities: Command: The target follows his verbal commands for up to one minute, as long as they can see him. Daze the Crowd: All actions taken by designated targets within an immediate area are hindered for ten minutes. Fly: For one hour, he can move through the air as effortlessly as walking. Jaunt: He instantly moves to a known location within 5 miles (8 km). Know: Once per hour, he can tap into the datasphere and get a general answer about one question. Override Numenera: He activates or asserts control over a cypher or artifact within short range so it obeys him for one minute. The creature using the object can attempt to regain control on its turn once each round. Paralyze: One target within short range is held motionless for two rounds, unable to take physical actions. Scan: Ascertain one valuable bit of information or secret about a target creature or object within long range.

THE SUN DOTH MOVE The Debate: The PCs are expected to hold their voices until after Miash speaks, enforced with a stern glance by the Amber Pope. But after that, the floor is open to debate. The characters can attempt to convince the Amber Pope that what they say is true and action is required. Each time the PCs make an interaction roll to aid their argument, it is useful if they have a specific convincing point to make. Possible points include the following. • Just because we didn’t find it before doesn’t mean it can’t exist; we’re always finding new wonders of the prior worlds. • Check your viewing device and scan the edge of the sun. What do you see? • There is a conspiracy, as Miash says, but one actively hiding the threat, not manufacturing false danger. And Miash, under the best possible interpretation, has been fooled. • What would it hurt to apply the resources of the order to send a repair crew to the sun, just to be on the safe side? • Starting a new investigation into whether a massive threat to everything exists or not would take months or years; we don’t have that long. Concluding the Debate: Events play out differently depending on how well or poorly the PCs argued the case. Wild Card Events. The PCs might become so suspicious of Miash that they attempt to pierce her deception (that she is a human being), hoping to win the argument by unmasking her as part of the conspiracy. If they do this by attacking her, the PCs have a round or two to expose her as a machine before they are targeted by the court jurors, Mecula, and the Amber Pope himself—plus summoned guards and alerted Aeon Priests of all kinds in the following rounds. If the PCs do unmask Miash, they need only succeed on a single interaction task to convince the pope that things are not what they seem and that his trusted councilor has been part of the problem. Pope Unconvinced. If the PCs lose the argument, the pope concludes the audience by walking out through the back door. Miash gives a consoling smile, acting

gracious to the bitter end, saying she wishes the PCs no ill will, but maybe it would be better for everyone if they gave up on their wrong-headed campaign. If the PCs remain certain that Phius Livic and Chevara are correct, then it behooves them to find a way to reach the sun’s edge themselves. Researching such means is not impossible, and indeed, Qi is a great place to do that work. The characters can take on the research tasks described under Preparing to Head Sunward hereafter, though it takes much longer, they’re not given protective gear, and they’re not provided with other members of a repair crew. If the PCs lose the argument and resorted to violence in the process, they face imprisonment and trial for (as it’s later spun) attacking the Amber Pope. If it comes to that, the characters will need some sort of outside intervention to free them. Pope Convinced. If he hasn’t already done so (because of an earlier argument), the Amber Pope spends a few moments fiddling with the viewing pool at the center of the audience chamber, until the Engine of the Gods is revealed, hanging before the face of the sun. He vows that a repair crew will be sent to the Engine, and nominates the PCs as a core component of that group. If Miash has not been unmasked, she pretends to be surprised by the revelation of the trouble and seems to come around, vowing to do everything she can to make right her earlier mistaken belief.

Convincing the Amber Pope: level 6; the PCs must succeed on four difficulty 4 interaction tasks to convince the pope of the problem against the advice of Miash; if the PCs fail four tasks before they succeed on four, they lose the argument Chapter 3: Reaching the Sun’s Edge, page 28 “It’s decided. We shall send a repair crew to the Engine of the Gods. I can think of few better suited than you, who, risking everything and in the face of what the order believed, traveled here to warn us of our doom.” ~Durranet VI, the Amber Pope

TRIP TO THE EDGE Once the Amber Pope is convinced of the problem, things swing into motion quickly. If the PCs accept his nomination to be part of the repair crew, they’ll join in some of the preparations.

PREPARING TO HEAD SUNWARD Over the next several days (or weeks, if the PCs need time to take care of personal matters), the characters are directly involved in—or appraised of the results of—several different lines of preparation. In addition to the preparations noted hereafter, the Order of Truth offers each PC up to three cyphers

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of their choice of up to level 5. The order has an impressive library of the numenera. Sun shield, page 76 Breather, page 74

Tranquility Port, page 35 Sunsuit, page 82

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Basic Engine Research: With the resources of the Order of Truth behind an inquiry into the Engine, it takes only a few days (or less, if PCs with expertise pitch in) to lay out the broad outline of the information already uncovered by Phius Livic and presented as evidence to the Amber Pope. That also allows other avenues of research and preparation to unfold.

constant hazards. The repair crew will need protection. Thus, the order provides every crew member with a couple of sun shield cyphers and breather cyphers, which will grant protection for a few days.

Travel Target: Research uncovers a site on the Engine called Tranquility Port that is designated as a place for traveling craft to put in, the way ships on water put in at ports in the Steadfast. The port is noted on the repair crew’s map.

Better Protection: Given the Engine’s size, a couple of days’ worth of protection won’t be enough to complete the repair. However, research reveals that nodes referred to as “flesh shelters” are located around the structure. One is located extremely close to Tranquility Port, in a position noted on the repair crew’s map. According to relayed datasphere inquiries, each such shelter contains facilities for biological beings, as well as spare artifacts called sunsuits that can provide several weeks’ worth of protection while active on the Engine.

Protective Gear: Research reveals that no atmosphere exists in most regions of the Engine, and the sun’s radiation and heat are

Acquisition of Augmechs: Research also reveals the existence of the “perfect tools for Engine repair,” mysterious objects known

