Stock #37-2649 ® I T N HIS I C SSUE ONTENTS From Earth-rooted tales of the maybe-today to far-flung, impossible space opera, moving from world to world has FROM THE EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 been a staple of science fiction for nearly a century. In this Pyramid, we focus our sensor arrays on all things related THE FAST REACH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 to world-hopping: how to get to other planets, what to do by Matt Riggsby when you get there, and interesting places for interplanetary explorers to visit. MAP OF THE FAST REACH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 In some settings, the most efficient way to get from point PRINTABLE MAP OF THE FAST REACH. . . . 10 A to Point B is to go through The Fast Reach; it may not be the safestway, but it’s always interesting.Matt Riggsby – the A SONG OF MANY WORLDS . . . . . . . . . . . 11 explorer who delivered delights found within GURPS by Christopher R. Rice Fantasy-Tech 1: The Edge of Reality – describes a curious cluster of 11 star systems that connect more civilized regions. EIDETIC MEMORY: GENERATION SHIPS. . . 20 This article, suitable for any starfaring setting, includes both by David L. Pulver full-color and printer-friendly maps for this cluster of worlds. Sometimes the intelligent life that explorers encounter HYPERJUMPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 doesn’t live on the planet – it isthe planet. With A Song of Many by Jason “PK” Levine Worlds, you’ll know the GURPS stats for living planets, new plant-centered psionic abilities (built off the foundation of THE TIME PUNCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 GURPS Psionic Powers), and a GURPS template for some- by J. Edward Tremlett one who can really commune with nature. RANDOM THOUGHT TABLE: Moving into space is the trip of a lifetime . . . sometimes lit- erally! When interplanetary voyages take more than a few SAFE LANDINGS!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 decades, you need to rely on Generation Ships. In the latest by Steven Marsh, PyramidEditor installment of Eidetic Memory from David L. Pulver, you’ll get tips for dealing with social and physiological issues, ideas for campaign usage, and guidelines and new GURPS Spaceships ODDS AND ENDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 rules rom the designer himself for creating generation ships, featuring Murphy’s Rules including an example vessel. ABOUT GURPS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 When faster-than-light abilities exist in a setting, Hyperjumping might be the best way to represent it. GURPS Assistant Line Editor (and intergalactic scholar) Jason “PK” Levine suggests ways for expanding the Hyperjump-limited Article Colors version of the Warp advantage. Now you have more FTL options than ever! Each article is color-coded to help you find your Planet-hopping might not mean traveling around the uni- favorite sections. verse but visiting parallel Earths. Discover the malfunctioning cross-temporal marvel known as The Time Punch in this sys- Pale Blue:In This Issue temless campaign framework perfect for GURPS Atomic Brown:In Every Issue (letters, humor, editorial, etc.) Horroror GURPS Infinite Worlds. Dark Blue:GURPSFeatures This issue’s Random Thought Table explores what makes safe landings on planets possible, while Odds and Ends offers Purple: SystemlessFeatures another method for safely going to other worlds and a COVER ART INTERIOR ART Murphy’s Rules that’s not “ordinary.” Whether you’re step- ping through warpgates, firing up FTL drives, or boldly going Vincent DiFate Greg Hyland where none have before, this month’s Pyramid should give Matt Riggsby you planet-sized possibilities! Editor-in-Chief (cid:1)STEVE JACKSON Art Director (cid:1)SAMUEL MITSCHKE Chief Operating Officer (cid:1)PHILIP REED e23 Manager (cid:1)STEVEN MARSH Assistant Art Director (cid:1) Director of Sales (cid:1)ROSS JEPSON GURPSLine Editor (cid:1)SEAN PUNCH BRIDGET WESTERMAN Page Design (cid:1)PHIL REEDand Assistant GURPS Line Editor(cid:1) Production Artist (cid:1)NIKOLA VRTIS JUSTIN DE WITT JASON “PK” LEVINE Prepress Checker (cid:1)NIKOLA VRTIS P M 2 N 2012 YRAMID AGAZINE OVEMBER F ROM THE E DITOR A W I , credulity to suddenly reveal that 90% of the population is a ORLD OF DEAS robot. However, this isn’t a limitation in a multi-planet cam- A-WHIRL’D OF IDEAS? paign; why can’tnearly all the citizens of this never-before-vis- ited city be androids? One of the great things about a world-hopping campaign is It is in this spirit of never-ending adventure that we present that it’s feasible to do just about anything from installment to this issue of Pyramid. Whether you’re seeking new ways to installment. Whether it’s a seemingly endless parade of varied move across space and time to visit someplace new, or discov- civilizations (like Star Trekor Star Wars), or