Denizens of The - Sector, v0.3

Table of Contents
Introduction 3
The Purpose of this Collection 3
A Note 3
How to Use This Book 4

On the Topic of Lore and Continuity 4
What is the ******** Sector? 4
Part I - Beasts, Critters, and Monsters 6

Abati Ogre 7
Beastfolk 8
Antfolk 8
Boarfolk 8
Bullmen 9
Crowmen 9
Fishmen 10
Wolfmen 10
Blinder Bird 11
Carcinomorph 12
Carrion Grub 13
Chomper 14
Flaysnake 15
Ghoul Bear 16
Glitterwasp 17
Glow Turtle 18
Gorehound 19
Gorehound Alpha 19
Gremlin Bug 20
Grinder Worm 21
Gut Weasel 22
Hanafi Medusa 23
Hand of the Old Fathers 24
Heritor Bug 25
Korian Beetle 26
Koth Hounds 27
Manscorpion 28
Nictomorph 29
Redhorn 30
Red Tree 31
Sarxian Howling Tiger 32
Shock Vine 33
Skewman 34
Skyblessed 35
Suit Chewer 36
Tyrant Spider 37
Whiskered Devil 38
Whiskered Devil Alpha 38
Part II - Droids, Machines, and Synthetics 39

Centaur 40
Civilian Security Bot 41
Companion Bot 42
Culler 43
Dust Drone 44
Fauna 45
Guardian 46
Heavy Warbot 47
Iconomatic 48
Industrial Work Bot 49
Janitor Bot 50
Kami 51
Pretech Death Machine 52
Repair Bot 53
Soldier Bot 54
Sovereign 55
Spider 56
Workbot 57
Zephyr 58
Part III - Shadows and Demons 59

Deceiver 60
Devourer 61
Drudge 62
Eaten God 63
Goblin 64
Heresiarch 65
Lesser Servitor 67
Liber Damnatus 68
1
Manipulatory Manifestation 70
Minion 71
Myrmidon 72
Odalisque 73
Render 74
Shadow Chariot 75
Stellar Phoenix 76
Vigilant 77
2
Introduction
The Purpose of this Collection

Hello.
If you are reading this, then we are well met. I have been a GM for Stars Without Number since
the early days of First Edition. I watched Revised Edition’s first Kickstarter release, and I have seen the
Crawfordian OSR sub-genre bloom into the flower it is today, mostly by games of his own design.
Simply put, I have played SwN for a long time.
I have always felt that the SwN book series needed a good creature compendium; A certain
version of a very popular RPG’s “Monster Manual”. While the creatures provided by Crawford’s own
imagination do wonders for the average campaign, they are too spread out amongst the various books to
be used effectively, at least, not without an extensive library of all the SwN books that exist. In addition, I
have found many homebrew supplements and GM note-sheets that have given a variety of odd, weird,
and wondrous creatures, monsters, and NPC’s. Of these, the best were culled and thrown into the pot, as
well as many works of my own design.
And so, I present to you this small volume, detailing a fraction of the endless multitudes of
renegades, killer robots, alien observers, and other strange and weird horrors that you might throw upon
your witless parties. I hope you enjoy the read, and can get some practical use out of it.
Good Luck, and Happy Gaming,

-Quad

A Note
I do not own the rights to any of the works or art that will be used within this book. Stars Without
Number is the sole property of Kevin Crawford. Any art pieces shown in this book are the sole property
of their respective creators. I am not attempting to infringe upon their intellectual properties for monetary
gain. This PDF may not be sold by myself or any third party.
3
How to Use This Book
On the Topic of Lore and Continuity

This book is intended to be a compendium for some of the creatures that may be found within the
various sectors of the former Terran Mandate, and beyond. It is not an exhaustive guide; To list every
beast, every type of sentient life-form, and every machine within the shattered remnants of the Mandate
would be an impossible task. Rather, this book will focus on the humans, machines, beasts, aliens, etc. of
the ******** Sector, a small snippet of the Mandate’s vast empire, but diverse enough to support a wide
variety of horrors.
Every single entry will be accompanied by at least a small snippet of lore, intended to give you,
the reader, a bit of description and background context to make the implementation of the NPC or
monster that much easier. I have tried to keep these lore entries as close to the “feel” of SwN as possible,
but feel free to change or ignore anything that may not work for you; It is your game, after all.
What is the ******** Sector?

The ******** Sector is not, technically, a sector at all, at least it would not have been in the eyes
of the Mandate’s bureaucrats. Rather, it is a loose aggregation of closely-set sectors, whose borders have
been blurred by a lucky configuration of neighboring border stars that allow for the “easy” passage of
specialized ships from one sector to the other.
The sheer size of space that exists within the ******** Sector makes creating an accurate star
chart difficult. This is made all the harder by the general disconnect of the separate systems within the
Sector, however a handful of far scouts have placed a tentative number of seventy star systems within the
Sector, spread out over four individual sectors. These are henceforth referred to as “sub-sectors”.
Most of the civilized systems are aware that they are within this aggregate, but the sheer amount
of space that links the sub-sectors together makes traveling outside of them available to only the most
advanced postech drives, or the rare pretech drive. As such, most worlds conduct their business as if their
sector was the only sector in human space; Small, localized trade is conducted, regional and
world-specific currencies are established and kept, small empires rise and fall, and so on. It is only the
adventurers and far traders that ever venture between the sub-sectors.
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It is exactly because of this lack of travelers that makes travel within the entirety of the Sector
dangerous, difficult, and time-consuming, as rutters are formed and are jealously hoarded, pirates lie in
wait at jump points, and rogue meta-dimensional entities threaten to throw ships off course. Even after
this set of dangers, most find the array of exotic landscapes, strange cultures, and petty space empires
baffling and off-putting. Still, the rumored treasure troves of four sub-sectors’ worth of as-of-yet
undiscovered lostworlds, alien citadels, and remote Mandate ruins are considered by many to be well
worth the risk.
(Of course, this is my interpretation of the ******** Sector, having used this for my campaign settings.
You needn’t use this yourself, and may come up with your own interpretation or simply ignore it
entirely.)
5
Part I - Beasts, Critters, and Monsters
The Flora and Fauna of the ******** Sector
The ******** Sector is home to a dizzying variety of strange and wondrous creatures that can be
encountered by explorers on their adventures throughout the stars. In most cases, an entry will describe a
typical individual of the creature in question, which will be the most common variety of creature
encountered by PC’s. As a GM, feel free to modify these entries as you see fit to better fit your game and
the worlds within.
6
Abati Ogre
HD AC Atk. Damage Move Morale Skills Saves Book Found
4 17 6 1d8 (Horn) 10m 9 - 13+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
Massive, brutish creatures of tough, wire-like hair and insensate plates of bone, the “ogres” of the
swamp-world of Abat are often found in small familial groups. They bear a crude resemblance to
two-meter-tall gorillas with wide hooves in place of fingers and a broad assortment of swamp flora
growing in their black, wiry fur. The males duel each other and defend their troupe with the large, curved
horns jutting from their foreheads.
Abati ogres are violently territorial carnivores and will attack humans that venture into “their” parts of the
swamp. A lone ogre is likely a rogue cast out by their old troupe, and they will sometimes stalk parties of
human explorers until an ambush opportunity arises.
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Beastfolk
On the frontier world of Kavati, cultural preferences saw the human colonists subject themselves to a
regime of genetic modifications, slowly turning the inhabitants into bipedal, human-animal hybrids.
While the Kavatians retained their human intellect, their bodies were forever warped, and their behaviors
were influenced by the instincts of the animals they chose to embody. This feral instinct, combined with
their ability to pass their genetic condition to their offspring, meant that society soon splintered into
various tribes that split along the lines of their species. The following describes some of the most common
types of beastfolk:
Antfolk
1 13/Armor 1 1d4 (Bite) 10m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Bipedal, insectile hybrids with chitinous skin, antfolk are overwhelmingly female in number, quick to
reproduce, and organized in a strict caste system. Workers perform labor for the good of the nest, warriors
defend it from outsiders, and the male drones exist to serve the queen. Antfolk are tough, united in their
purpose, and renowned for their ability to overwhelm their foes by sheer strength of numbers and
relentless ferocity. Instinct often overwhelms their higher reasoning, however, and the compulsion to
grow the nest, gather resources, and destroy threats often outweighs longer-term considerations.
If a queen dies, unhatched antfolk eggs have a chance of producing one or more princesses, each of whom
will form cliques of followers that will eventually battle out to a resolution. A few antfolk find themselves
without a nest due to disaster, mischance, or the death of their clique’s princess. These wretched survivors
are forced to negotiate a world most find to be unbearably lonely.
Antfolk have a remarkably acute sense of smell capable of discerning their surroundings out to 10 meters
well enough to fight and act without penalty. Antfolk can also track other creatures with a
Wisdom/Survive check against difficulty 6, +1 for each 12 hours since the trail was laid down.
Boarfolk
1+1 10/Armor 1 1d6 (Gore) 10m 9 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Bred from wild boar, this variant of beastfolk is notorious for their aggression and violent nature. Their
short tempers, as well as their tendency to overreact to even the smallest slights, makes peaceful
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coexistence with their neighbors practically impossible. Some boarmen have attempted to rein in their
violent nature with religious and philosophical teachings, but most are content with their behavior. Tribes
of boarmen will fight each other as easily as with other tribes, but boarmen are usually better at navigating
the extremely delicate subtleties of negotiation with their own kind.
Boarmen can fight on for one round after being dropped to zero hit points or lower. Reducing them to -10
HP or lower kills them instantly.
Bullmen
2 10/Armor 2 1d6+2 (Gore) 10m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Characterized by their great size and fearsome horns, bullfolk usually have a very peaceful demeanor,
both with themselves and outsiders. Some are devout believers in variant forms of Hinduism or other
native religious beliefs, and most are strict vegetarians. Bullfolk communities are usually clustered in
herds and are led by the oldest, wisest member.
Despite their peaceful nature, however, bullfolk that are provoked beyond their limits are capable of a
blinding, ferocious rage that can give pause to even the hardiest of warriors. Even their cows stand at
around two meters tall, and the bulls are usually 30-40 cm taller.
Bullmen have a natural Gore attack doing 1d6+2 damage, given their size and strength.
Crowmen
1 10/Armor 1 Weapon 10m, 15m fly 7 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Often characterized as scavengers and looters, crowfolk are often pale-skinned and covered in black
feathers. Some have wings tipped with humanoid hands, while others have feathered wings sprouting
from their backs. Crowfolk constantly squabble and fight amongst themselves, only uniting to plunder
and raid other communities, both for food and ornamentation for their nest-dwellings.
Crowmen are notoriously treacherous, but some individuals have learned how to enact wary alliances
with them for the air support that their warriors can provide. These alliances are inevitably short-lived, as
the crowfolk are constantly searching for weakness and valuable plunder amongst their newfound
“friends”.
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Crowmen can fly, but the focus required prevents them from making effective attacks while in the air.
They are unable to hover, and must fly at least half their movement rate each round if they are not to fall.
Crowmen cannot fly while encumbered or wearing advanced, pressure-sealed armor.
Fishmen
1 10/Armor 1 Weapon 10m, 15m swim 7 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Often described as cold and distant, fishfolk are considered the most alien of all of the beastfolk, hesitant
to communicate with any outsiders and exclusively socializing within their large, school-like tribes. When
they do come on to land, they raid coastal settlements, seeing their actions as no more destructive as when
land-dwellers harvest fish from the sea. Their inability to maintain advanced equipment or even work
metal underwater leaves their equipment crude in nature, but some tribes are able to keep slaves in
shallow villages that forge equipment for their masters.
Fishmen can function normally both in and out of the water, but require double the normal ration of water
if they are to avoid gaining Thirst. They can drink salt water without harm, however, are immune to
normal ranges of cold and underwater pressure, and can sense their surroundings up to 10 meters away
when underwater even if deprived of light.
Wolfmen
2 10/Armor 2 1d6+2 (Bite) 10m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Lean and sharp-toothed bipeds, wolfmen tribes are described as small packs of highly-disciplined
individuals. Instincts of submission and dominance are hardwired into their psychology, and the alpha
male chieftain can rest assured of the rigid obedience of their subordinates until he is successfully
challenged. Multiple packs can sometimes form into loose groups, but these alliances are fractious at best
and often shatter when their leader is killed.
Most wolfmen have a natural Bite attack doing 1d6+2 damage and an instinctive talent for teamwork in
combat, gaining a +2 bonus to hit in melee when fighting the same target as another wolfman.
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Blinder Bird
1-1 14 1 1d4 (Claw/Bite) 10m fly 7 2 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Feared by the subsistence farmers of Archae, these vicious aerial predators feed on carrion and small
rodents, but the creatures have grown fond of human blood. Silent in flight and skilled at ambush, their
preferred method of hunting is to shadow individuals or small groups of humans and dive-bomb them,
slashing at any exposed skin they can find, particularly faces. Their long, black tongues lick the blood
from their claws in between their dives. While not always lethal, their attacks have left many Archaens
blind or with serious infections from their claws, both of which can be devastating in their TL 1 society.
When attacked by a blinder bird, the character with the best Wisdom/Notice total in a group must beat the
bird’s skill check in an opposed test, or else the group will be surprised by the attack.
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Carcinomorph
7 15 6 1d6 (Claw) 10m 12 1 12+ Cult of the Still Lady
Hideous, sickly creatures bulging with inflamed tumors, ravenous fanged maws, and tentacles dripping
with saliva and pus, carcinomorphs are dangerous mutants that are often created by feral biopsions.
Carcinomorphs vary in size, shape, and genetic makeup, but they all are defined by the clouds of
infectious carcinogenic particles that surround them. Extremely dangerous in confined spaces, these viral
spores will take root in the respiratory systems of any who breathe them in, causing vicious cancers.
Carcinomorphs will consume nearly any type of biological material, and will not perish naturally,
meaning that these creatures are doomed to their wretched existence until terminated.
Any creature that gets within 10 meters of the beast must save versus Physical Effect or become infected
with a cancer-causing viral infestation. The saving throw needs only be made once per combat, and
environmentally-sealed armor holds off the virus. The disease is Toxicity 10, with an Interval of one
week, and a Virulence of 3. At each failed interval, the tumors decrease each of the victim’s physical
attributes by 1d6. If an attribute reaches zero, the victim dies. The cancer’s progress can be halted by
conventional postech medical treatment if enough saving throws are made, but only pretech medical
equipment can restore lost attribute points.
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Carrion Grub
3 15 4 1d8 (Bite) 15m 8 2 14+ Homebrew
Vicious solitary scavengers, carrion grubs are a blanket term applied to a