THE SUN DOTH MOVE only as augmechs. Characters who find sunsuits may be satisfied with their ability to move about the Engine, but should they wish to further leverage their skills, locating a depository of augmechs is recommended. Unfortunately, no query made from Earth is able to determine the nearest depository on the Engine, nor even exactly what augmechs might be. If the characters want these tools, they’ll have to look for some when they arrive on the Engine (and hopefully find Crèche 17). Repair Crew: In addition to the PCs, others are named as part of the repair crew. The PCs might learn their identities beforehand at a reception; otherwise, characters find out during their leave-taking. The other members include a wright named Sarma, the Aeon Priest Mecula, and Miash (if she was not unmasked as a traitor; if she was, another Aeon Priest is sent in her place). Phius Livic and Chevara will also be coming along, all else being equal, plus any other NPCs who have become part of the group or who the GM wants to include. Repair Plan: Unfortunately, only so much research is possible about the Engine from the Earth. The repair crew’s first job after reaching the Engine is to determine what has caused the malfunctions. Once those are identified, their charge is to deal with each issue as necessary. So it’s an agile plan, to put the best face on it. Travel Method: The Amber Pope provides the repair crew with something called an Empyrean Coach, which is a direct transference method of travel that the pope himself has used to move great distances, including once to the moon. LEAVE-TAKING BY EMPYREAN COACH When the PCs are ready, they are conducted into one of the many basement levels of the palace, to a room filled to ankle depth with golden fluid that moves and ripples under its own power. The repair crew is asked to stand at the chamber’s center. Three Aeon Priests surround them, then conduct a ritual

that involves verbal invocation and fiddling with devices each carries. A portion of the golden fluid rises up and builds itself into a shell—an Empyrean Coach—around the crew. The inside is smooth like an egg’s interior, but soft. A single porthole provides a view to the exterior. Once the shell fully forms, it becomes a rapid direct transference capsule that brings everyone inside it from Qi to the Engine of the Gods. Inside the coach, travelers can breathe and act normally, and are protected from external threats. From inside the capsule, subjective transfer time is about an hour. Gift From Miash: If Miash wasn’t exposed and destroyed, she plants an extreme detonation cypher on Sarma. About midway through the hour-long transference, a PC notices a strange red glow leaking from the edges of Sarma’s pack (present as a GM intrusion). From this point, the PCs have about three rounds to defuse or otherwise mitigate the explosion. Otherwise, it disables the coach midway between Earth and the Engine, leaving the repair crew tumbling and exposed to the void. Miash does this even if she is part of the repair crew; she sees herself as expendable, being only an instance of Denizen. But she doesn’t give up her masquerade to stop the PCs, should they find the detonation before it goes off or mitigate the damage it would otherwise do. If the PCs keep her with them, there will certainly be many more ways she can attempt to kill off the repair team.

PART 2 WRAP-UP The PCs each earn 1 XP if they convey Phius Livic to the Amber Pope so he can make his presentation, 1 XP if they sway the pope to act, and 2 XP if they agree to become part of the repair crew and travel to the Engine of the Gods with the mission to fix it.

Augmech, page 84

Empyrean Coach: level 8

Crèche 17, page 37

Extreme Detonation Level: 10 Effect: Explodes in a 1-mile (1.5 km) radius, inflicting 10 points of damage on everything in the area. Sarma: use Wright stats Mecula: use Aeon Priest stats

Wright, page 286

Aeon Priest, page 264

Malfunction, page 25

Direct Transference, page 29

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PART 3: THE ENGINE

Experiencing the Engine, page 33

Part 4: Reignition, page 149 Tranquility Port, page 35

Engine Living Conditions, page 13

The Engine (part 3) covers the characters’ arrival on the Engine, their accrual of important survival gear, and any efforts they make to understand the situation and come up with a plan of action. This part also provides guidance on encounters they have while moving about the Engine. Ultimately, it outlines a process characters can undertake that will put them in a position to restart the Engine, as described in Part 4: Reignition.

ARRIVAL IN PORT TRANQUILITY Assuming the Empyrean Coach was not detonated along the way, its journey to the Engine takes about an hour. The coach shudders as its tremendous velocity slows several minutes prior to arrival. Characters who gaze out the porthole see the vast face of the sun, a solar halo that wasn’t visible from farther away, and the Engine they saw

in the Amber Pope’s viewing pool. It rapidly increases in size as the coach approaches. Refer to the read-aloud text under Experiencing the Engine. (The Empyrean Coach has access to invisible machine channels, which it broadcasts audibly inside the vessel.) Arrival: The coach zeroes in on a boxy structure that is a synthsteel cube 16 miles (25 km) on a side, which is attached to an exterior Engine strut; this is Tranquility Port. Refer to the full port description for details about the area. The coach passes through the open gate (following some kind of invisible machine beacon) and puts down on an open pad, one of the few not holding the corpse of an ancient, broken spacecraft. A series of tones sound in the coach, counting down from 10. When the count concludes, the Empyrean Coach dissolves gently away in a haze of dust, leaving all passengers exposed to vacuum (though not explosively). Anyone not using a cypher, artifact, or other protection against the normal Engine living conditions is immediately afflicted. Greetings: As noted under the Tranquility Port description, newcomers who survive their arrival are approached by Karium, a pitted, ancient-looking automaton who tries several invisible machine channels to open communication. In addition to the aid Karium offers all newcomers (including directions to the nearest flesh shelter, which PCs are probably concerned about finding), the automaton can also help with the following. Ignorance of the Conspiracy: Karium can help orient newcomers to how an Engine resident sees the world. They have not heard of the Viridian, and are surprised to learn that the characters think the Engine is broken and should be firing. They do recall stories that the Engine once burned with a light nearly as bright as the sun, but that was before Karium’s time. If the PCs want

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THE SUN DOTH MOVE to learn more about the Engine, Karium believes they’d be best served by heading to Wrawn (which it will provide directions to). In Wrawn, it says, the characters can receive wisdom in the Cathedral of Brilliance. Ask the Arch: Karium grants the PCs one more boon: it shows them how to evoke an answer arch. The automaton touches a floor surface, and an arch rises. Using it, the PCs can attempt to learn about the Engine. Karium says that maybe the characters can make more sense of it than Karium has ever been able to.

HOW DO WE REPAIR THE ENGINE? The repair crew’s goal is to restart the Engine, which means the characters likely ask some variant of “How do we repair the Engine?” to everything they meet, including the answer arch that Karium evokes. When they successfully quiz a creature or system, the answer provided is usually twofold, describing the many instances of lapsed maintenance and materials failure. (Most systems and creatures don’t understand that there’s a conspiracy against the Engine, because that knowledge is kept secret by its members.) If characters drill down to figure out the best way to deal with maintenance and materials issues, they learn about the existence of something called the Control Center. Apparently, all functions of the Engine can be controlled from there. (Residents know the name and can point it out, even thousands of miles away through the framework of the struts. It is a dome-like bump halfway along the cylinder of the Engine, with a beacon on top that shines like a star.) Any queries about the Control Center always come back to one thing: those who wish to enter must have a key. Queries to Engine systems and to most residents turn up nothing in regard to a key location. Residents advise the PCs to seek Wrawn, where many things can be learned, specifically (as Karium suggested) the Cathedral of Brilliance. Queries about the location of a Control Center key made by other means could

allow the PCs to bypass Wrawn, if their query method is powerful enough. For instance, if the characters have a cypher of at least level 6 (such as a datasphere siphon) that allows them to ask the datasphere a question, and they succeed on the associated use roll, they can learn that one of the four Control Center keys is held by someone named Keesa in the community of Sanctuary, which is located along the repulsor jet. Gameplay Timing: A journey to Wrawn and the subsequent encounters are likely to require one or more additional game sessions. That may be fine for your game; this is already a long adventure. But if you’d rather keep things moving, consider providing the PCs with a means to quickly locate a key, such as the one in Sanctuary. If you’re particularly concerned about time, you could dispense with the need for a key altogether, allow the PCs to travel directly to the Control Center (after they learn about it), and give them other options for getting inside (such as overcoming a lockout, similar to the one described for Crèche 17).