a tightly clustered ering unusual entities with abilities far different from human- set of mostly or fully defined planets (like Fading Sunsor the ity, or uncovering the secrets of a new part of space, this issue Fireflyuniverse), the potential for adventure erupts with each should have something to add to your campaign. new destination. In this way, multi-world campaigns almost have an embar- W H , W N rassment of riches. After all, it’s certainly possible to fill a life- RITE ERE RITE OW time of adventures on one world; that’s what every one of us is Did you enjoy our visit to strange new worlds? Or should doing right now. And it’s equally possible to set an immensely we stay closer to home next time? Let us know privately satisfying campaign that centers around one city or even space what you thought about our interplanetary voyages, at station. However, when designing on a smaller scale, there’s [email protected]. Alternatively, you can share always a sense that you can’t go completely nuts with revela- your thoughts about your extraplanar exploits at tions; after all, if the adventure centers on one city, it stretches forums.sjgames.com. Additional Material: Scott Paul Maykrantz Pyramid, GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. e23 and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. Pyramidis copyright © 2012 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. All rights reserved. Submission of your photos, letters, humor, captions, and marginalia constitutes permission to Steve Jackson Games Incorporated to use them in all media. All such submissions become the property of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated and will not be returned. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this material via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors’ rights is appreciated. P M 3 N 2012 YRAMID AGAZINE OVEMBER T F HE AST R EACH M R BY ATT IGGSBY In a universe full of distant civilizations, one region offers rel- consumer goods. Clothing, for example, appears to have been atively rapid but difficult and dangerous travel between them: purely utilitarian and only worn in extreme climates. Even so, the Fast Reach. The Fast Reach is a desolate area of space that they also performed much of the terraforming that has made just happens to provide the most direct path between a variety some Reach worlds inhabitable. This suggests some of their of more densely populated regions full of more hospitable technology was paradoxically high. worlds. The Reach itself consists of a series of barely inhabitable For the next several millennia, the Reach saw little traffic, star systems tracing out paths where each hop is near the prac- though some evidence hints at as-yet-unidentified visitors. The tical limit of FTL travel. The worlds themselves are largely past thousand years have hosted renewed activity. Breakaway resource-poor and provide little but stepping stones between factions from the Sarrat empire (p. 7), expeditions from the true destinations. However, they occupy important strategic Dacsi region (pp. 8-9), native civilizations from Ngapa (p. 6) locations. For exploration, trade, or warfare, adventurers must and Patek (p. 6), and migrations out of the Sparse Rim (p.7) start from their home system and make their way across the sys- all flourished temporarily on various worlds. Most left small tems of the Fast Reach . . . one at a time. footholds at best. A map of the Fast Reach region is on p. 9. Currently, the Fast Reach remains sparsely populated. Hab- itable planets are, indeed, inhabited, but none currently serve as extensions of larger interstellar nations. Even so, that situation could easily change. Unlike many earlier periods of the Fast Zen: The freighter’s present course will Reach, the region has multiple active civilizations surrounding take it into Zone Nine in four hours at it. Now that there’s somewhere to go at each end, the Fast Reach is becoming a strategic conduit, not just a barren curiosity. present speed. Blake: Where in Zone Nine? S YSTEMS OF Zen: The freighter is on course for the F R THE AST EACH only habitable planet in Zone Nine. Though other uninhabited and generally uninhabitable sys- –Blakes 7#2.4 tems are contained within the boundaries of the region, the Fast Reach is generally thought of as consisting of 11 systems. They can be divided into two arms: the longer Sarrat arm, leading from Kashta to the Sarrat empire, and the Dacsi arm, HISTORY OF THE REACH spanning from Kashta to Dacsi space. Two short routes also exist from Kashta to Fazza (p. 7) space and to the adventurers’ Clear signs of habitation along the Fast Reach, involving at own home space. least one precursor society, vastly predate the current crop of galactic civilizations. However, “precursor” doesn’t necessarily Littleplain mean “superior.” Archaeological investigation suggests that the