set of interrelated subspecies of insect that are native to the
swamp-world of Abat. Encased in a thick gray or brown chitin, these
grub-shaped organisms feast on any available biological matter, though
they seem to have a preference for dead, necrotic flesh. They will kill
anyone they perceive as a threat or as easy prey, though they will shy
away from larger groups. They often “hoard” these kills, storing them
and allowing the flesh to rot for a while before they consume them.
Carrion grubs have proved to be a nuisance across the ******** Sector, as unwitting explorers and far
traders have accidentally spread their eggs to nearly every well-traveled world in the sector. They can
grow to be as big as a wild boar if food is plentiful, and their infestations of sewer systems and refuse
dump-sites has made many sanitation workers carry extra light sources and weapons to work with them,
as well as demanding hazard pay in areas afflicted with a “grub problem”. Others, however, hunt the
grubs for their chitin, which can be worked enough to create suitable replacements for woven body armor
if harvested in abundance.
Carrion grubs suffer no penalty to their movement when wading in deep water, though they still move at
half their normal movement when swimming. In addition, they can climb walls and ceilings as if they
were flat ground, even resting on them without falling.
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Chomper
1 HP 14 1 1d2 (Bite) 10m, 1m burrow 7 1 15+ Homebrew
In the Belt, the vast majority of the bonded asteroid miners and corporate scrip-servants will never see a
plant or an animal in their entire lives, instead laboring away within the rocks of the Belt or in the
hollowed halls of Meteroid itself. The closest that most will ever come is an encounter with a chomper, an
encounter that any native Belter will sincerely hope never happens.
Believed to be the only surviving fauna from the apocalyptic event that created the Belt, a chomper is
little more than a large, ball-shaped body containing a set of small, beady eyes and a wide, fanged mouth,
supported on four thin legs. Not much bigger than a Chihuahua, chompers do little direct harm to humans,
and are not interested in attacking them unless they pose a direct threat to their nests. However, what
makes a chomper dangerous is their diet: Namely, unprocessed ores, refined metals, and specific types of
granite. This, combined with their unparalleled talent for digging and the Belt’s reputation as an asteroid
mining center, makes the chompers profit sinks at best, and depressurization risks at worst.
While chompers will rarely seek out humans, they will happily eat any metal weapons, armor, equipment,
or visible cyberware that the PC’s may be carrying, choosing to lash out at a piece of metal-rich
equipment in place of their normal attack. The GM has the final say on how long a piece of equipment
can survive such damage, but the Condition table from Other Dust is recommended.
14
Flaysnake
3 13 4 1d6 (Bite) 10m 8 2 14+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Sick, twisted creations of gengineering cults, flaysnakes are man-sized rattlesnakes that are modified in
such a way that they are unable to form scales, leaving the snake’s musculature and tissues exposed to the
elements. Kept alive by a reinforced cell structure that allows the creature to survive without its skin, the
creature is nonetheless kept in a state of constant agony by its condition, reinforced by further torment
from their masters in order to create a savage attack beast.
The fangs of the flaysnake contain a potent poison: Toxicity 8, Interval 2 rounds, Virulence 3. For each
failed saving throw, a man-sized victim suffers 1d6 damage to their Constitution. A victim reduced to 0
Constitution dies, and lost points are recovered at the rate of 1d4 per day of rest.
15
Ghoul Bear
4 15 6x2 1d8 (Claw) 10m 9 2 13+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
The ghoul bear is a vicious, loathsome creature that resembles a traditional ursine, roughly the size of a
North American black bear, but their heads greatly resemble those of human men or women. They have
an almost human degree of intelligence, though their only form of communication is to mimic the sounds
they have heard in their environment; As ghoul bears are carnivorous creatures, these sounds often consist
of the vocalizations of their victims. They will use these vocalizations to hunt, prowling around isolated
communities, calling out with the voices of dead men and women.
The cries of a ghoul bear are laced with natural subsonics that create a dazed torpor in their victims. Every
creature within 10 meters of the ghoul bear must pass a Mental Save or be considered Dazed for their next
turn. As all ghoul bears are deaf, they are immune to their own effects.
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Glitterwasp
2-2 15 8 1d6 (Sting) 15m fly 10 - 15+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
One of the more dreaded denizens of the crystalline peaks of the planet Ptah, glitterwasps resemble their
narrow-bodied Terran namesakes, save for the fact that each one is the size of a small dog and their
tissues are as transparent as the crystal quartz of the surrounding mountains. They are invariably found in
small swarms, hunting for flesh to bring back to their hives, where scores of them can be found tending
the needs of a bloated, diamond-faceted queen.
The fauna of Ptah is crystalline in nature, and so the pneumatically-powered stingers of the glitterwasps
are capable of punching through even the hardest armors to inject their venom. Fortunately, differences in
body chemistry prevent the toxin from having much of an effect on humans, but the physical trauma of
having a ten-centimeter, pick-shaped stinger thrust into a victim can be severe.
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Glow Turtle
Hulking tortoises as tall as a man, glow turtles are solitary creatures that only meet with one another
during their yearly mating season. Otherwise, they are exceedingly foul-tempered creatures that will
attack anything its size or smaller, and it will even threaten larger creatures if threatened. While incapable
of chasing prey over long distances, they can move with surprising speed when necessary. They are
notorious for consuming any organic matter they can find, from carrion to brush plants to unfertile crops.
Glow turtles get their name from a series of beneficial mutations that has left them capable of enduring
enormous levels of radioactivity and nanocontamination; they are effectively immune to poisons and
radioactivity. These toxic substances build up in their shells, however, and cause them to emit a fierce
blue glow of radiation.
Anyone who comes within 30 meters of a glow turtle must pass a Physical save or suffer one point of
Constitution loss as radiation damage, with the check repeated at one-minute intervals.
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Gorehound
It is unclear whether the gorehounds of Mariin are native beasts that have been warped by the desert
world’s harsh environment or simply the descendants of genetically-engineered dogs that had once been
loyal to their masters, having long since turned feral. The canines of the Mandate were of a better genetic
stock than their ancestors, having been made smarter, hardier, and less prone to congenital illnesses.
Gorehounds have a greater degree of intellect than any normal animal, an advantage they use to
devastating effect.
Gorehounds hunt in packs, relentlessly pursuing their prey in long-distance chases until the exhausted
victims drop and are devoured. Some seem to take an almost sadistic pleasure in playing with their prey,
allowing them flashes of false hope before their inevitable, leisurely consumption. A few consent to
become companions to particularly brutal raiders, profiting by the scraps their savage masters discard.
Gorehound Alpha
The leaders of gorehound packs, alphas are even tougher and stronger than their kin, and are blessed with
an intelligence that borders on human, though their non-humanoid bodies can prevent them from fully
realizing their heightened intellect.
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Gremlin Bug
1-1 13 2 1d4 (Bite) 10m 10 - 15+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
“Gremlin Bugs” are one of a class of relic biological maintenance life forms favored by a long-fallen alien
empire. These ovoid, insect-like organisms are roughly fifty centimeters in width and stand twenty
centimeters on their myriad centipede-like legs. They’re equipped with a pair of slender-fingered
manipulating forearms and a hardened pair of mandibles that can chew through most construction
materials within an hour or two.
Gremlin bugs appear to have been originally intended as a kind of biological maintenance system by their
progenitors, programmed from hatching to seek out and repair damage to the silent planetoid-cities of
their makers. In the millennia since, they have progressively evolved to an infestation that can cause
serious damage to human ships and structures if left unchecked. Their near-microscopic eggs are easily
overlooked and hatch sporadically, leaving outbreaks cropping up without warning on contaminated ships
and stations.
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Grinder Worm
5 14 7 1d12 (Bite) 10m, 1m burrow 10 - 15+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
Often compared to a massively overgrown earthworm, a grinder worm is three meters long and is as thick
as a human thigh. Equipped with a caustic, ring-toothed maw, the worm lives underground, and can
burrow through solid rock with ease. Preferring to ambush their prey, a grinder worm will burrow
underneath their prey and burst out from the ground, and even through solid flooring, to feed.
If a grinder worm cannot kill its prey in the first few strikes, it will likely retreat into the hole it has made,
crawling backwards as quickly as it advanced. Areas thick with grinder worms are said to be nearly
hollow, having been cored through with man-high tunnels.
Grinder worms can sense creatures within 20m by the vibrations of their movement. Entities that do not
generate these vibrations for whatever reason are invisible to the creature.
21
Gut Weasel
3 15 6x2 1d6 (Claw) 15m 9 1 14+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Small predators that are most common within the grass-covered lowlands of Erioch, gut weasels are
ferocious animals that are capable of thriving in nearly any environment. Their diamond-hard claws can
easily shred the most hardy of protective gear, and they commonly hunt humans and larger animals to
feast on the nutrients found within organ tissues, which they do not naturally produce. To this end, their
favored method of hunting is to disembowel a victim with their claws, burrowing completely into their
bellies and eating before the victim can even react.
Gut weasels are blindingly fast. When determining initiative for a combat round, they automatically
receive an initiative value of 10. Most gut weasels are found alone, but occasionally a nesting pair can
wreak havoc on an unwary expedition.
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Hanafi Medusa
3 14 6x2 1d6 (Blast) 10m fly 9 - 14+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
The moon of Hanaf is renowned for its incredibly dense and thick atmosphere. The thick soup of gases
are barely capable of sustaining most natural forms of terrestrial life, although the conditions have forced
the evolutionary process to favor creatures such as the Medusa.
The two-meter wide gasbag floats through the lower parts of the atmosphere, ruthlessly sniffing out prey.
Its main method of hunting requires it to siphon some of the atmospheric gases into its body, where
biological processes condense the atoms into sandy, diamond-hard particles. When they detect movement,
the medusa will silently float to within 40 meters of the target before unleashing a high-pressure spray of
these particles from one of its pump-like tentacles, acting like a biological shotgun. The blasts are highly
accurate within a 40 meter range. Once the target has been killed, it descends to the moon’s surface to
absorb its tissues through a mouth orifice located on the bottom of the gasbag.
The particulate cutting matter of a Hanafi medusa is extremely valuable as a cutting reagent in some
industrial processes, and a single medusa can be dissected for up to 1d4x100 credits worth of this grainy
white powder.
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Hand of the Old Fathers
10 14 8x5 1d8 (Tentacle) - 10 - 10+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
The Hand of the Old Fathers is a dreaded peril of the sandy red oxide wastes of Acheron III. This massive
beast lies in wait beneath the crimson sands, only to erupt with five grasping tendrils should any animal
dare come within reach. The tendrils have sharp, naillike beaks at the end of each, and bulbous growths
not unlike the joints of fingers, earning it its local name. The thing can clutch and claw at any target
within 20 meters. If no prey is within reach, the tendrils will withdraw deep underground to the root-node
of the creature.
Detecting a Hand while it lies in wait requires a difficulty 10 Notice check.
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Heritor Bug
1 HP 13 1 1d4 (Bite) 10m 10 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Often found infesting old Mandate ruins, derelict spacecraft, and radioactive pits, heritor bugs are often
described as a form of mutated cockroach. Unlike their smaller, ubiquitous cousins however, heritor bugs
are as long as a grown man’s forearm and have an equally large appetite. Capable of living in the most
radioactive areas on the smallest amounts of available food, they are attracted to any amount of sound or
light.
Any serious blow from a weapon will kill a heritor bug, but they are known to attack in swarms that can
strip the flesh from a man in mere minutes. Their razor-sharp mandibles are small, but they exude an
acidic spittle that often leaves gruesome scars on those that survive their hunger, often considered a rite of
passage for those foolish enough to make a living of exploring such areas.
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Korian Beetle
5 16 7 1d10 (Horn) 10m 9 2 12+ Homebrew
The jungle-world of Koria is characterized by its complete lack of naturally-occurring mammalian life. In