Wrawn, page 39

Datasphere siphon, page 277 Cathedral of Brilliance, page 42 Keesa, page 50 Learning About the Engine, page 35 Sanctuary, page 49 Repulsor jet, page 49

Lapsed Maintenance, page 25 Materials Failure, page 26

ENGINE ENCOUNTERS

Crèche 17, page 37

Anytime travelers move farther than a few miles between any two points on the Engine, they may chance upon something of interest (assuming the travelers are not already familiar with the route). Thus, as the characters move from Tranquility Port to other locations, they are likely to have encounters along the way. You can use the Engine Map Generator to inspire those encounters or randomly generate them. In addition, characters making up the repair crew face one other overarching style of encounter: those related to the specific threat by Denizen and her agents.

Conspiracy Against the Engine, page 26 Accessing the Control Center, page 149

Engine Map Generator, page 58

Denizen, page 124

SURREPTITIOUS SPYING Denizen has taken over the Control Center and uses the monitoring mechanism there to scan for threats. Eventually, she finds the PCs and begins to monitor them. The PCs may be entirely unaware of this; however, give them a chance (presented as a GM

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Desperate Ploy, page 152 Tranquility Port, page 35

intrusion) to notice—with a successful perception task—a swiveling camera eye, a passing drone stopping and following, and so on. Although it may be beyond them to figure out who is watching, they may get the feeling that something is definitely doing so. This is how Denizen is able to engineer various conspiracy encounters the PCs have that are not Miash-related. (It also enables Denizen’s last-ditch desperate ploy if none of her other attempts neutralize the repair crew.)

CONSPIRACY ENCOUNTERS

Preparing To Head Sunward, page 141

Nardan Flesh Shelter, page 36 Moving Through the Engine, page 34

Automaton: level 6; health 33; Armor 3; twin long-range disintegration beams each inflict 6 points of damage Sunsuit, page 82

If Miash is still part of the repair crew, she attempts to secretly sabotage the characters whenever she can get away with it. For instance, if she is responsible for tethering a character to a strut for safety, she cuts the line. If she is entrusted with finding out an important detail, she twists the information. And so on. If the opportunity presented could reasonably lead to the quick death of one or more members of the repair crew, Miash will even reveal herself as an enemy to pull it off. If Miash was dealt with previously, other agents of Denizen are active across the Engine. Their constant activity is the biggest part of the problem. Either way, the repair crew’s arrival via an Empyrean Coach was marked by Denizen, who has all the instruments of the Control Center at her disposal, and thus begins a campaign of surreptitious spying. She dispatches various agents (of increasing power each time, should characters best the previous one) with instructions to take the repair crew down. Automatons: Two humanoid automatons completely wrapped in layers of cloth— which look remarkably similar to the stranger automaton met all the way back in Otaki—waylay the repair crew.

Splines, page 119 Pruthastan, page 117 Pruthastan Note: If the PCs haven’t exchanged their regular bodies for augmechs (page 84) in Crèche 17 (page 37) and they are not at least tier 5, the pruthastan encounter may be too tough to survive.

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Splines of Freedom: A group of five red-carapaced automatons (splines) who make up a far-flung cell of the Freedom Society are activated and sent to intercept the repair crew. Pruthastan Menace: A bizarre creature of matter and energy (a pruthastan) attacks the repair crew.

TRAVEL OPTIONS During the course of this adventure, the PCs will have to move here and there around the Engine, which is a structure more than 3,000 miles (4,800 km) long. Except for the flesh shelter and the crèche, which are relatively close, journeys by foot or augmech will take at least a month, if not more. Alternatively, they could revitalize one of the decrepit craft in Tranquility Port. If successful, they could fly through the framework (or around the edges, for safety) with relative quickness and cut journey lengths to mere days. The PCs may have additional options, depending on the cyphers, artifacts, or vehicles that they may already possess or have the ability to craft.

AQUIRING SUNSUITS FROM A FLESH SHELTER During their preparations before leaving Earth, it was suggested that PCs find a flesh shelter to acquire longer-lasting sun protection than the few cyphers that were provided to them. If the characters decide to follow that advice, they already have an idea of where to find the nearest flesh shelter to Tranquility Port. (Alternatively, Karium can direct them there.) The closest one is Nardan Flesh Shelter, and reaching it requires the characters to move through the Engine along a strut for a distance of about 10 miles (16 km). Refer to the full flesh shelter description for details about the area. As described in the Nardan Flesh Shelter section, the emergency automaton Nardan has identity issues. If the PCs can appease it, it offers them each one sunsuit from its stores.

AQUIRING AUGMECHS FROM CRÈCHE 17 As another part of their preparations before leaving Earth, it was suggested that PCs improve their odds of success on the Engine by accessing tools described as augmechs from a crèche. If the characters decide to follow that advice, they already have an idea of where to find the nearest crèche. (Alternatively, Nardan can direct the repair crew there.)

THE SUN DOTH MOVE

The closest one is Crèche 17. Reaching it requires that characters move through the Engine along a strut for a distance of about 500 miles (800 km)—too far to travel if the PCs have only a few days’ worth of protection from the high-radiation vacuum environment. Hopefully, they’ve acquired sunsuits or something similar. Refer to the full crèche description for details about the area. Cult of the Serene Sleeper: As noted in the Crèche 17 section, a cult of splines and their leader the Liturgist use the crèche as their temple. Unless the PCs want to fight the cult, they will have to sneak in, make a deal with the Liturgist, or come up with some other strategy to claim the augmechs. The PCs may not realize it at first, but splines

want to be part of something—anything, really. And if the PCs present a good-enough case (or a grand-enough lie), they can potentially get the splines on their side. Characters who use the telepresence control chairs associated with the crèche to control augmechs must leave their actual bodies behind in Crèche 17. Those bodies are potentially vulnerable, so it would be best for the PCs to make some kind of deal with the splines, who can act as caretakers of the PCs’ actual bodies while they control prosthetic ones.