Reach was initially plotted out and the first permanent Littleplain is the step between the adventurers’ home space bases placed by civilizations with somewhat lowertechnology and the Fast Reach. The planet is small, cold, and dry, essen- than current standards. tially Mars-like but with more heavy metals; prospecting for The earliest visitors to the Fast Reach were the Chantaur, and mining the many small deposits is the planet’s main indus- who were present in the region from 12,000 to 15,000 years try. The atmosphere is not quite dense enough to breathe ago. They laid down the Old Foothold stations (p. 6) that form unaided, but inexpensive pressure masks fill that particular vital links along the Fast Reach. They also left traces of occu- gap. Miners are supported by a network of small industrial pation on many of the Fast Reach worlds. Most of their settle- towns providing equipment sales and maintenance, medical ments indicate that the Chantaur were comfortable living with facilities, recreation, and sales-brokering. Littleplain’s shipping a relatively low material standard of living, using sparse infor- operations have recently been enlarged to support increasing mation networks and little in the way of what might be called traffic into the Reach. However, it remains largely a backwater. P M 4 N 2012 YRAMID AGAZINE OVEMBER Its most notable attribute is that it’s the last system associated many species. Additionally, a wide variety of sea life produce with the adventurers’ own civilization before Kashta and the complicated organic molecules whose effects are still being Reach proper. studied. Some have clear medicinal uses, while others are candidates for various industrial applications (high-tempera- Heval’s Step ture lubricants, fire retardants, etc.). The current residents were a tentative colony set up by Heval’s Step, named after an obscure culture hero of the Kashta about 250 years ago. After a century, Grufeld became Fazza, resembles Littleplain, save for higher temperatures, a independent in a violent conflict, setting up a contentious bit more water, and a lack of useful minerals. Like Littleplain, republic. Since then, relations have settled, though they’re not it’s also a gateway to the Fast Reach. It is home to a number of entirely warm. Kashta espionage on Grufeld is an open secret, Fazza monasteries, small industrial settlements, and a military though the old homeworld appears more inclined to cultivate garrison. It doesn’t have anything remotely resembling the local governments that are favorable to it than to attempt to force necessary to take and hold any other systems of the retake Grufeld by force. Reach, but it does provide a strong defensive position at the edges of Fazza space and signal that the Fazza are taking a military interest in the region. The Fast Reach Kashta and Your Campaign Kashta is the hub of the Fast Reach, and it’s one of the more hospitable worlds along the way. Air pressure and The Fast Reach is designed so that it can be used as a set- composition, gravity, and other aspects are well within ting in itself or tacked on to an existing science-fiction cam- inhabitable norms. It has very little in the way of topog- paign. A great deal, therefore, is left rather vague. The setting raphy, though. Shallow seas cover over 90% of the parameters assume that FTL travel is available but the range planet’s surface, and much of the remainder is made up of FTL trips is in some way limited. This can be because of fuel of a series of low archipelagoes in the southern hemi- requirements (travel from system to system require a big gas sphere, which are prone to flooding during severe tank), navigational issues (travel within the Reach becomes storms. The highest point on the planet is a mere 300 dangerous or unpredictable after a certain distance), or phys- meters above sea level. ical limitations of the environment (the systems of the Reach At the moment, Kashta is occupied by a mixed popu- contain the only known jump gates or similar points in the lation of heretical (and relatively pacifistic) Fazza, mem- region), as is most appropriate to an existing setting or the bers of the adventurers’ civilization and a handful of details of the GM’s favorite FTL drive. others living under the authority of an oligarchy of a Adventurers are assumed to come from a “home” area, dozen or so members which controls shipping through left unspecified save for its location relative to the Fast the system. They make their money on tariffs, brokerage Reach. For an existing campaign, this is probably the region fees for facilitating transactions, and maintenance and in which the campaign to date has occurred. other services to travelers. The oligarchs style themselves Tech levels are mostly unspecified. In GURPSterms, any- as a paternalistic benevolent dictatorship. Indeed, they’re thing below TL9 as the base TL for civilizations