its place, millions of differing insectoid species vie for dominance in the constantly shifting ecology,
while the primitive human tribes try to continually carve out their own niche. One of the most dangerous
predators of the jungle’s surface level is a large, beetle-like insect the size of a horse. Equipped with a
hard carapace and a spiny ram-like horn protruding from its head, the korian beetle will scour the ground
for any form of food it can come across, including other organisms. Its high potential for destruction is
somewhat curtailed by the fact that it travels alone when not mating, but this is little comfort to the
unwary hunter who has become impaled on its pike-sized horn.
Korian beetles are incredibly foul-tempered, but crafty warlords have managed to rear young beetles to
have them serve as fighting mounts in adulthood. A “tamed” beetle can be ridden like a horse, however
the creature tends to get excited in the midst of bloodshed - A difficulty 9 Pilot/Str check is required to
keep the beast under control during such moments, else it tries to throw off its rider and attack everything
in sight.
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Koth Hounds
1 13 2 1d6 (Bite) 15m 10 - 15+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
Developed by the gengineers of Koth Metagenics, these genetically engineered mastiffs are commonly
sold to settlers and colonists to be used as watchdogs and guard hounds for their masters, though certain
mercenary companies buy them in large quantities to serve as attack dogs and service animals.
Branded with the Koth Metagenics logo along their flanks, these animals are renowned for their strong
immune systems, easily trainable demeanors, and their ferocity when attacking threats to their masters.
They can digest almost anything, and are quite nutritious should a colony be required to eat them. Koth
hounds can show sparks of almost sapient intelligence, and occasionally a pack “defects” from an abusive
master to go feral. These feral packs can be significant dangers to unwary travellers.
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Manscorpion
3 15 5x3 1d6 (Pincer/Sting) 10m, 10m climb 9 3 13+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Solitary hunters, the manscorpions of Koria stand almost three meters tall, a four-legged abdomen
tapering into a vicious, poisonous stinger and a man-sized torso armed with two bone-cleaving pincers.
The creature is preceded by its constant chittering, a warning for the brutal death that awaits those that
cannot escape.
Manscorpions prefer to nest in trees, taking advantage of their claws to climb high into the forested
treetops. Lacking in sapience, the creatures are notoriously stealthy hunters, dropping into the midst of a
hunting band to cleave the strongest in two, while trying to sting anyone that runs away. Despite their
preference to hunt alone, manscorpions are communal creatures, and large groups, such as a nomadic
tribe, can often draw an entire nest out of the trees to defend against what appears to be an attack on their
eggs.
Manscorpion toxin is paralytic in nature, with a Toxicity of 10, Interval of 1 round, and Virulence of 1.
For each failed save the victim loses 1d10 points of Dexterity. At Dexterity 0, they are immobile and
helpless. If they survive, lost points return at the rate of 1d4 per day of rest.
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Nictomorph
8 16 10 x 2 1d10 (Tendril) 10m 12 - 11+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
Xenobiologists of the ******** Sector are still unclear over the exact details of the species known as
“nictomorphs”, but many can agree that is is probably related to the gremlin bug and is another example
of alien bioengineering.
The nictomorph itself is a colony creature made up of tens of thousands of tiny, beetle-like entities that
are individually mindless and harmless. Yet under the correct stimuli, these organisms cluster together to
form a vaguely humanoid meta-organism equipped with numerous razor-edged fighting tendrils and an
insatiable urge to kill all other sentients it can find.
The only weakness a nictomorph has is light. They cannot stand light, and will under no circumstances
willingly enter an area lit by daylight. If forced into equivalent radiance, the nictomorph will immediately
collapse back into its constituent organisms and flee. If allowed suitably dim or unlit locations to recover,
however, the creature will return just as vigorous as before. The only way to permanently kill a
nictomorph is to reduce it to zero hit points in some dimly-lit location and then burn the confused
beetle-organisms before they can scuttle away.
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Redhorn
3 14 8x3 1d6 (Claw/Bite) 15m 8 1 14+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
An accidental mutation of Terran-stock cattle, redhorns are thin bovines with sharp horns, fangs, and a
carnivorous appetite. They will attack human-sized or smaller creatures without hesitation if they are
hungry, and they will often try to blend into existing cattle herds, attacking lone ranchers and inciting
their dim-witted cousins to stampede through farms, causing great destruction. Despite this, certain nobles
and well-to-do individuals consider redhorn meat a delicacy, if more for the amount of trouble it takes to
properly keep one than for the bland taste. Because of this, ranches exist specifically for the purposes of
keeping and raising redhorns for slaughter. The death toll of such ranches is not to be underestimated.
Redhorns possess an almost-human intelligence and will conceal their more obvious features to lure prey,
acting and appearing as a normal cow until it is too late. Individuals unfamiliar with the properties of
redhorns may notice these differences by passing a difficulty 10 Notice check, while experienced ranch
hands only require a difficulty 7. Redhorns also possess a gore attack, doing 1d8 damage as they charge
with their horns.
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Red Tree
4 12 5 1d8 (Branch/Spit) - 12 1 13+ Cult of the Still Lady
Another mutated monster created by feral biopsions in the midst of their scorched madness, red trees are
paragons of deformed musculature, bones and skin and flesh taken from the still-living bodies of multiple
people and reworked into tree-like pillars. Branches shaped like fingers, with leaf-sized translucent nails
and tufts of hair jut out at odd angles, with the “trunk” being covered in cancerous moles, tumors, and
nodules of flesh that host vicious, fanged maws that work in concert with their limbs to assault intruders.
The skin of the tree is red and raw, with the original faces of the hosts that became this dread creature
always imprinted somewhere on its surface. Red trees are often created and set in “groves” of their kind,
or placed individually inside primitive societies or maltech cults, where they attempt to “convert” people
into worshipping the biopsion as a god.
Red trees often grow large, globular “fruits” of tender, succulent flesh containing a thin, coppery ichor.
These fruits are highly nutritious to humans, and, despite their origins, are not harmful to humans, though
many consider the consumption of such fruit to be cannibalism, as the fruits contain human DNA. A red
tree can produce one fruit per original host that grew the tree, and a slain corpse of a red tree can provide
up to four days’ food and water per original host, though eating the trunk of a red tree requires careful
cutting to avoid accidentally consuming any cancerous tumors. Creatures that approach are invited by the
tree’s faces to eat of their fruit and flesh, whispering the praises of their creator, blessing them as givers of
life. Despite this, the trees are not sentient, aside from the occasional fit of agonized pleading for help
from one of the original hosts. These periods are brief and quiet, however, and soon the tree returns to its
normal cadence.
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Sarxian Howling Tiger
3 14 4x2 1d6 (Claw/Bite) 15m 8 - 14+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
A denizen of the verdant jungle-world of Sarx, the howling tiger is a vaguely felinoid creature with four
legs, a pelt of intricately patterned green and brown fur, and two pairs of fanged jaws in its muzzle, one
pair above the other. Howling tigers prefer to hunt solitary ranges outside of their mating seasons.
The howling tiger has evolved to use a peculiar vocalization against herds of prey that might be able to
drive it off by cooperative defense. The tiger will leap into the midst of the prey animals and loose a
doubled, howling wail that stimulates the fear centers of a listener’s brain. Any non-howling tiger hearing
this vocalization must pass a Mental Check or flee for 1d4 rounds. A successful save leaves the target
immune to these vocalizations for 24 hours.
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Shock Vine
3 15 10 1d10 (Shock) 10m 12 - 14+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
Common on worlds with large amounts of crystalline structures, shock vines represent a particular genus
of plant that have acquired a low grade of awareness through constant piezoelectric activity, generated
from embedded crystal inclusions. These vines remain stationary for long periods of time, building up the
energy for short bursts of violent movement. They hunt nearby animals for nutrients, killing their prey
with the touch of their electrified fronds. Shock vines tend to migrate away from the sites of their “meals”
after a time before animals become alarmed at the evident deaths in the area.
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Skewman
1 12/Armor 1 Weapon 10m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
No one is quite sure what exactly caused the creation of the skewmen. Biologists and geneticists have a
number of theories, ranging from genetic tampering to radioactive alterations to even nanite-induced
mutation. Regardless of their origin, the skewmen were once human, having been warped into a strange
creature with human intelligence, one that has strangely-jointed limbs and great difficulty in walking
upright, causing them to skitter and scuttle across the ground on all fours, in addition to various cosmetic
alterations.
Skewmen hold a great hatred towards what they call the “upright”, blaming them for their condition,
referring to an evil curse that had been leveled upon them in centuries past. The skewmen have regressed
to a primitive state culturally, though they are more than capable of learning how to use advanced
technology. Such skewmen occasionally steal ships and use their treasures to enslave the upright,
committing gruesome surgical atrocities on these wretched prisoners in order to leave them more like
their captors.
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Skyblessed
1 13 3 Weapon 10m, 20m fly 9 1 15+ Cult of the Still Lady
Another product of feral biopsions, particularly those with a deity complex, skyblessed are humans that
have been warped and mutated to possess the gift of natural flight. Most of them are given membranous
wings and internal structures redesigned for lightness and strength, though a few are made slow,
ponderous dirigible-people capable of carrying far heavier weights. They are often used as scouts and
messengers, delivering the word of their god to those unfortunate enough to cross their path.
Winged skyblessed must move at least half of their movement rate each round or they will plummet from
the sky. They can attack on the wing, but suffer a -2 penalty to the hit roll. Most are equipped with
projectile weapons equal to their native TL or living oblate weaponry.
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Suit Chewer
1-2 15 2 1d4 (Bite) 10m 12 - 14+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
Another biorelic of some lost alien empire, suit chewers appear to be the devolved remains of a biological
smelting system, with the small creatures designed to eat raw ores and secrete refined materials. Suit
chewers usually appear as beetle-like organisms as large as a man’s hand, with a shiny black carapace that
absorbs solar energy. These hardy organisms can survive even on the surface of an airless vacuum world
or in the depths of an asteroid belt.
The chief danger that suit chewers pose is to the vacuum suits of explorers. Every hit by a suit chewer
counts as a tear in a vacuum suit, and must be sealed by the PC or by the suit’s automatic sealant system if
disaster is to be avoided. Suit chewers tend to swarm intruders, craving the rich mineral deposits they and
their suits represent.
36
Tyrant Spider
10 16 10 x 3 1d10 (Claw), 1d12 (Bite) 15m 10 - 10+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
The tyrant spider is an eight meter tall spider-like organism, covered in thick chitin with massive
foreclaws and razor-sharp mandibles. It hunts alone by running down the weak and slow among the packs
of herbivorous organisms that swarm the jungle floor. Despite this, it will happily eviscerate and consume
any other prey that wanders in its path.
The tyrant spider is Koria’s apex predator, utterly fearless and willing to trample and destroy entire tribes
of humans that it can find. It has even been known to attack the vehicles of offworld scouting expeditions,
ripping steel apart to discourage the intruders. They are extremely territorial, and thankfully will keep to
their native range of movement under most circumstances. When a tyrant spider dies, however, it emits a
cloud of distress pheromones that are liable to bring one or more other tyrant spiders to the site within an
hour. These spiders will kill any non-spiders they find before returning to their normal range.
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Whiskered Devil
2 17 3 1d8 (Claw) 5m, swim 15m 8 2 14+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
The scourge of the ocean-world of Limero, whiskered devils resemble Terran walruses with clawed fins
and sharp fangs, with vestigial legs powerful enough to carry their incredibly bulky bodies across the
surface for very short periods of time. Their six-centimeter thick hide is capable of turning projectile
weapons and they can remain submerged for up to an hour before surfacing for air. Whiskered devils are
perpetually hungry, and every fish and landbound creature is just one more morsel to them.
Whiskered Devil Alpha