Crèche 17, page 37

The Liturgist, page 38

TRAVELING TO WRAWN If the characters lack access to powerful divinatory numenera to find a Control

“You threaten the peace I’ve brought to the hearts and minds of these splines who revere the sleepers. Tell me, for what reason—and it had best be a grand reason— should we disrupt our comforting rituals?” ~The Liturgist

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Wrawn, page 39

Sanctuary, page 49 Cathedral of Brilliance, page 42 Keesa, page 50 Expounder, page 43 73LL1N, page 42

Trial by Mending, page 43

Center key, they may be forced to travel to Wrawn, on the advice of Karium or others, and petition the Cathedral of Brilliance for aid. Refer to Wrawn’s entry for a full description of this mega-city. The PCs have as many opportunities for distraction there as they would in any metropolis, and probably more, since Wrawn is likely bigger than anything the characters have previously seen. However, if they’ve come to the city, it’s likely because they want answers from the lliran in the Cathedral of Brilliance. Petition the Cathedral of Brilliance: The characters eventually find an Expounder willing to hear their case (possibly after 73LL1N, a helpful automaton, makes the introduction). The Expounder says that if the characters are willing to undergo a Trial by Mending in the Cathedral, and they succeed, they will be given access to an oracle that can answer any question put to it, no matter how obscure or secret. However, if the characters fail in their trial, they will be treated like any other failures, punished like the criminals they are now judged to be.

Chytrid, page 103

Oracle: level 9, tasks related to knowledge as level 10

Hover disc, page 174

Cathedral Oracle: If the characters succeed in their trial, they are ushered into a chamber containing a massive floating spherical device, which is the Oracle, and asked to submit their question. The characters are granted a single question for the whole group, so they should make it count. They probably ask for the location of an accessible Control Center key. If so, they are appraised of someone named Keesa

who can be found in the community of Sanctuary. With that information in hand, the PCs can navigate to that location on their own.

SEEKING SANCTUARY If the PCs discover that they need a key to enter the Control Center, they may learn that one is held in Sanctuary. If the characters find their way to the pocket chamber that houses that community, refer to the Sanctuary entry for full details. As noted under Keesa’s description, she won’t just give away her treasured key to anyone who asks. The PCs will have to convince her somehow that their need trumps all other priorities. If the characters are the ethical sort, they can try to get Keesa to at least accompany them to the Control Center and use the key for them. But only if they first do a favor for her. Keesa’s Favor: A dangerous fungal growth is advancing in fits and starts, one silvery metallic nodule at a time, toward Sanctuary. A group of ten individual growths—chytrids—has already sprouted up unexpectedly inside the community. That area has been evacuated, but Keesa fears the worst. If the PCs clear out the nodules, she agrees to accompany them to the Control Center. Before that, she offers them a place to rest (whether they are present in the flesh or need time to unplug from their augmech control chairs). She also offers each PC a couple of random cyphers from her stocks before they head to the Control Center. Finally, if the PCs don’t have a vehicle capable of quick travel, she offers them hover discs (modified for use by augmechs, if necessary).

PART 3 WRAP-UP The PCs each earn 1 XP if they found and claimed an augmech, 1 XP if they uncovered the conspiracy led by Denizen, and 2 XP if they find a key (or some other means) to enter the Control Center.

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THE SUN DOTH MOVE

PART 4: REIGNITION Reignition (part 4) is where the characters enter and explore the Control Center for the Engine of the Gods. Before they can start putting things right, they must clear out Denizen and her forces, which currently control the strategic stronghold.

indicated that there seemed to be an instability within the Control Center. He doesn’t know what it is. But he offers the aid of his ambassadors to the characters if they allow him to continue observing; he is as concerned with the health of the Engine as they are, if not more so.

ACCESSING THE CONTROL CENTER

Opening the Door: If the PCs have the key, it’s easy to open the door. Otherwise, it’s nearly impossible to get inside (unless you’ve decided the characters have an alternate way that could work). However the door is opened, the control panel lights up with a green glow, and a voice (transmitted over invisible machine channels) calls out “Who’s there? Never mind, I see you. You’ve gotten much farther than I first suspected. Does that embolden you? It should not. You must know by now that I never give up, and with each defeat, I come back twice as strong. Enter, and you will assuredly die. That’s not a threat. It’s just what will happen.” The voice is, of course, Denizen’s, and it sounds remarkably like Miash’s voice. The corridor revealed beyond is the entrance tunnel.

Visible from many places across the Engine, the dome-like shell of the Control Center is the size of a small moon. Indeed, its opaque outer surface is pocked and scarred with craters from random space debris, and from weapons used long ago by powerful beings who tried to get in without a key.

ENTRY ALCOVE An invisible machine channel beacon aids anyone looking for the Control Center entrance on the immense expanse of the dome, guiding searchers to a mile-wide alcove about halfway up the sternward side of the dome, which means it’s normally dark as it faces away from the sun. Set into the alcove’s deepest recess is a 300-foot (90 m) diameter circular entrance, filled with an iris-like door that is normally shut. A control surface next to the door provides limited interaction options, as well as an orifice in which a Control Center key can be used. Awakening the control surface causes bright floodlights to snap on, illuminating the entire alcove. Alcove Observers: A couple of silver-blue beings shaped like floating pillars with heads of burning translucent flame around an eyelike core stand quietly near the entrance, waking to flame when the floodlights snap on. These are Meshala’s ambassadors. They were dispatched here by Meshala in the last few years. Refer to Meshala’s description for full details on his outlook; he can speak directly through his ambassadors. If cordial relations are established, he explains that he sent ambassadors here because his systems

Control Center shell: level 10; tasks to penetrate, break, or pass through transdimensionally are hindered

CONTROL CENTER LAYOUT Nearly all of the moon-sized structure holds massive vats of inactive nanites of various grades (specialized for repair, defense, and less easily understood purposes) or machinery capable of manufacturing the same. Only a relatively small portion is easily accessible; that’s the portion shown on the map. ENTRANCE TUNNEL A 300-foot (90 m) diameter circular corridor leads several miles sunward into the structure. The corridor contains a light strip providing bright illumination in any area where systems detect movement. Usually, the entrance is empty, even if Denizen is aware of the characters’ approach.