around the practically local media stars themselves. Vocal dissent is Reach is difficult to justify, simply because space travel is kept to a minimum, because the leaders make a great common in this setting. Nonetheless, a very low-tech planet- show of providing charity and civil services. For exam- hopping campaign might be based on TL8 spaceships with ple, police and other emergency services incorporate the FTL. Tech levels 9 and 10 are best for most Fast Reach cam- personal crests of the oligarchs who sponsor them. paigns, since they leave room for advanced areas of technol- ogy held by various civilizations around the Reach. Grufeld Grufeld is typical of the sort of partly inhabitable world commonly found along the Reach. The atmosphere Circu I is a bit thin and has a touch more carbon dioxide than most people might prefer, but it’s breathable without special gear. Circu I is an Old Foothold (p. 6) system. Though it shows However, it’s extremely close to its primary star, which, despite signs of visitation by the Reach’s various civilizations, it is cur- being a red dwarf, is still near enough to make it uncomfort- rently home to a sizable collection of Dacsi settlements. Some ably warm over most of the surface. Below the polar regions, are Ascendist research facilities, which are centered around a Grufeld is too hot for long-term survival. The poles, though still monastic colony of about 5,000 devoted to service to travelers quite warm, are livable. The south polar region is entirely as part of their missionary activity. All visitors are welcomed underwater, but about a third of the inhabitable region of the enthusiastically and provided such maintenance and medical north (two million square miles out of a total of six million) is aid as they require at the cost of constant, though friendly ser- solid ground. monizing. However, research areas are kept quietly off-limits. Grufeld shows signs of occupation by early Dacsi and For the past 40 years, Circu I has also been home to an iso- Chantaur. Notably, evidence points to the Chantaur modify- lationist breakaway Sarrat group. They occupy a series of ing Grufeld’s ecosystem to make it more suitable for organi- asteroids outside the system’s nominal habitable zone and cally productive ends. Despite the small habitable zone, it have been constructing orbital habitats for what looks to be produces a number of hardy yet high-yielding crops edible by permanent occupancy. P M 5 N 2012 YRAMID AGAZINE OVEMBER Ngapa military presence. Gittev is probably the most terraformed planet in the Fast Reach. Analysis has determined that its Ngapa is one of two planets in the Fast Reach known to atmosphere was created by the Chantaur, mainly using ice have developed indigenous intelligent life. It used to be the asteroid bombardment and bioengineering to free up oxygen. most hospitable planet in the Fast Reach, but not any more. Its The atmosphere is eminently breathable, but the Chantaur mineral resources were thoroughly depleted, and the environ- withdrew before completely establishing a biosphere. When ment damaged by toxic waste and indiscriminate exploitation. first visited by other civilizations, the oceans contained a Most of the planet was finally devastated by a nuclear and bio- number of microorganisms resembling algae, yeast, and bac- logical war that destroyed Ngapa civilization about 600 years teria. However, there was no multi-cellular life, nor was there ago. Most population centers were destroyed outright, and a significant presence of life on land. Without organic mate- most of the survivors didn’t last much longer. Only a few rial in the soil, the surface was sand and dust, hostile to remote corners of the planet retained meaningful populations. almost all plant life. The planet has undergone a slow recovery since then. Most The Sarrat have, over the past several centuries, strived to of the radiation has faded and toxic chemicals have been dis- continue the work of the Chantaur. They have imported large persed and absorbed. However, disruption to the ecosystem quantities of biomass to mix into the dust, and found plants that has been tremendous. The Ngapa maintain a tenuous TL5, can grow in poor soil. The Sarrat bases are surrounded by areas using metals recovered from destroyed cities and driven by of cultivated fields and orchards. These are ringed by regions of biofuels. These, in turn, are derived from none-too-abundant deep-rooted plants that can survive on a minimum of organic crops. In recent decades, the Sarrat have established a pres- nutrients. Beyond the Sarrat enclaves, the planet is barren. ence on the planet, nominally to assist and educate the Ngapa, making the system something of a client state. Many believe Tunlun that the Sarrat are also there to establish a buffer against pos- sible Dacsi expansion. However, the only sign of the Dacsi is a Tunlun is an Old Foothold