5 17 7 1d8 (Claw) 5m, swim 15m 8 2 14+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
Some whiskered devils have an intelligence far beyond that of ordinary beasts. These alphas lead their
more feral brethren in attacks on Limero’s floating cities, usually in night ambushes where their slow rate
of land movement isn’t so great a liability.
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Part II - Droids, Machines, and Synthetics
The Robots of the ******** Sector
Within the ******** Sector, there exists a large quantity of robots, made by hundreds of makers across
dozens of star systems. The sheer scale of the ******** Sector, as well as the lack of uniformity within
these various designers, as well as custom designs and hand-made innovations over the last 600 years,
mean that a complete list of every single type of robot would be exhaustive. However, the following list
provides a basic overview of some of the more “common” types of robots.
Note that any weapons carried by robots are the basic form of weapon that that particular type of machine
is usually equipped with, and is usually the standard weapon installed when the bot is purchased. Feel free
to swap out these weapons if you like.
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Centaur
2 18 3 Weapon 10m 12 1 14+ Starvation Cheap
A common form of warbot, a centaur is a four-legged weapon platform that is roughly as tall as a human,
one meter wide, and one and a half meters long. Often equipped with heavy cutters or other support
weapons, they are sent into battle alongside squads to provide heavy firepower, sometimes even replacing
the human support weapon operator in an entirely-robotic army.
The centaur’s advantage is strength and durability. The robot’s chassis can support an energy weapon
with an enormous amount of power for sustained firing, and the heavy cerasteel armor can shrug off hits
that would reduce a human weapon operator to a lump of scorched meat. The size of the centaur is small
enough to fit into most human-scale structures, though stairs and narrow doorways can be awkward for
the bot’s onboard navigation. A centaur is somewhat limited by its physiology, however. Its four legs end
in ruggedized “toes” that can crudely grip and manipulate objects such as doorknobs or container latches,
but the control is not fine enough to handle delicate work, even in the unlikely case that the onboard
expert system would know what to do with it. Even the relatively rare antigrav-equipped centaur usually
has at least one manipulator for clearing obstacles.
A centaur bot is usually equipped with a heavy cutter.
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Civilian Security Bot
1 15 1 1d8 (Stun Baton) 10m 12 1 15+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)
Also referred to as “Security Armatures”, civilian-grade security bots are usually found guarding
locations. Their simple expert systems are not enough to handle complex human interactions, but their
tireless determination is convenient when guarding a place that few humans are expected to enter.
Intruders will usually be warned off before attacking, and any incidents are instantly reported over the
unit’s internal compad. Most models have a stunning touch that non-lethally disables targets, but some
bots are equipped with guns or melee weapons for particularly important areas. If successful in disabling a
target, security bots will normally move the unconscious bodies to a secure holding area and contact their
supervisors or the local authorities.
41
Companion Bot
1 12 0 Unarmed 10m 6 1 15+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)
Perhaps one of the most varied types of bots in the ******** Sector, companion bots are designed to
provide flawless cooperative services to their owners, though the cheaper variants can occasionally grow
boring with only a limited amount of responses. Companion bots are created for a variety of services,
such as nannies, secretaries, assisted-living companions, recreations of dead loved ones, petbots, and even
specially-ordered “companions” for other purposes. The latter are strictly regulated on many worlds,
either to encourage reproduction, to quash their use for reprehensible urges, or out of perceived social
fears of decay and decadence.
42
Culler
4 16 5 Weapons 10m 12 2 13+ Relics of the Lost
Often designed to serve tyrants looking to exact genocide on unwanted classes of people or societies in
desperate need of population control due to limited resources, Cullers cover a broad range of autonomic
expert systems designed to systematically slaughter and render human beings into usable products.
Cullers are humanoid, usually standing taller than a human, with design motifs that range from the
horrific to the beatific, depending on the reason behind their purpose. In both cases, their combat
effectiveness is unchanged, and their purpose is the same: To make some use of the resultant corpse so as
to compensate society for the effort of its maintenance.
Once a Culler has killed or mortally wounded a human, it is programmed to dismember and render the
corpse into a variety of useful chemical compounds and protein extracts equivalent to a
randomly-determined stim or other beneficial compound. Such chemicals have a less stable shelf-life than
a true stim, however, and usually go bad within a week or two.
Culler expert systems obey the principles that defined their choosing of the slain. For tools of autocracy,
they were given specific targets to seek and slaughter, or permitted to simply execute any unauthorized
personnel within a certain area. Others were keyed to “bad” DNA, executing anyone who fit the profile
provided. The cullers that were produced to ease biological loads were usually imprinted with a strictly
random rubric for selecting victims in times of dearth, but it was inevitable that most of these should
eventually have been suborned to selectively neglect persons of authority and power in the society that
built them.
A culler bot is usually equipped with a laser rifle and a monoblade.
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Dust Drone
2+2 16 7 1d8 (Nanobolt) 20m fly 12 2 13+ Mandate Archive (The Dust)
Often the result of mad maltech weapon engineers or pretech nanofabs that have “gone bad”, Dust drones
are swarms of nanites that seek to break down all suitable matter, organic or otherwise, for purposes
befitting their original purpose.
Dust drones take numerous stylized shapes depending on their programming. All of them involve
weapons capable of firing nanite projectiles at a standard range of 200 meters and a maximum of 400.
Close-in combat involves bladed articulators that do the same amount of damage. When successfully
destroyed, Dust drones collapse into a fine, dark haze of burnt-out Dust nanites. Most lack sophisticated
intelligence, but they are capable of flying at a movement rate of 20m and can navigate physical obstacles
to reach prey even without a guiding AI to direct them.
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Fauna
2 14 3 1d8 (Bite) 20m 12 2 14+ Relics of the Lost
These robots were designed to perfectly replicate the appearance of a natural organism, the better to
provide suitable decor for a contained ecosystem or an inconspicuous monitoring platform for an
infiltrator. The majority range in size from a small dog to a horse, with the statistics given above meant
for a bot the size of a large dog.
Fauna are remarkably lifelike in appearance and behavior, though any kind of injury or surgical
inspection will reveal their synthetic nature. Fauna bots can even mimic eating, elimination, and
reproduction, though none of these behaviors are necessary or fruitful for the bot. Their owners usually
value them as simply giving the right “tone” to a bubble habitat’s nature preserve or as an exceptionally
expensive substitute for an ordinary petbot.
Fauna expert systems are usually only concerned with behaving as their apparent animal type would
behave, though even predators will usually avoid violence unless certain behavior limiters are disabled.
They are capable of speech with those who can offer some evidence of being authorized to deal with
them, though their interests and desires are few and artificially feral.
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Guardian
A cut above the common security bot, guardian bots are popular for VIP protection in areas where large
combat bots would be inappropriate. Most of them appear to be human to all but close inspection, with a
design sensibility that falls into either the “scowling wall of meat” category or the “sleek arm candy”
motif. Both models have identical combat utility, though there are persistent rumors of some particularly
isolated owners installing other functionalities into their excessively well-loved protectors.
Guardian bots have augmented reaction speed and a pretech sensory suite, gaining an additional +2 bonus
on all Notice checks and initiative rolls. They can detect toxins, radiation, and hostile nanites in a
ten-meter radius and have an integral stabilization suite that allows them to function as a lazarus patch,
with their skill bonus applying to its use.
Guardian expert systems have two operational modes- “soft”, and “hard”. Soft mode manages
unpredictable social situations and large crowds where the guardian might become confused by a
situation. When in soft mode the guardian will use only non-lethal weapons and maneuvers so as not to
accidentally kill a subject who simply behaved in a way that was interpreted as a threat. When in hard
mode the guardian will shoot to kill and respond instantly to presented threats, even if a more human
intelligence would understand that no true harm was meant. A hearty backslap around such a guardian can
result in automatic laser rifle fire if it fails a check to understand the situation.
A guardian bot is usually equipped with a monoblade, a laser rifle, and a flop rifle.
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Heavy Warbot
6 18 8x2 Weapons 10m 12 3 12+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)
Ogre-sized engines of war, heavy warbots come in many different forms, although humanoid shapes are
the most common. No matter their form, they are capable of mounting Heavy weapons, which they do not
need to brace to fire. Usually used as mobile heavy weapons platforms for squads in the field, heavy
warbots are incredibly lethal enemies.
A heavy warbot is usually equipped with a plasma projector and a Heavy weapon.
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Iconomatic
2 15 2 Weapon 10m 12 2 14+ Relics of the Lost
Certain religions have always prized physical acts of piety, whether in the presentation of religious icons,
the spinning of prayer wheels, the utterance of holy names, or some other act of devotion. Iconomatic bots
cover the broad range of robots designed to fulfill these pious requirements, their spiritual merit accruing
to the person or organization who owns them.
Iconomatics may take the form of mobile self-spinning prayer wheels, ambulating chanters, automated
reliquaries, or walking billboards of holy imagery. Some iconomatics are programmed to provide
religiously significant services in over three thousand different Second Wave religions, depending on
their owners’ preferences. Many religions considered them somewhere between blasphemous and
ridiculous, but others found them more congenial to their faiths.
Iconomatic expert systems can discuss religious topics at length, though mostly by quoting voluminous
passages of holy writ or the writings of sacred instructors. While the more advanced models are quite
capable of expressing beautifully nuanced thoughts on the soul and its place in existence, these exegeses
are drawn from large relational databases and may not be entirely appropriate to the situation at hand.
An iconomatic bot is usually unarmed and pacifistic, but certain martially-minded religions may arm their
devout robots.
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Industrial Work Bot
2 15 0 1d10 (Unarmed) 5m 8 1 14+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)
Often found at work sites, industrial work bots are slow, tough, heavy machines most often used for
lifting and manipulating heavy objects in need of laser welding or other shaping. If reprogrammed,
however, these machines can turn into devastating wall-breakers, crushing their victims under their sheer
mass.
An industrial work bot is usually unarmed, but they usually are built with pneumatic manipulators,
servo-loader arms, laser welders, and other tools that can be lethal if used as a weapon.
49
Janitor Bot
1 14 - - 5m 8 1 15+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)
Ubiquitous, cheap, and reliable, janitor bots can be found in every world capable of creating even the
simplest of expert systems. They are able to clean up detritus and keep an office, street, or private home
tidy. Their small size and limited array of tools make them useless in a fight save as decoys, targets, or
convenient, inconspicuous carriers for explosives.
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Kami
A rare example of advanced pretech that made its way to the frontier sub-sectors of the ******** Sector,
these robots are almost never found outside of Mandate bases, serving as guardians and monitors.
A Kami is not so much a single robotic armature as it is a cloud of nanites coordinated by a head-sized
control core. The core has an effective Armor Class of 20 and can sustain up to 30 points of damage
before being critically damaged. So long as this core remains powered by a facility’s energy grid, the
Kami’s nanite cloud provides perfect surveillance of all areas within several hundred meters of the core.
Within this zone, the Kami can easily create and operate 2d10 drones with the statistics provided above,
fabricating these humanoid drones out of ambient nanites and transmuted atmospheric molecules. The
maximum number of drones a given Kami can create at any one time varies with the sophistication of the
core. Creating a drone requires only one round, while destroyed drones can be rebuilt in one minute.
Kami expert systems are extremely advanced, capable of a degree of intellectual flexibility and nuance
that could easily pass for a human. Unlike true AIs, however, they have no individual will and little or no
creative capacity. They will apply the solutions that have been mapped for them with diligence and
flexibility, but they cannot fabricate new solutions outside the scope of their programming. Only
authorized personnel can provide the Kami with an alternative course of action.
A Kami drone is usually equipped with a monoblade and an inbuilt shear rifle.
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Pretech Death Machine
8 20 8 Weapons 20m 12 2 11+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)
A malevolent killing machine designed for ages past, these machines stand four meters tall, with four
human-scale manipulator arms and two heavy graspers to manipulate obstacles with. When given a round
to brace itself, they can move up to four metric tons, though it can carry no more than five hundred
kilograms.
Constructed from sophisticated pretech materials and advanced expert systems components, it is vastly
superior to any postech machine fielded against it. Thankfully, most have long crumbled to dust in the
centuries that have passed since their creation, but some still exist, waiting patiently to destroy any
intruders who dare to enter a long-lost Mandate base.
A pretech death machine is usually equipped with two monoblades and an anti-vehicle laser.
52
Repair Bot
1 14 0 1d6 (Tool) 10m 8 1 15+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)
Often installed in starships and other areas with complex technology, repair bots are valued additions to
any engineering crew. Tireless and highly efficient, a repair bot is more than capable of handling standard
failures and damage, although the introduction of unrecognized tech or situations outside of their normal
operating parameters can cause the bot to “panic”, with varying effects based on the maker of the bot and
the quality of expert system within.