Meshala, page 48 Meshala’s ambassador: level 6

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Yellow grass (Viridian hazard): level 5

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1. INFECTED NEXUS A meeting of corridors provides visitors with the choice of several possible paths in this blank chamber a half mile (800 m) wide and 5 miles (8 km) long. It’s not immediately obvious which way the hub chamber lies. A Viridian hazard is also present, visible as spots of yellow grasslike growths on all surfaces. Those who pass through and are not already touched by the Viridian must succeed on a Might defense roll or discover small blades of the same growth on their dermis. Though the grass is apparently benign, defense rolls of any creature bearing the growth are hindered if attacked by other creatures infused with Viridian influence (such as pruthastans, Denizen, or any of her instances). Removing the growth requires thorough scrubbing and a successful healing task (even if removing it from an augmech or automaton dermis).

5. HUB READ ALOUD This circular domed chamber is miles across. The floor and curved dome are patterned with dense lines of coppery metal inscribed in a ceramic-like substrate. A subsonic hum vibrates through every surface. In the far distance, at what might be the chamber’s center, a red light pulses periodically upward toward the dome’s crown. Unless the PCs took extraordinary steps to conceal their arrival, Denizen (at the dome’s center) knows they have entered the Control Center. She uses this main chamber to throw her final defenses at intruders as they advance across the area. The defenses include three layers, a desperate ploy, and Denizen herself. Depending on how the PCs approach, they may face each defense in turn, trigger more than one of them at once, or trigger them out of order. Characters can face each defense head on and try to defeat it, attempt to evoke an arch to gain local control and mitigate or dismiss a defense, or do a little of both.

THE SUN DOTH MOVE NANITE SUBSTATIONS Several chambers serve as nanite control substations. Each is a large glass space overlooking a slowly roiling pool of iridescent fluid (nanites) of the noted color, obviously only a glimpse of a much vaster tank filled with the same material. From the control surface in each substation, a character can directly extract a sample of the nanites, dispatch a portion to another section of the Engine, purge the entire storage container directly into the sun, or start up huge machines embedded in the floor to make more of that particular grade of nanite. Prior to initial purging (see Repairing the Engine, page 153), each batch of nanites is contaminated by Denizen. Characters who attempt to extract a sample or deploy nanites trigger unexpected dangers and threats instead of what they intended. For example, if the PCs attempt to replicate a living creature using silver nanite, a Viridian-touched machine appears instead. If extracting blue nanite to help them learn something, the nanite instead attempts to eat the user’s head. Room

Nanite Use (level 7)

2. Silver Nanite Substation

Replicate automatons and machines

3. Green Nanite Nurture living Substation things 4. Blue Nanite Substation

Inquiry, interrogation of reality

6. Black Nanite Substation

Build basic physical structures

7. Red Nanite Substation

Destruction, unbridled energies

8. Gold Nanite Substation

Innovation, evolution of new techniques

Evoke an Arch: As the PCs may have learned previously, it’s possible to call up an arch from many surfaces through which they can attempt to learn about the Engine. Alternatively, PCs who think to call up an arch in the Control Center can try to suppress one defense per arch called. Suppression requires that a character succeed on an understanding numenera task with a difficulty equal to the defense’s level each round. A failed attempt means that the defense is active that round, though a character could attempt to suppress it on subsequent rounds. Arches called outside the hub have no chance of controlling defenses inside. Unfortunately, this means that PCs who call an arch can make themselves targets if Denizen figures out what’s going on. Call a Powerful Ally: Characters looking desperately for other aid by using an answer arch in the Control Center discover something: an entity known as a phantom architect “haunts” the center. If a character spends nine uninterrupted rounds, succeeding on understanding numenera tasks that begin at difficulty 1 and ramp up by one each round until the final difficulty 9 is reached, they can call the phantom architect. It appears and helps the PCs clear Denizen and its influence out of the Control Center. As powerful as it is, it can’t succeed without the characters’ aid. If the phantom architect is successfully called, it disperses once Denizen is defeated, and before the Engine is actually repaired. Caution Is Best: If the PCs don’t seem overly concerned about rushing into the Control Center without a plan, you could tell them that there is an insight to be had if a character is willing to spend 3 Intellect points. If so, point out that the defenses of the hub are likely immense and powerful, all at Denizen’s fingertips. If the PCs are not using augmechs, a brute-force approach is unlikely to succeed. Even if they are using augmechs, finding additional ways to leverage their strengths using the options provided would increase the odds of their success.

Learning About the Engine, page 35

Phantom architect, page 115

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Unlike regular plasmars, those ready to defend the Control Center are reconstituted instantly from the center’s feedstock of silver nanites.

Pruthastan, page 117

Plasmars, page 116

Drahq, page 104

Force field: level 7; even if locally breached by an effect, other parts of the field remain intact, and breaches seal after a few rounds

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Outer Defense Layer: If characters pass into, go through, or appear on the opposite side of the dome’s outer perimeter, the coppery metal inscribed in the floor of this outer band flashes red. Dispatched from tiny nooks in the dome overhead, a platoon of thirty plasmars are ejected. The plasmars are able to ride the lightning of energy fields that crisscross the chamber and essentially teleport around it as an action. Unlike regular plasmars, those ready to defend the Control Center are quickly reconstituted from the center’s feedstock of silver nanites.

Prior to Denizen’s entry to the Control Center, another couple of plasmar platoons was released when the middle defense was activated. Now, two pruthastans are dispatched instead, reconstituted from green nanites.

Middle Defense Layer: If characters pass into, go through, or appear on the opposite side of the dome’s outer perimeter, the coppery metal inscribed in the floor at the innermost edge of this middle band flashes red. A force field is erected, sealing off the middle area for at least one hour.

Desperate Ploy: As previously noted, Denizen has attempted to use Control Center monitoring mechanisms to surreptitiously spy on the PCs since they arrived, or soon thereafter. If she was successful in this, and if the characters exchanged their real bodies

Inner Defense Layer: This defense is the same as the middle defense layer, though this force field seals off only the heart of the chamber where Denizen waits. And instead of plasmars or pruthastans, a drahq is reconstituted to defend her.

THE SUN DOTH MOVE for telepresence-controlled augmechs in Crèche 17, she pulls out this desperate ploy. She uses it either when the characters’ augmechs are engaged with something that isn’t bothering them that much, or when it seems like the PCs are about to literally dethrone her. The ploy: Denizen activates three stranger automatons that have been waiting in hiding adjacent to Crèche 17 to attack the characters’ helpless bodies. Even if the PCs left behind defenses, this should be a worrisome development, likely to pull at least one character’s attention from their augmech back to their core body to help with the defense.

previously had. Plasmars, drahqs, and other creatures working directly on her behalf stop. Pruthastans, however, are tiny motes of the Viridian itself, so they don’t stop, ever (unless the Engine restarts and the solar system pulls ahead of the Viridian, or the Viridian’s influences are screened out, such as through the method championed by an automaton named Ademar). With Denizen out of the way and the throne-like control module vacated, the characters and the rest of the repair crew can finally get on with fixing the Engine.