system, containing a Dacsi set- small presence of Ascendists performing similar relief work. tlement. Ascendist researchers mix with more secular mer- chants and tradesmen, as well as token Kashta and Fazza presences. Since parts of the Foothold were damaged some time ago by meteors, settlements are clustered Old Footholds together in a single tunnel network. So far, residents have coexisted peacefully. When first exploring the region, the Chantaur found sys- tems with few planets, none in comfortably habitable zones Patek or suitable for terraforming. These made gaps in paths across the Fast Reach, so the Chantaur created artificial Patek is another world that produced intelligent life. On bases in relatively hospitable orbits, where solar energy is Patek, though, intelligent life developed in the oceans and plentiful and it’s not too difficult to keep habitats at a com- rarely leaves them behind. The natives of Patek, who resem- fortable temperature. The Old Footholds, as they’ve come to ble sea turtles with hand-like flippers, are technically be called, were apparently constructed by collecting debris amphibious but spend most of their time in the water. Their already in such systems and bringing it together in a large technology is unusual, relying on biotechnology and closed- lump. Each is a flattened spheroid six or seven miles across, container chemistry (TL1+5 with tailored organisms for with a metallic and rocky shell filled with ice. They were orig- materials and many powered applications). inally constructed with a variety of tunnel networks (the Though the temperature and atmosphere are generally Chantaur appear to have been tall, but not giants), bays for hospitable, Patek has high levels of chemicals toxic to many spacecraft, and remarkably efficient but simply constructed species in its soil, which makes agriculture by off-worlders solar arrays. Unfortunately, most of the arrays no longer exceedingly difficult. Much of its native life is also venomous function. Though not habitable without additional life sup- or toxic to non-native species, so even a casual visit is risky. port, they provide many of the basics: water, living space, The presence of off-worlders is limited to a small safe refuge from solar storms, and docking facilities. Ascendist contingent and a handful of Fazza. The Patek are aware of the alien habitations, particularly since Ascendist engineers are very interested in their technology. However, it’s unclear how the natives feel about off-worlders occupying Circu II the unused parts of their world. Circu II wasan Old Foothold system. However, it suffered Tanaya a massive disaster about 500 years ago. Signs point to a poorly explained event at an Ascendist research facility blowing the Tanaya is in some ways the opposite of Grufeld (p.5). Foothold apart. The system is now home to a small Sarrat Instead of having habitable poles and uninhabitable equator, presence. The Sarrat have attempted partial reassembly of the Tanaya’s equator is habitable while most of the planet is artificial planetoid, but full restoration is expected to take deeply glaciated. This world shows signs of Chantaur modifi- much generations. cation. The more subtle change was adding greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere to warm it to the point of marginal Gittev habitability. The less subtle one was populating it. The planet contains a colony of Ngapa, taken from their home planet Gittev is the gateway to Sarrat space. It is home to a Sarrat and placed there during Ngapa’s prehistory for reasons that base with extensive ground and orbital facilities and a large are not yet understood. P M 6 N 2012 YRAMID AGAZINE OVEMBER These Ngapa never reached the technological level of their This has produced a remarkably large and, over the long distant cousins. Even now, the most sophisticated of them term, stable society. However, the system has some odd, even hail from stone-walled, iron-using city-states (early TL2). The alarming, quirks. The decentralized AI network is a collection Dacsi have a presence here and are observing the Ngapa, but of nodes that share the same general programming but have a there has so far been no concerted move toward reuniting significant amount of autonomy. As a result, they sometimes them with their homeworld. Some research facilities are develop divergent goals and policies. This results in conflict here, and the system’s orbital facilities for servicing space- among them, issuing contradictory orders or trying to requisi- ships are particularly well-developed. Three different Dacsi tion the same resources. Typically, this leads to a bit of local- worlds can be reached from Tanaya, and from there, the ized confusion as human agents try to work out what’s going denser core of Dacsi space. on and various AI nodes attempt to resolve any issues. In extreme cases, this has led to states of affairs