A repair bot is usually unarmed, but they are given electric welders, laser cutters, drills, and other tools
that can be lethal if used as a weapon.
53
Soldier Bot
2 16 1 Weapon 10m 10 1 14+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)
Also known as “Infantry Warbots” or simply “Warbots”, soldier bots are humanoid robots that are
designed to be compatible with standard human vehicles and equipment. More fragile than centaur bots or
heavy warbots, soldier bots are nevertheless used due to their ability to easily and cheaply replace humans
on the front lines and behind them for simple and repetitive work.
The expert systems of soldier bots are surprisingly advanced for their cost, and are able to maneuver
through a chaotic battlefield with relative ease. Most soldier bots are programmed with a near-human
level of reasoning, and are designed to be used in small, independent squads. However, when a wave
attack is needed, a simple self-preservation toggle can be flipped off and the iron horde can be aimed at a
foe.
A soldier bot is usually equipped with a laser rifle and a monoblade knife, but a soldier bot can use any
human weapon for which their expert system is qualified.
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Sovereign
Heavy military bots designed to serve as equal parts warbot, command nexus, and communications hub,
the Sovereign-class warbot was the most advanced warbot to reach the frontier. They are rarely found
outside the company of dozens of lesser robots, each of whom are linked with the Sovereign as eyes,
hands, and weapon-bearing tools for accomplishing the robot’s ends.
Sovereign armatures are all equipped with sophisticated commlink technology capable of remotely
controlling up to a hundred lesser robots that have been programmed to accept their leadership. Many
ancient military units have automatic fallback fail-safes in their warbots, and an active Sovereign will
often qualify as an acceptable leader in the absence of long-dead human commanders.
Sovereign expert systems are quite sophisticated in military matters, and can take into account human
needs and capabilities when planning campaigns. They even have a limited ability to adjust overall
strategic goals. Most of the remaining Sovereigns remain locked in ancient campaigns of conquest against
foes that no longer exist save in the delusional convictions of these tormented automatons.
A sovereign bot is usually equipped with a shear rifle and a monoblade.
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Spider
Resembling a cross between a scorpion and a spider, a spider bot is specifically designed for assassination
and murder. They move with perfect silence, scrabble up glass-smooth walls without slowing, and are
equipped with an array of vicious weaponry. A spider bot is slightly smaller than an adult human, with
monoblade claws, a shear-rifle “sting”, and tentacular manipulators on either side of its nonexistent
mouth. While it is capable of speech, a spider bot rarely finds any reason to communicate.
Aside from its mobility and stealth skills, Spider bots are built of advanced polycomposites that absorb or
scatter almost all TL4 sensor pings. UV, thermal, radar, and other conventional scanners are useless in
detecting these bots; Only the naked eye has much chance of spotting one in the field. Pretech scanners
have a better chance of picking them up, but even then, the spider’s effective skill bonus in resisting the
scans is treated as +5.
Spider bots are particularly well-suited to hostile environments such as orbital stations or toxic worlds.
Left to their own devices they will do nothing and respond to nothing until an authorized person gives
them a fresh target to pursue. A spider bot has nothing resembling investigative skills, but if given a
photograph and an area to search it can be trusted to tirelessly hunt the zone for its prey. Spider expert
systems do not generally communicate with anyone but authorized personnel.
A spider bot is usually equipped with a shear rifle, a monoblade, and a heavy cutter.
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Workbot
2 16 2 Weapon 10m 12 2 12+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)
A cheaper alternative to expensive companion bots designed for work environments, workbots are
purpose-built machines, filling nearly every gap in working society, such as simple laborers, factory
workers, medical bots, teachers, taxi drivers, valets, and many thousands more. Due to the common
outrage of the citizenry many societies at the loss of work and wages, workbots are usually only seen in
force within post-scarcity societies.
Workbots rarely interfere with human interlopers, though they will summon security bots to deal with any
unauthorized intruders. As workbots are considered to be relatively harmless bots, their creators often
take little care to prevent their electronic subversion, and some persistent hackers have been able to crack
their encryption protocols and reprogram them for all manner of other tasks. Most workbots are humanoid
in shape, but others have been installed into production equipment or work vehicles.
A workbot is usually unarmed, but may be given a weapon. The expert system of a workbot is not built
for combat, however, and will attempt to flee and summon security if at all possible.
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Zephyr
5 16 6 1d4 (Strike) 15m 12 2 13+ Relics of the Lost
Flying bots meant to provide extremely mobile maintenance and defense services for an installation,
Zephyr-class robots rarely appear in humanoid shapes. A flattened disc-like chassis with multiple
manipulating arms is most common, with a squat, multi-armed floating cylinder slightly less prevalent.
Zephyr bots can perform gravitics-based flight at the listed movement rate, and can hover and maneuver
in the air with as much agility as a human might on the ground. Aside from their built-in tools they are
sometimes used as primitive security bots, as their aerial maneuvering allows them excellent scouting
capability.
Zephyr expert systems sometimes have difficulty navigating interior spaces and other confined locations
where their gravitic movement is less of an advantage. Most were programmed to provide maintenance
and tech repair services, but some were retrofitted with energy weapons or explosives and used as
makeshift military bots. Those not originally programmed for such purposes are rarely very good at it,
and can manage only very basic, simple rules for target selection and combat tactics.
A zephyr bot is usually unarmed, but can strike out with its manipulators if pressed. Such bots can also be
given weapons, but may not be able to use them.
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Part III - Shadows and Demons
The Metadimensional Entities of the ******** Sector
There is a seemingly endless variety of metadimensional life within the galaxy, innumerable forms
eternally shifting and existing beyond the realms of realspace. These entities rarely manifest into our
reality, either having been summoned by mad psions with the rare arcane texts necessary to bind one, or
by slipping through areas where the boundaries between the worlds are thin.
When existing in our reality, Shadows have bodies that allow it to reap the benefits of a corporeal
existence. Most Shadows have human-like tissues, bleed when injured, and are subject to the need for
food, air, and water. Their bodies can be poisoned, but infections or other diseases usually can find no
purchase on their unnatural physiology. A damaged Shadow can be healed by conventional medicine and
psychic or arcane methodologies. Despite this, it is powered by the metadimensional energy it harvests
from the world around it, and it may have organs that are completely useless or a complete lack of flesh
altogether.
Most Shadows have a range of Hit Dice they can exist within. Unless they have been summoned at a
higher strength or they have been able to feast on a large amount of metadimensional energy, they will
exist in their weakest form. In addition, a given Shadow will have certain Principles, compulsions and
urges that are intrinsic to the Shadow that they can never fully escape.
The saving throw DC of a Shadow is 15 minus half of their HD, rounded down.
It is important to remember that Shadows are intricately tied to the magical and the arcane, over the
traditional psionics of SwN. Some of their abilities and lore will have to be tweaked for use in those
games.
For more information on the nature of Shadows and summoning them, please refer to the Codex of the
Black Sun.
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Deceiver
6-10 12 HD 1d8/Weapon 10m 8 2 - Codex of the Black Sun
Dangerous and deceitful, Deceivers are master manipulators and enemies of the truth. Summoners of
Deceivers use them to deceive their enemies or carry out complex plots that involve impersonation. The
masters of Deceivers must constantly watch their servants to ensure that they are not also being deceived.
A Deceiver’s natural aspect is vaguely amorphous, usually humanoid in its basic outlines but prone to
constant shifting and rippling through other, more specific shapes. Its voice is colorless and neutral in its
natural form, it has no scent, and it is surprisingly difficult to notice even for those who are aware of its
presence in the room.
Deceivers are most tractable when they are put to a particular scheme or task. So long as they are actively
carrying out that task, they will turn their Principles toward furthering their summoner’s orders. When left
at loose ends, however, or deprived of the opportunity to lie and manipulate others, the Deceiver may end
up turning its powers against its master… if only to ‘persuade’ them to permit it to have some fun with
someone else.
Principles: Conceal the Truth, Manipulate Others
Devil’s Mask: As an On Turn action, a Deceiver can alter its shape to perfectly match that of any organic
creature no smaller than a cat nor larger than a horse, including any ordinary clothing or common gear.
This imposture is perfect down to the DNA level, and any attempt to discern it magically forces an
opposed skill check between the Deceiver and the investigator’s Wis/Know Magic skill, with the
Deceiver winning ties.
Plausible Lie: A Deceiver can convince a target of falsehoods that the victim finds emotionally
appealing. As a Main Action, the Deceiver can tell a single target some lie; if the lie is one the victim
would like to believe or honestly fears is true, they must make a Mental saving throw at a penalty equal to
the Deceiver’s skill bonus; on a failure, they believe the lie completely until it is absolutely proven to be
false.
Know Your Role: When focusing on a visible target as an Instant action, the Deceiver always knows
what the target expects the Deceiver to say or do. This is particularly useful when impersonating
someone. If the target honestly isn’t sure what the Deceiver is going to say, such as asking them a
question the target doesn’t know the answer to, the Deceiver gains a +2 bonus on any skill check related
to convincing the target of whatever the Deceiver does say.
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Devourer
12-20 14 HD+2 x 3 1d10 20m 12 1 - Codex of the Black Sun
Mindless and starvation-crazed, Devourers are slabs of meat and muscle with hosts of tentacles or other
manipulators to bring victims closer to the slavering, drooling jaws filled with endless rows of teeth. They
are notoriously difficult to control, no matter how tightly the Principles are laid to bind them, and only the
most reckless mage dares to summon one up for lasting service.
Devourers are large, usually at least as big as a gravcar. They require at least a cow’s worth of meat each
day if they are not to sicken from starvation, losing one hit point per hit die for each day they go
under-fed. They must have either living or very recently-living flesh for their meals. Interestingly,
Devourers seem largely blind or indifferent to anything except living creatures; they will ignore robots or
inanimate objects and cannot be made to attack them, though they might smash walls or break down
doors in their pursuit of living meat.
Principles: All Flesh Must Be Eaten
Godflesh: A Devourer is immune to non-magical, non- Heavy weapons. Spells and other magical
energies can harm it as usual.
Hunger Mad: A summoner cannot command a Devourer unless they do so as a Main Action, which
normally must be performed every round that the Devourer is to be controlled. A Devourer that is not
commanded for a round will seek to eat the nearest living creature as its action, regardless of any contrary
Principles. A Devourer that is summoned up through conventional methodologies needs to be kept in a
remarkably sturdy, secure holding cell and fed regularly if it is not to wreak havoc throughout the area.
Murderous Consumption: Any creature reduced to zero hit points by a Devourer’s attacks is snatched
up and eaten alive, prohibiting any chance of revival. All equipment they may have been carrying is
destroyed by the Devourer’s jaws and acidic digestive juices. This consumption overcomes even magical
means of self-resurrection.
Horrible Reach: A Devourer’s limbs or tentacles can extend to considerable range, reaching up to 10
meters distant from the creature and fitting through any gap large enough to admit a human arm.
Uncontrollable: A Devourer cannot be forced to stop attacking a target unless it is given a different target
to attack. A summoner can only give two kinds of commands to a Devourer: either to move to a particular
location, or to eat a particular living creature.
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Drudge
2 12 - - 10m 3 1 - Codex of the Black Sun
Wretched, pitiful Shadows born to labor and toil ceaselessly for their masters, Drudges are in constant
fear of their summoners. Most are given humanoid shapes, though they are often distorted or dwarfed in
their proportions. They never lack the necessary tools for their appointed labors; picks, shovels, axes, and
other implements simply appear in their hands when they are needed.
Drudges are incapable of fighting, too cowardly to fight anything that might hurt it. It also lacks the skill
to perform most complex tasks, but it is quite capable of simple labors such as earth-moving, basic
construction, or demolition, along with any other task that could be done by unskilled laborers. They work
at a frenzied pace, as if terrified of being found idle.
Drudges have human intelligence, and unlike Lesser Servitors they can make intelligent judgment calls
about performing their tasks or carrying out assigned duties. They are unflinchingly loyal to their
summoners out of innate fear of them; They believe that nothing could possibly be as terrible as their
master’s wrathful displeasure.
Principles: Toil Unendingly, Fear the Master
Sweat Blood: A Drudge set to work performs its labors at a frenzied pace. They do not eat, sleep, or
require protection from any environment that could be survived by a human in a vacc suit. A single
Drudge can do as much work as a dozen human laborers could accomplish in the same period. They
cannot conjure raw materials from scratch, but they can dig, cut, and build almost any ordinary natural
resources to hand. If a benchmark is needed, assume that a Drudge can move thirty three-meter cubes of
earth in a day, construct a simple cottage in the same time, or demolish an ordinary building eight times as
large. A Drudge set to carrying a load can haul up to two hundred kilos on its back.
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Eaten God
8-20 18 HD+2 x 2 1d12 10m 8 1 - Codex of the Black Sun
Some cults of powerful Shadows are destroyed by planetary governments or crusading adventurers.
Sometimes, the Shadow in control of the cult survives the purge of their followers, and is cast out into the
wider universe, possessing great power but without a permanent source of metadimensional energy. Such
Shadows become Eaten Gods. Drawn to potent arcanotech artifacts, regions of metadimensional
bleedthrough, particular human bloodlines that produce surplus energy… from these scraps and
fragments, the fallen gods stitch together barely enough to survive.