Stranger automaton, page 128 Ademar, page 26

REPAIRING THE ENGINE

From Denizen’s Perspective: Denizen isn’t above monologuing if she thinks she’s winning, or if she thinks she can sway the characters to her lies. She claims that the Viridian is a powerful force that will return the knowledge and power of the prior worlds to the solar system. She tries to explain away the ill effects on plant life as simple side effects of the phase shift in spacetime, a transitional effect that will lead to everyone having full access to a wealth of personal knowledge and autonomy, where everyone will live in whatever kind of comfort they can imagine for themselves. Being a liar of the first order, she’s taken in many others with this line.

To begin the process of repairing and reigniting the Engine, the PCs must eject Denizen from the throne-like control module in the hub. Doing so without damaging the control module itself is preferred; if the characters damage it, that’s one more item to add to the list of actions they must take to begin putting things back to normal. One character (or their augmech) must sit in the control module, which adjusts itself to fit whatever size creature tries to use it. That PC must succeed on an understanding numenera task (difficulty 8), or the rush of information input is so overwhelming that they descend one step on the damage track and are ejected. Those able to understand the load of information and sift through it can take a few seconds of mental searching before they come up with the following prescription: • A minimum of six members of the repair crew must go, one each, to the six nanite storage and control substations. • Each substation tank must be purged completely so that any corruption introduced by Denizen is cleared. • Once the purging is complete, each of the six substation controllers must restart the manufacture of new nanites, coordinating with whoever sits in the throne control module.

Denizen Defeated: If Denizen is defeated, the agents that are linked to her via a nanite glob of goo either simultaneously fall unmoving or gain whatever autonomy they

Unless an agent or other external issue remains, the characters shouldn’t have too much trouble accomplishing these purge, restart, and synch tasks. It’s just a matter

DENIZEN AT THE HEART Denizen is lodged in a great throne-like control module at the very center of everything. If directly threatened, she activates what is essentially another Miash-like clone of herself stashed within short range. This clone has Denizen’s full stats, perfected using green nanites. Simultaneously, Denizen uses her control module chair to direct blasts of coherent light at the PCs from turrets located around the dome, up to three blasts per round.

Crèche 17, page 37

Denizen, page 124 Control module chair: level 8

Coherent light turret: level 7; sight-range coherent light blasts inflict 10 points of damage

Coordinating restart: level 2; all involved must succeed on the Intellect task to synch restart

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of spending the time to do it and waiting to see the results.

BY ENGINE LIGHT About ten hours after the repair crew retakes the Control Center and resynchs the nanite substations, the Engine restarts. READ ALOUD A shudder passes from one end of the Engine to the other as golden light spills from sternward, enveloping the framework in a warm glow. Thin at first, but growing longer and steadier with each passing minute, a braid of fire curls from sternward, silent but steady as a beam of starlight in the vacuum. Chevara’s Plea, page 134 If the characters can devise a physical body for Chevara, she might be convinced to change her mind regarding deletion. It’s the existence within the constrained environment of the visor that has her looking forward to nonexistence. With or without Chevara, the visor retains its original function, serving as a sight prosthetic for Phius.

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If Phius Livic is still with the characters, his visor creates a full-size three-dimensional projection of Chevara. She pronounces, “Once again, the sun doth move.”

PART 4 WRAP-UP Even if everything goes according to plan, the Engine restarts, and the conspiracy of Denizen is crushed, it takes years for a change to occur in the Ninth World. That’s because even though the Engine begins to pull away from the Viridian once more, it’ll

take some time to build up enough distance to completely extinguish its effects. Likewise, heat-based hazards don’t go away overnight. Still, they don’t get worse, and over time, they improve. In much the same way that most people in the Ninth World didn’t realize they were coasting into a disaster, most don’t realize they’re now accelerating away from one. Of course, the characters know it, as does the Order of Truth. In the Case of Failure: The effects of the Viridian multiply. In just under a year, the intelligent inversion of space overtakes the solar system, completely rewriting it. Even the most advanced numenera can’t see what happens after that threshold, returning only static, as if all the laws of cause and effect are undone. Perhaps in a parallel dimensional strand, things proceed better. In the Case of Success: The PCs each earn 1 XP if they make it into the hub, 1 XP if they defeat Denizen, 2 XP if they restart the Engine, and 2 XP if they do as Chevara asked them and delete her from Phius Livic’s visor (which he can’t bring himself to do). Even if the Ninth World is saved, not every creature within it wishes to endure beyond the achievement of their life’s goals.

WAKING THE MEGA CHAPTER 13

WAKING THE MEGA

“W

aking the Mega” is an adventure that can begin anywhere in the Ninth World. It’s suitable for low- to middle-tier characters and can be adjusted for high-tier characters by ramping up the difficulties by two steps.

SYNOPSIS The adventure has three sections. In Bright As the Sun, the PCs encounter a colossal rampaging creature known as Suneko devastating a community. In the face of what is comparable to an unstoppable natural disaster, character options are initially limited, though they can try to save themselves and others. In Ray of Hope, characters learn of a massive artificial machine called the Mega. To end Suneko’s threat, they can try to locate it, repair it, and wake the Mega. Finally, Day of Reckoning pits the characters—piloting the Mega—against Suneko. It’s titan versus titan.

BRIGHT AS THE SUN You can surprise the characters with an attack on the community where they are based or are visiting, or let them be drawn to the area by rumors of an immense creature moving in a rough line across the land, devastating very small communities but heading toward a much larger one. In the latter case, the PCs know that Suneko needs to be dealt with. But whatever they are expecting (or not), their first encounter with the titanothaur attacking the

community is likely to come as a shock in its overwhelming magnitude.

INITIAL ATTACK Suneko disintegrates a single structure from altitude using its twin eyebeams, then swoops down on the community, landing in a densely populated area. There, it begins to smash and burn, shattering buildings and ending lives of fleeing victims as by-products of its rage. Everyone in the community not immediately killed is subject to a Suneko secondary effect every few rounds.

“Waking the Mega” could be adapted to use community stats; however, Suneko is essentially a rank 10 disaster, which few communities have any hope of surviving. That is, until the Mega is awakened.

Community Stats, page 297

Suneko, page 121

CHARACTER OPTIONS The characters can respond in a variety of ways, including the following. Fight the Titanothaur. Characters without major advantages probably don’t even get the level 10 creature’s attention. If they do, its direct attention is devastating. Safeguard the Community. The PCs can attempt one or more of the following heroic acts. In each case, they must overcome the noted challenge, even as they face at least one or two related Suneko secondary effects. Challenges are level 4. Characters can attempt about five such challenges before they are forced to flee, or be directly attacked by Suneko. • Five people are trapped in a partially collapsed building. Extraction requires one Might roll for each. • Four people are badly burned. Saving them requires one healing task for each.