indistinguishable F D from civil war, and on rare occasions, AI nodes and their asso- INAL ESTINATIONS ciated populations break away permanently. The system as a Without somewhere interesting to go at the far end, the whole is resilient and supports vast populations, but it can be Fast Reach would be an interstellar curiosity. However, it intermittently very hard on individuals. serves as a conduit between spaces controlled by several differ- One of the hallmarks of the Sarrat is that they frequently ent civilizations. have companions. Officials are rarely without an entourage of 10 or 12 people, and merchant vessels venturing into the Reach Fazza typically carry sizable crews and entire extended families. The Sarrat are known for high-quality cybernetics and The Fazza are an ideologically driven, expansionist confed- large-scale manufacturing. They’re willing to hire out capacity eration, determined to bring together all intelligent life under for the latter, producing large quantities of desired goods their banner. However, they are as content to convert as to cheaply, but refuse to traffic in the former. Successfully smug- rule, and their behavior is moderated by a streak of pragma- gling Sarrat cybernetics and control systems would be a lucra- tism. There’s also considerable internal debate about how to tive goal, but a difficult one, since tracking and alarm apply Fazza codes of moral rectitude (an age-based hierarchy technology is built into it at fundamental levels. Were they ever of respect and authority, harsh physical punishment for to take an interest in military expansion, the Sarrat would be a crimes, restrained sexual behavior) to species with different formidable opponent, but current trends suggest that they modes of reproduction, life cycles, and so on. These dilemmas intend to remain in their current sphere of influence. make it difficult to build a consensus and bring force to bear against new opponents. The Fazza are noted for producing compact, efficient power sources, stealth technology, and Sparse Rim most medical technology. However, they have ide- ological qualms about genetic engineering, retard- The Sparse Rim is a lightly populated region of star systems ing their capabilities in that area. between Dacsi space and the Sarrat empire. It’s a potential alterna- A particularly notable aspect of the Fazza is tive to the Fast Reach for those who want to travel between the two, their proximity to the adventurers’ own civiliza- but much less direct. More importantly, it’s dangerous. The Sparse tion. Though their spheres of influence aren’t Rim is occupied by a number of traditionally warlike systems. quite touching, the Fazza can be reached reason- Though they’ve left no lasting settlements, the systems of the Rim ably easily along a broad front. Both the Fazza have united to expand into the Fast Reach several times through his- and the adventurers’s civilization have access to tory. If that happens again, anyone else traveling through the Reach the Fast Reach through different paths converg- will be in danger. ing on Kashta. Sarrat The Sarrat are a large and technologically advanced inter- Dacsi stellar empire, but they have strong isolationist leanings. They The Dacsi region is home to a cluster of civilizations with make heavy use of AI, cybernetic monitoring, and mind-con- advanced biotechnology. They use it indiscriminately on them- trol technologies to regulate their massive society. On Sarrat selves as well as organisms for industrial use, so it can be diffi- worlds, vast quantities of data are recorded via implants car- cult to tell if the Dacsi are descended from multiple species ried by more than one in 10 Sarrat, including everyone in a swapping genes with one another or a single species that has position of any authority. This data is transmitted to local pro- modified itself into a diverse family. However they got that way, cessing centers, summarized and annotated for transmission Dacsi civilization is made up of a number of politically small to larger processing centers, and so on up a large hierarchy. At federations and independent systems. These nevertheless main- each stage, the mass of data is used to make decisions and tain close ties of language and culture with one another. coordinate actions involving everything from traffic routing to Dacsi civilization is old and has been through several provision of supplies to criminal justice. These decisions are waves of expansion and contraction. The Fast Reach is dot- largely carried out by a mass of human bureaucrats and agents ted with the remnants of Dacsi outposts, many constructed who get their orders via the same cybernetic systems that they by a quasi-religious faction called the Ascendists. The Ascend - use to provide the AI network with data. ists are devoted to “rising to a higher plane of existence.” P M 7 N 2012 YRAMID AGAZINE OVEMBER Though