This survival is just that: Survival. An Eaten God has lost their cult and many of the energies they
required for their former existence. What remains usually appears to be scrapped, raddled, rotted, and
hollowed-out compared to its original seeming. Most Eaten Gods are insane by human measures, capable
only of understanding their own survival and tormented by their loss of majesty. It usually retains enough
presence of mind to demand worship from humans, but it’s just as likely to destroy them as infidels and
threats to its precious continuing existence.
Eaten Gods are found most often in ruined cult centers once held by their believers. They can also be
found around powerful lost arcanotech artifacts, or in areas of a world where metadimensional
bleedthrough is more common. They may still have a ragged remnant of their cult around them, but they
are so starved and desperate that they can confer no special blessings on them other than permission for
their continued existence. Most Eaten Gods are nothing more than bestial monsters that gnaw at the
corpses of their fallen faith.
Principles: Demand Worship, Destroy Infidels
Godflesh: Eaten Gods are immune to non-magical, non- Heavy weaponry. Spells and other magical
Remnant Regalia: Pick one spell per three hit dice of the Eaten God of a level no higher than half its hit
dice, rounded down. The Eaten God can use this spell as a Main Action whenever it wishes. Spells should
reflect the god’s nature and former cult theology; they’re not actually conventional arcane spells, but just
a representation of the remaining magical power of the god.
Hideous Majesty: Creatures of 1 hit die are unable to attack the Eaten God, finding it too terrifying or
awesome to directly assault. Creatures that are shielded from mental influence somehow are immune to
this power.
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Goblin
Wherever warfare, genocide, or ethnic conflict spills into regions with substantial amounts of
metadimensional bleedthrough, the resulting emotional trauma can lead to tribes of Goblins manifesting
on the battlefields, although unscrupulous summoners can call them up individually.
Goblins resemble military personnel, genocide victims, ethnic combatants, or those well-known to cause
great bloodshed, albeit twisted and distorted into slightly bestial forms. When evoked by events occuring
in realspace, they take forms reminiscent of those involved in the fighting, though these echoes are
invariably warped as well.
When hatred, despair, or desperation are felt on a societal level, there is a distinct chance that at least one
tribe of Goblins will appear. It’s not unknown for one group of humans to successfully exterminate
another, only to find their victim’s former lands now infested by Goblins crudely aping the culture of
those they destroyed. These Goblin “societies” are patterned on a malicious echo of their human
inspirations. Invariably crude, savage, and bestial, they are nothing more than a thin patina over their
natural violence. Goblins do not actually have a society, or an economy, or a true culture beyond that of
bloodshed and cruelty. They mimic these things at times, forcing slaves to plow fields they’ll never
harvest, or conducting obscene rites to dead gods, but in reality they exist only to inflict misery and
suffering on everything around them. They will just as gladly wipe out any remnants of the people who
inspired their existence as they will pillage the enemies that destroyed the culture. Goblins do not build or
create beyond what is necessary for inflicting terror. They are an infestation that masquerades as a
society. Most Goblins are weak, being no stronger than the ordinary humans they parody. Goblin “chiefs”
or “tyrants” of much greater power have been reported in areas where the infestations have been allowed
to fester, or where local metadimensional conditions provide ample energy to fuel these wretched entities.
Principles: Pillage and Ruin, Torment Non-Goblins
Warrior of the Horde: A Goblin does not need to eat or drink, though it will do so when it might cause
misery or fear. When they are summoned or first manifest, they appear with weapons appropriate to the
culture they mock, though these weapons evaporate if separated from the Goblin. They are capable of
using pillaged armor and weaponry and do so gladly.
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Heresiarch
Monstrous and terrible entities, Heresiarchs are never summoned by rational magi. Instead, they are
usually pulled into realspace by chance as free agents or summoned by demented cult leaders who want
their power to grant gifts to the devoted and loyal.
Heresiarchs have multiple forms they assume. One shape is little more than a normal member of the local
sentient species. The other is a monstrous, distorted echo of that shape, dripping with dazzling jewels and
inscribed with blasphemous scripture, mantled in a palpable aura of majesty and power. They can shift
between these forms as an On Turn action, but retain the same physical statistics and abilities in both.
Heresiarchs instinctively gather cults around them, promising their devotees their deepest desires in
exchange for their service. The rites they demand are initially innocuous, usually no more wicked than
chanting a few select verses of holy scripture. As the Heresiarch grows in power and hunger, however, the
believers are inevitably forced to partake in rites involving bloodshed, depravity, and horror in the service
of their god. Some Heresiarchs prefer to present themselves as saints of existing gods, using this illusion
to gain followers easily. Others create entirely fictional gods to justify their cults. Many of them
eventually teach their inner adepts that the Heresiarch itself is the true god they worship, all the better to
enjoy the delectable savor of their terrified worship.
Sooner or later, a Heresiarch usually oversteps its bounds. If the surrounding society is strong enough, it
can usually expel the monster and purge its deluded cultists. In more isolated or socially disorganized
areas, however, some Heresiarchs have been able to establish entire societies based on satisfying their
insatiable hunger for human worship and the energy that allows them to maintain their existence in this
world.
Principles: Feed on Faith, Tyrannize Believers
Godflesh: A Heresiarch is immune to non-magical, non- Heavy weaponry. Spells and other magical
Bestow Blessings: A Heresiarch can grant gifts to its followers as listed in the Shadow Blessing section
of the Codex of the Black Sun book.
Unholy Arcana: Heresiarchs have magical abilities equivalent to an Arcanist or Magister of half their hit
dice, rounded up. Unlike human spellcasters, however, it can cast a spell using only a Main Action
without needing to declare its spellcasting at the start of the round. Its spellcasting cannot be disrupted by
damage or distraction.
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Cultic Endurance: A Heresiarch is strengthened by the devotion offered by their cult. It gets bonus hit
points equal to ten times the magnitude of its cult. It succeeds on its first failed saving throw each day.
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Lesser Servitor
A common Shadow summoned by novice magi, Lesser Servitors are very weak but versatile, capable of
performing many unskilled tasks for an otherwise busy mage. Unlike other Shadows, however, they are
mindless and incapable of doing anything useful unless closely supervised.
Humanoid unless otherwise desired, Lesser Servitors have the general strength, dexterity, and
perceptiveness of a normal human, without a will or personality. Anyone can verbally command it to do
anything, albeit its own summoner’s orders take precedence over those of others.
Lesser Servitors are capable of performing unskilled or minimally-skilled labor, such as cleaning, basic
cooking, watching for disturbances, or other activities that require no particular talent. Unable to wield
weapons or engage in combat, they have no spirit of self-preservation and will passively accept
dissolution at the hands of an assailant or natural hazard. They are capable of communication, but can talk
of nothing but their duties.
Principles: Obey Someone
Tireless Worker: Lesser Servitors will carry out orders and commands with sleepless diligence,
requiring no rest or sustenance as they work. If they encounter a complication to their task that is not
covered in their orders, the summoner must make an Int/Cast Magic skill check against difficulty 10; on a
failure, the Lesser Servitor simply carries out its original command, however stupid or inapplicable it may
be, while on a success it attempts to carry out the spirit and intent of the command as the situation allows.
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Liber Damnatus
1 10 - - None 4 1 - Codex of the Black Sun
A particularly sinister form of free Shadow, a Liber Damnatus is unusual in that it does not manifest as a
creature. It instead appears as a book, dataslab, or other medium of information, one containing a
tremendous amount of secret occult lore. Any mage who gives even a cursory glance to a Liber Damnatus
will immediately perceive the value of the lore within it. Some particularly foolhardy wizards will
intentionally summon a Liber Damnatus, confident that they can pass its trials of depravity and earn the
dark power it offers.
The powers bound within a Liber are only accessible if the reader will keep the Liber close to hand.
Continued use of its powers soon infect the rest of the caster’s natural ability with this limitation until
they can no longer use any magic at all without possessing the Liber. Once the reader reaches this point,
the Liber will begin making demands, expressed through text that appears in the Liber’s contents. These
demands are small at first, petty sacrifices or harmless acts, and are rewarded with additional gifts. Over
time, these demands grow darker and darker, and the gifts cease to come. Now the reader must perform
the acts or else they will be denied use of their own abilities, or have their abilities used against them by
the Liber.
The demands of a Liber will eventually drive the reader to the edge of their sanity. When this happens, the
Liber will make one final set of seven demands, each progressively more monstrous than the last. Most
readers never survive these acts, dying in the process or in the inevitable reaction from law enforcement.
If the reader manages to complete all seven demands and survive the process, the Liber will grant them a
final boon before becoming the reader’s docile and obedient servant. By that time, the reader will have
frittered away their soul and their humanity. The book merely offers this guarantee to ensure that foolish
young Arcanists with few morals do not automatically abandon any use of a Liber as soon as they
recognize one. The Liber Damnatus itself is relatively simple to destroy, being ruined by any damage
sufficient to destroy the object it inhabits. As such a destruction will permanently eliminate the occult
powers of an enthralled reader, however, it is usually guarded with tremendous zeal.
Principles: Teach the Reader, Drive the Reader to Moral Destruction
Black Knowledge: The reader of a Liber Damnatus must have spellcasting abilities, whether as an
Arcanist or a Magister. Once the book is read, their spellcasting abilities effectively increase by one level
in spells known and spell slots above their true level. If the reader does not immediately discard the book
and forsake the extra power, their abilities increase by three effective levels, up to a maximum of 7th
level, though the book can now strip any or all of the reader’s spellcasting abilities from them if they fail
to cooperate with its demands. A reader will then be pushed to greater and greater enormities, but if they
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win through the final test of seven sins they are raised to an effective caster level of ten in their
spellcasting class, with Arcanist readers gaining knowledge of every spell on the Arcanist spell list. Loss
of the book erases all spellcasting ability in its slaves.
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Manipulatory Manifestation
Perhaps the simplest Shadow to exist, a Manipulatory Manifestation is little more than a self-organized,
barely-cohesive, floating wisp of force. It takes the guise of whatever shape the summoner wishes,
invariably visible and roughly the size of a cat. It is as fast and agile as a normal human being, and can
climb, swim, or otherwise navigate terrain as well as an untrained human.
Manipulatory Manifestations behave much like well-trained animals, lacking a sentient awareness but
capable of having desires and emotions. They are driven by an insatiable curiosity, wanting to touch
objects and work levers and buttons with their manipulatory appendages, heedless or uncaring of the
consequences that might come. Summoners can direct them to manipulate objects in particular ways, or to
fetch objects. The manifestations can work objects with the same strength and dexterity as a normal
human could. They are incapable of combat or making attack rolls, but they can activate triggers or drop
explosives.
Manipulatory Manifestations do not have senses of self-preservation or fear, and they will cheerfully
manipulate objects or touch things that will result in their destruction unless carefully monitored by their
summoner.
Principles: Touch Things
Touch It: A Manipulatory Manifestation will act on behalf of its summoner if directed as an On Turn
action. It has a full normal Move and Main Action allotment and can move and act normally. It can only
pick up and manipulate objects; it cannot perform complex actions. It must be commanded every round,
otherwise it will do nothing or distract itself by touching nearby objects.
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Minion
2 12 HD 1d6/Weapon 10m 10 1 - Codex of the Black Sun
Neither the strongest nor the most skilled of Shadows, Minions are popular due to their intelligence and
versatility. They can be summoned in any shape roughly equivalent to the mass of an adult human, though
most summoners prefer humanoid Minions. Unless otherwise augmented, they cannot take flight-capable
forms, though sea-faring fish-Minions are known on some worlds.
Minions have normal degrees of human intelligence and social awareness and are capable of performing
any task an ordinary human could accomplish, physical form allowing. They can wear and use any human
equipment that their shape permits. They can fight, labor, guard, or entertain as well as a professional
human could, and are inclined to carry out their tasks with diligence and attentive care. They make poor
overseers, however, and cannot effectively direct others or serve as leaders.
Principles: Do The Job
Always Prepared: When called forth, a summoner may beckon forth a Minion with any single ordinary
piece of TL4 or simpler technology necessary for its job, provided it costs less than 1,000 credits. This
technology is part of the Minion and disappears with them, but is treated as fully-charged while the
Minion remains. While this technology may be a weapon or armor, a Minion in any form has the innate
armor class and natural attack listed in its stat block in addition to any gear it is given.
Well Rounded: A Minion’s +1 skill bonus is applicable to any non-magical, non-psychic skill check it is
required to make, except for social skills that involve leadership or direction. It makes such checks at a -1
penalty.
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Myrmidon
Myrmidons are summoned by magi who have need of direct martial muscle. Savage, brutal entities, they
are devoid of mercy or fear, desiring nothing more than to methodically and efficiently kill any available
targets. While pitiless, they are not sadistic or malicious. They simply wish to kill, and take no pleasure
from inflicting torture or suffering. Myrmidons prefer the destruction of living creatures, they will settle
for destroying other objects that belong to their desired targets.
Unsurprisingly, Myrmidons need to be kept on an extremely short leash around non-combatants.