Suneko secondary effect: level 3; effects include randomly flung chunks of smashed building raining down like blobs of volcanic ejecta, a suddenly formed fissure, a collapsing wall, and so on; effects inflict 5 points of damage on a failed defense roll

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Cyphers, page 272

Diplomat (Kasanera), page 285

Auspar, page 149

• Six people in a burning building suffer from smoke inhalation. Finding each requires one perception task. • Ten people are too frightened to run from Suneko’s advance. Three persuasion tasks embolden them. • Fire threatens the stable that holds a means for dozens to escape. Four Might tasks put out the fire (if the PCs can find water, shovels, or other smothering equipment). Run Away. When the PCs finally flee, they are chased out of town by a couple of Suneko secondary effects.

BRIGHT AS THE SUN WRAP-UP The PCs each earn 1 XP per successful heroic act. In addition, grateful survivors give them a handful of cyphers.

RAY OF HOPE Once Suneko devastates a location, it disappears for weeks at time. No one knows where (or is motivated to go looking). Surviving Suneko may be cause for celebration among the characters. Others were not so lucky.

REQUEST FOR AID A diplomat named Kasanera (who was among those the PCs rescued) describes Suneko’s general nature. More importantly, the scholar explains how Suneko is advancing in a rough line toward the city of Auspar. (If Auspar is not appropriate for your Numenera campaign, choose a city that works better.) Kasanera reveals that she is an official of Auspar. She was dispatched to determine if the rumors of Suneko’s approach were true. She’s definitely been convinced and, moreover, feels that she doesn’t have time to return and make a report. Instead, she asks the PCs to help her uncover a mighty machine of the prior worlds, known as “the Mega” according to two-hundred-year-old reports by Aeon Priests. She has only secondhand knowledge of it and doesn’t know exactly what the Mega is, only that the Aeon Priests indicated that their discovery was “a machine capable of neutralizing a titanothaur.”

TRAVELING TO THE CRÈCHE If the PCs agree to accompany Kasanera, they travel to the ruin called the Crèche (which contains the Mega). The diplomat’s hastily scribbled notes say that the journey should take at least a few weeks. Maybe enough time to find the

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WAKING THE MEGA device and bring it back before Suneko strikes again, or maybe not. Along the way, the characters spot a philethis, apparently captured in a metallic cage by a group of bandits. If the PCs chase off the bandits, the philethis tells them, “If the augmech wakes, don’t look directly into the green.” Then it teleports away, revealing that it could have done so all along.

THE CRÈCHE A slanted, bluish metal surface emerges from the drit, creating a sloping plane some 40 feet (12 m) long and wide emerging from the ground; more is obviously buried beneath. Kasanera’s notes say that the Mega is inside. In fact, the Mega doesn’t reside in a crèche; it’s just lying loose near the surface of the Steadfast, mostly buried except for the exposed section described. Nothing from the exterior visibly suggests to the PCs that the sloping metal surface is actually a small section of a giant, inactive automaton. ENTERING THE MEGA A thorough search of the slope reveals that a large metallic panel can be folded back, giving access to a control surface. With a successful difficulty 4 understanding numenera task, the PCs can use the controls to cause a larger area to slide open, revealing a narrow corridor contoured with inlaid lines of various types of metals leading inward. This corridor leads to area 1. EXPLORING THE MEGA A network of narrow service corridors burrows through the Mega. Each corridor bulges with metallic protrusions, glows, and thick cords partially embedded in the floors, walls, and ceilings. Moving through the corridors is akin to spelunking because the PCs must sometimes squeeze, sometimes climb, and sometimes face precipitous drops. And like spelunking, it’s easy to become lost while exploring the Mega. Initially, each time the PCs move more than a short distance along a corridor, they must make a successful navigation or perception task, or they come to a dead end and have to retrace their steps and try another route.

(Alternatively, instead of a dead end, the characters could run into an issue, such as a colony of shinspinners or a synth eater, that they need to resolve to get the Mega operational.) A PC who makes an Intellect roll after three successful navigation tasks discovers that one of the lines inscribed along the service corridor is a main route (shown on the Mega Interior map.) The Mega is like a thirty-story building fallen on its side. Instead of being comprised of a progression of floors, it’s tunneled with service corridors, plus occasional chambers cramped with machinery. Options for salvage are everywhere. But each time a character does so, they must succeed on an Intellect task to salvage carefully enough so they won’t have to repair that damage later, once they figure out that they’re inside the Mega itself, and not a structure containing the Mega.

If the PCs have a vehicle or other suitable numenera, they can drastically reduce their travel time.

Philethis, page 247 Bandit, page 264

Shinspinner, page 276 Synth eater, page 277

Area 1. A bulky machine hums, audible as the PCs approach. Characters within immediate range of it must make a Speed defense roll or a mechanism deploys a turret and sprays them with a frictionless, yet clinging fluid that hinders all physical tasks and renders movement almost impossible until it can be removed. Area 2. As area 1, but the machine is broken, eventually requiring repair if the Mega is to be used. Area 3. This large chamber contains several bulky devices. Before the PCs can investigate, they must deal with the astraphin monolith that hovers in the center of the chamber like a guard animal. Once that threat is dealt with, the characters discover that the machines have one purpose: to occasionally pull a 30-foot (9 m) long canister out of storage in one wall and then insert it like a peg in a slot in the other wall. A successful understanding numenera task reveals that the canisters are power sources known as protomatter. Only a single protomatter canister remains in storage, ready to be slotted; all the rest are empty.

The Mega uses bio-circuitry derived from plants, rendering it vulnerable to the Viridian (page 22). The Mega, page 99 Astraphin monolith, page 23

Exploring the Mega: level 5 for related defense rolls and tasks (including repair tasks)

Protomatter, page 112

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Piloting (Cockpit Control), page 86

Augmech Control, page 84 Controlling the Mega, page 99 Operate secondary systems: level 5 for related tasks (including repair tasks)

Green dream, page 24

Suneko, page 121

Area 4. This machine-filled chamber features three fixed throne-like chairs, a desiccated humanoid corpse slumped in one. These are machines that allow users to pilot the Mega. Three other chairs are set at secondary stations. An understanding numenera task allows the PCs to realize, possibly for the first time, that they’re in the Mega, that the Mega is actually an enormous augmech, and that for best performance, three pilots are preferred (as described in the Mega entry in chapter 9). Before the PCs can attempt augmech control (and specifically, controlling the Mega), they must repair the machine in area 2, plug in the last canister of protomatter in area 3, and deal with any other issues they stumbled upon while exploring. If they salvaged any machines along the way, they may have to repair those as well. Once repairs are complete, one final hidden issue remains. The PCs must make an Intellect defense roll each time they strap into a pilot chair, or they fall into a deep sleep and become infected with green dream. They can attempt another defense roll every few rounds, or someone can pull them out of the chair. Once enough

characters either make their defense roll or fail but recover consciousness, the Mega can be activated and piloted.