Ascendist thought is quite common throughout the knowledge of far-off civilizations they bring back with them Dacsi region and is pursued through meditation and various might be valuable. forms of ecstatic experience, the “Ascendist engineers” con- However, they need not go so far if they don’t want to. tinue working toward it through scientific means. They espe- Kashta, for example, is a hub of travel and activity where visi- cially seek to develop psionic abilities in individuals and tors and cargo from across the entire Reach and beyond may groups. Their goal is to create a being that can transcend its meet. Merchants who stop may not find prices as favorable physical body and become an entity composed purely of com- (somebody else has already done the difficult part of getting plex energetic states. It’s unclear whether any attempts have goods there), but it might be easier to put together a deal that succeeded, or if the Ascendist engineers’ pursuits are just mys- involves exchanging a Fazza fusion generator for a Dacsi tical mumbo-jumbo. gengineereed drug mule. Alternatively, traders may do short hops between worlds of the Reach, ferrying people and sup- H A plies and encountering adventure along the way as they travel OPPING LONG through what is still a semi-explored frontier. F R What adventurers can’t trade for, they might try to take any- THE AST EACH way. Many state-of-the-art items produced by other civilizations, The topology of the Fast Reach requires that anyone travel- such as stealthed Fazza vessels and Sarrat AI cores, are simply ing along it go from one system to the next in strict order. So not for sale at any price. Instead of purchasing them, adventur- what is one to do in the process? ers can attempt to steal a sample, or gather information on them in hopes of reverse-engineering one themselves, or just selling Exploration that information to the highest bidder back home. If the Reach is a new discovery for the adventurers’ civi- Warfare lization, scouts can be involved in mapping it out. There may be other systems than those listed above, but it’ll take some In times of war, fighting along the Fast Reach becomes a work to figure out the network of systems that can take trav- tough slog from one system to the next. This means long, vul- elers from one end of the Reach to the other with stops for nerable supply lines in the event of general conflict. There’s repairs and resupply along the way. Even when the basic also the need to fight in a variety of environments in order to routes are mapped out, scouts can still explore the uninhab- take and hold ground, from the sparse air of Littleplain to the ited systems, looking for lost Old Footholds, new resource tundra of Tanaya to the tunnels and airless space of the Old planets, and overlooked inhabitable systems in hope of blaz- Footholds. Soldiers also have more reasons than usual to avoid ing new trails across the Reach. weapons of mass destruction. Normally, a few nukes here and Once the Reach has been mapped, there’s work for archae- there on most planets leaves the rest of it in reasonably good ologists. In addition to the obvious historical work to be done, condition. However, because there’s a lot less habitable terri- there may be industrial secrets to tease out. Chantaur arti- tory along most of the Fast Reach, every acre is all the more facts, lost Sarrat AI, abandoned Ascendist research stations, valuable. Anyone who wants to take usable territory must be hidden secrets of the Patek and the Ngapa, and the possibility that much more careful not to destroy what he’s fighting for. of other lost civilizations can provide endless work, and not a little danger. A A BOUT THE UTHOR Trade and Espionage Matt Riggsby started his journey by studying anthropology and archaeology, then moved on to working with computers. In peacetime, the Fast Reach provides a highway between At that point, he branched out into multiple paths including very different civilizations, which means opportunities for working for a large corporation producing medical systems trade and profit. Ambitious travelers can follow the entire and writing for a game company. Life-forms he has encoun- path from one civilization to another to arrive at the source tered along the way include his heavenly spouse, out-of-this- of exotic goods and negotiate with the unusual people they world son, and several primitive canines. find there. This may be arduous and risky, but even just the It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. I’ve outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk cruisers, mind you; I’m talking about the big Corellian ships now. She’s fast enough for you, old man. – Han Solo, in Star Wars: A New Hope P M 8 N 2012 YRAMID AGAZINE OVEMBER M F R AP OF THE AST EACH P M 9 N 2012 YRAMID AGAZINE OVEMBER P M F R RINTABLE AP OF THE AST EACH P M 10 N 2012 YRAMID AGAZINE OVEMBER