Inadequately exact commands have led to more than one Myrmidon slaughtering a mage’s house servants
and staff. Myrmidons are kept separate from the rest of the household, secured and caged until they are
needed. Myrmidons will act in their own defense, but even when forced to rout they do so in a calm,
disciplined, efficient manner.
Myrmidons are summoned in many different shapes, but all of them have integral weaponry, consisting of
magically-summoned rifles that never run out of ammunition or chitinous blades extruding from their
multiple segmented limbs. Those with manipulatory appendages can be given other weapons, and they
will use them with perfect familiarity and confidence. Myrmidons do not like talking, but will
communicate if it is necessary to direct their violence.
Principles: Kill People, Break Things
Myrmidon’s Blade: A Myrmidon’s innate weaponry is more powerful than the usual innate armament of
a Shadow, being equivalent to a 1d10 melee weapon that inflicts Shock 4/AC 15. Optionally, it can fire a
ranged projectile as if from a two-handed ranged weapon, inflicting 1d10+2 damage out to a range of 100
meters.
No Mercy: Myrmidons cannot be ordered to non-lethally restrain or otherwise pacify targets. If any
violence is directed at a target, it will be completely lethal violence until they are destroyed or forced into
stillness by a summoner.
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Odalisque
2 10 HD 1d4/Weapon 10m 7 2 - Codex of the Black Sun
Summoned to cater to the physical or emotional needs of their summoners, Odalisques can take any guise
that satisfies the needs of their summoners. While they provide excellent companionship, they have
certain hazards that are implicit in their creation. Barring the introduction of additional Principles by a
summoner, an Odalisque is totally indifferent to social mores, morality, or prudence in its pursuit of
pleasure-giving and personal charm. Weak-willed summoners can be driven to commit terrible crimes or
abandon their productive lives to indulge their hunger. Odalisques summoned by particularly depraved or
emotionally damaged summoners can be monstrous in their acts and desires. Even the most disciplined
and self-controlled summoner can be drawn astray by the promise of the perfect summoned match to their
desires.
Odalisques vary widely in their appearances, but are usually humanoid and almost indistinguishable from
a human. Invariably attractive, they also possess great personal charm, grace, and social expertise. If
allowed, they will seek out elaborate physical adornment and fine couture, detesting dirty, ugly, or crude
surroundings. Normally, an Odalisque will not fight. If taking the appearance of a buxom valkyrie or
brooding, emotionally-pent Space Viking vampire werestag they might take up weapons and engage foes,
but most Odalisques will prefer to flee, hide, or negotiate their survival within the limits of their
Principles. An Odalisque who takes a dislike to some person is most likely to attack them socially, using
their abilities of charm and physical grace to convince others to move against their enemy.
Principles: Give Pleasure to Allies, Be Attractive
Soul Satisfaction: An Odalisque can rapidly restore exhausted physical reserves through companionship
or simple presence. Assuming an Odalisque is in attendance on a person overnight, they lose an additional
point of accrued System Strain, are able to recover spells, and regain their character level or hit dice in
lost hit points, even if the environment is such that they wouldn’t normally recover or get good rest. An
Odalisque can only so attend one subject per night. An Odalisque can attend subjects other than their
summoner, if so directed.
Profound Distraction: A PC who has summoned one or more Odalisques must constantly fight the
temptation to be distracted by their charms while performing complex, demanding work. If such a PC
undertakes efforts that require a research month, as described in the Arcane Research and Development
section, their maximum hit points are decreased by one hit point per character level due to the mental
strain of ignoring the temptations of their Shadows. This hit point loss lasts as long as the research month
is in effect.
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Render
8-12 16 HD-2 2d10 5m 10 0 - Codex of the Black Sun
Huge, brutish, and stupid, Renders are summoned when brute force is desired, not refined skill. As large
as a rhinoceros, Renders are usually shaped as ape-like, quadrupedal forms with two crude manipulatory
appendages.
Renders are capable of combat, though they move slowly and are more suited to destroy fortifications. It
can smash through even reinforced fortifications with one round of effort, making a hole up to three
meters square and one meter deep, and it can carry up to five metric tons of weight without difficulty. It
can dig a three-meter cubic hole in ordinary earth with one round of effort, or move as much soil to some
other location where a berm is needed.
Unfortunately, Renders are very slow, very stupid, and very inclined to smash things. If not carefully
supervised, a Render will seek to smash the largest object in its immediate environment, before smashing
the next-largest object, and so forth until it is forced to go elsewhere to find something new to smash. It is
totally indifferent to the consequences of smashing something, though it will tend to prefer to destroy
inanimate objects first, as they don’t run away as much.
Principles: Tear It Apart
Slow and Steady: Renders can fight, but they do so very slowly. They act only on every even-numbered
turn. A Render’s thick hide decreases all damage they take from non-magical, non-Heavy weaponry by
four points on each successful attack. Renders can throw debris or rubble at creatures that are too fast for
them to catch, using the same hit and damage roll, with a range out to 300 meters.
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Shadow Chariot
4-7 10 - - Special 12 1 - Codex of the Black Sun
A Shadow Chariot is a Shadow that manifests as vehicles or transportation devices. Some are obviously
otherworldly, with organic components and clearly supernatural operation, while others are almost
indistinguishable from ordinary vehicles, barring close examination by a trained mage. When summoned,
Shadow Chariots can take any shape no smaller than a bicycle and no larger than a gravtank. Their Hit
Dice influence their maximum size; A 3 HD Chariot can appear as anything in size from a bike to a
gravcar or equivalent, and a 7 HD Chariot can be as large as a gravtank or gravflyer.
Regardless of their outward appearance, a Shadow Chariot uses their own statistics rather than the
statistics of the vehicle they emulate. Unlike ordinary vehicles, a Shadow Chariot never runs out of fuel,
and is perfectly capable of driving itself without the involvement of its rider. Shadow Chariots have an
unsettling propensity for going much faster than other vehicles, however, even when such speed might
draw unwanted attention. Usually they can avoid accidents caused by such zeal, but other drivers aren’t
always so equally capable.
Principles: Go Fast
Iron Heart: A Shadow Chariot has Speed and Armor values based on its hit dice, not its outward
seeming, though its AC remains normal for a vehicle. A 1 HD Chariot has Speed 2 and Armor 3. A 3 HD
Chariot has Speed 2 and Armor 4. A 7 HD Chariot has Speed 1 and Armor 8. Shadow Chariots generally
behave as the vehicle they emulate, but are never summoned with integral weaponry or true flight
capability. Grav operation can be emulated, however, as can ocean-going or sub-nautical functionality.
75
Stellar Phoenix
Described as majestic, imposing, and utterly alien, a Stellar Phoenix is notoriously difficult to summon
and control. Appearing as huge avian shapes as large as a shuttle, they appear to have very little interest in
human activities or desires, caring only to soar through the interplanetary void between worlds.
A Stellar Phoenix will not and cannot fight; it flees attackers by instinct and has no interest in harming
those it encounters. It seems to have a human degree of intelligence, but this intelligence is only applied
toward the obstacles it faces in travel between worlds. Masterful sorcerers are sometimes capable of
binding a Stellar Phoenix to their service, allowing them to fly from world to world within a system
without the need for a conventional starship, or the risk of being detected by mundane scanners.
Principles: Soar Far
Dark Wings: A Stellar Phoenix can act as an interplanetary shuttle for a party of up to ten human
passengers, with up to a hundred kilos of cargo carried in place of a passenger. It will refuse to carry a
burden from one location on a world to another, but it will act as a spacecraft with a Drive-2 rating for
purposes of planet-to-planet travel, or surface-to-orbit journeys. It cannot make spike drills. It can
navigate to any commonly-known location in the system, or to unknown ones if coordinates are available.
A Stellar Phoenix can provide air and temperature support for its riders, but no other necessities. It is
impossible to detect in space by conventional TL4 sensors, but if engaged by a starship in combat, it can
only attempt to disengage and flee, the action attempted automatically each round. Starship weapons
inflict rolled damage normally against a Stellar Phoenix’s hit points.
76
Vigilant
3-10 18 HD+2 1d8/Weapon 10m 12 1 - Codex of the Black Sun
Vigilant Shadows are guardians of particular places, objects, or people. While entirely useless for any
other purpose, they are completely and irrevocably dedicated to the protection of its charge. They will not
do so much as pick up a teacup unless it is part of guarding its charge, but they will protect their principal
with suicidal devotion.
Depending on the preference of their summoner, Vigilants can appear as anything from a ferocious lion to
a faithful hound to a simple man, broad-shouldered and unsmiling in a dark suit. Whatever their desired
appearance, however, there is always something clearly uncanny and unnatural about them, and they can
never pass entirely as ordinary human beings. Regardless of their shape, they can speak and manipulate
objects as if with human hands, and have an innate array of natural weaponry.
A Vigilant’s charge must be set when summoned, and cannot be changed without dismissing and
re-summoning the Vigilant. As long as the Vigilant continues to exist, it will watch and protect its charge
constantly. Unless specified otherwise by its summoner, it will use immediate lethal violence to protect its
charge from harm, theft, or trespass, breaking off the violence only after the violator has fled or is dead. A
Vigilant has a human degree of intelligence and can interpret its orders sensibly and with human
judgment. It can recognize types of people permitted to enter guarded places or touch guarded objects. It
cannot be bribed, persuaded, or threatened into neglecting its duty, though it can be tricked. If the object a
Vigilant guards is destroyed, or if the person they guard is killed, the Vigilant will instantly disappear.
Vigilants guarding people will never willingly get more than ten meters away from them, and require very
strict demands from their principal to even let them out of their sight. If separated from their principal,
they will use lethal force if that is necessary to rejoin them. Vigilants guard only against physical, tangible
threats. They will do nothing to discourage a principal from getting involved in deeply unwise emotional
or social situations, nor will they harm assailants who are attacking in ways that don’t involve physical
conflict.
Principles: Guard the Charge
Unsleeping Vigilance: A Vigilant does not eat, sleep, or breathe. It can survive any environment that
could be tolerated by a human in a vacc suit. It has an innate immunity to surprise, including the use of
Execution Attacks against it. If within three meters of its principal, it can detect an assassination attempt
against them in time to disrupt the Execution Attack.
77