RAY OF HOPE WRAP-UP The PCs each earn 1 XP per repair they had to make to activate the Mega, and 1 XP if they activate it.

DAY OF RECKONING Operating a 300-foot (90 m) tall automaton from a cockpit with full viewscreens is an impressive experience. Characters not directly involved in piloting can operate secondary systems, including sensing and navigation, engineering, repair, and communication. In addition, PCs not stuck to a piloting chair can move about inside the Mega, should such a need arise (as it may, if they engage Suneko). Further, a character at a secondary station notices that the Mega has only enough power from the last protomatter charge to allow it to remain active for about a month or for one big fight, whichever comes first. If the PCs didn’t have the use of a vehicle on the way to the crèche, their return trip using the Mega is much faster, given its flying capability. A successful navigation task coupled with a successful sensing task at a secondary system can pinpoint the energy signature of Suneko, which is becoming active again and just reaching the edges of a major population center (Auspar or another city you chose).

FACE OFF Though it may seem like a straight-up fight between the PCs in their augmech and Suneko, several complicating factors arise during the conflict. The tasks, attacks, and defenses made by PCs piloting the augmech in the fight are usually difficulty 10 (equal to Suneko’s level). However, tasks by characters operating secondary systems are difficulty 5, unless noted otherwise. Most of the conflict complications should be introduced as GM intrusions, at least the first time they are used. Complications include (but are not limited to) the following.

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WAKING THE MEGA

• An attack by one titan threatens to send the other crashing into inhabited structures. Avoiding this outcome requires a Speed defense roll, and actions on the Mega’s next turn are hindered. • Suneko uses its twin eyebeams to explode a towering structure, threatening to crush dozens of panicking people. Putting the Mega in the path requires a successful Speed defense roll, inflicts 20 points of damage to the Mega, and partially buries it, leaving it prone until it can make a Might defense roll to dig free. • The jostling disturbs a pod of previously inactive splines inside the augmech, which swarm into the cockpit, apparently acting as an internal defensive measure protecting the Mega from unauthorized use. If they are not dealt with, they target the nearly helpless pilots (who can choose to spend a round to disengage from their seats, if no one else is around to help.) • One of the repairs the PCs made to get the Mega running is knocked askew by the fight (possibly the protomatter canister comes partly loose in its

cradle). Until a character can move through the interior and fix the issue with a successful repair task, all the Mega’s actions are hindered by two steps. Moving through the interior of the augmech while it is fighting Suneko without being battered to death requires at least three Might or Speed defense rolls along the way.

DAY OF RECKONING WRAP-UP Even if the Mega ultimately defeats the titanothaur, Suneko has likely caused damage to Auspar. The PCs’ success is thus measured by how much they saved and, ultimately, whether they defeated or drove off Suneko. The PCs each earn 2 XP for fighting Suneko at all, and 1, 2, or 3 XP depending on whether they saved only some, about half, or nearly all of Auspar. The Mega powers down after the fight. It remains inactive until another canister of protomatter can be found, conveyed from that location, and installed in the Mega. In addition, operating it remains a risk due to the Viridian, whose influence only grows stronger unless or until the Engine of the Gods is fixed.

Spline, page 119

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INDEX access tube terminal 69 Access Tube Trip Disruption Table 70 Artifact Table 78 artifacts 77 artificer (augmech) 90 astraphin monolith 23 augmech control 84 augmech crèche 85 augmech models 87 augmech shifts 88 augmechs 84 augmodrome 28 bloodfist (augmech) 91 blowout 14 cable 60 Cathedral of Brilliance 42 Celestial Beacon 29 Chamber Condition Table 61 chamber features 61 Chamber Features Table 62 Chevara 123 chytrid 103 climatic shift 19 Control Center 51 core fusion chambers 49 Creature Table 66 creatures 102 Crèche 17 37 cyclops (augmech) 92 Cypher Table 73 cyphers 72 debris from impactors 16 Denizen 124 directions on the Engine 12 drahq 104 dream swallow 24 Engine damage 15 Engine feature 59 Engine Feature Table 60 Engine Hazards Table 14 Engine Leak Inspiration Table 16 Engine living conditions 13

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Engine Map Generator 58 Engine parasite 105 Eryth 34 extreme solar weather 14 flesh buster 106 flet 40 freecycler 107 Freedom Point 50 Freedom Society 51 gaurn 108 Gaussian Castle 48 Gaussian Swale 47 gravity 14 green dreams 24 green mimic 24 Halo control stations 54 Halo mirrors 53 hazards of the Engine 14 helioduran 109 Hothouse Clave 128 Hypermarket 44 infiltrator (augmech) 93 interlocutor (augmech) 94 Intraengine Coordinate System (ICS) 12 jesanthum 24 learning about the Engine 35 lightning mourn 110 lliran 111 locust (creature entry) 112 locusts 17 mapping the Engine 57 mapping the Halo 57 Mega, the (augmech) 99 Mern’s Shack 128 module chamber 67 module features 68 Module Features Table 68 Module Size Table 68 monitor 113 murder bloom (creature entry) 114 murder blooms 24 Nardan Flesh Shelter 36

NPCs 123 Otaki 127 overheating hazards 20 paramedic (augmech) 95 phantom architect 115 Phius Livic 123 plasmar 116 Plasmar Embassy 45 pocket chamber 60 Pocket Size Table 61 Port of Wrawn 42 propulsion jet 50 pruthastan 117 radiation sickness 13 ravvle 118 ravvle pod 47 reaches of the Engine 31 repulsor jet 49 Sanctuary 49 Shudder 46 speedstar (augmech) 96 spline 119 Stacks 45 strut ooze 120 struts 59 Struts Table 59 Suneko (titanothaur) 121 sunsuit 82 thrust instability 17 Tranquility Port 35 traveling to the Engine 28 Trial by Mending 43 turtle (augmech) 97 vacuum 13 verdant rust 25 Viridian 22 Viridian hazards 23 Vronus 47 weaver (augmech) 98 wraith 122 Wrawn 39