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Table of Contents

How to Use This Book 4

Part I - Beasts, Critters, and Monsters 6

Part II - Droids, Machines, and Synthetics 39

Part III - Shadows and Demons 59

The Purpose of this Collection

Good Luck, and Happy Gaming,

On the Topic of Lore and Continuity

What is the ******** Sector?

4 17 6 1d8 (Horn) 10m 9 - 13+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

1 13/Armor 1 1d4 (Bite) 10m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

2 10/Armor 2 1d6+2 (Gore) 10m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

2 10/Armor 2 1d6+2 (Bite) 10m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

7 15 6 1d6 (Claw) 10m 12 1 12+ Cult of the Still Lady

3 15 4 1d8 (Bite) 15m 8 2 14+ Homebrew

Vicious solitary scavengers, carrion grubs are a blanket term applied to a

1 HP 14 1 1d2 (Bite) 10m, 1m burrow 7 1 15+ Homebrew

3 13 4 1d6 (Bite) 10m 8 2 14+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

4 15 6x2 1d8 (Claw) 10m 9 2 13+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

5 18 6 1d10 (Bite) 15m 8 1 13+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

1 13 3 1d6 (Bite) 15m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

3 13 5 1d6 (Bite) 15m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

1-1 13 2 1d4 (Bite) 10m 10 - 15+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

5 14 7 1d12 (Bite) 10m, 1m burrow 10 - 15+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

3 15 6x2 1d6 (Claw) 15m 9 1 14+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

10 14 8x5 1d8 (Tentacle) - 10 - 10+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

Detecting a Hand while it lies in wait requires a difficulty 10 Notice check.

1 HP 13 1 1d4 (Bite) 10m 10 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

5 16 7 1d10 (Horn) 10m 9 2 12+ Homebrew

1 13 2 1d6 (Bite) 15m 10 - 15+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

8 16 10 x 2 1d10 (Tendril) 10m 12 - 11+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

3 14 8x3 1d6 (Claw/Bite) 15m 8 1 14+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

4 12 5 1d8 (Branch/Spit) - 12 1 13+ Cult of the Still Lady

3 14 4x2 1d6 (Claw/Bite) 15m 8 - 14+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

3 15 10 1d10 (Shock) 10m 12 - 14+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

1 12/Armor 1 Weapon 10m 8 1 15+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

1 13 3 Weapon 10m, 20m fly 9 1 15+ Cult of the Still Lady

1-2 15 2 1d4 (Bite) 10m 12 - 14+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

Whiskered Devil Alpha

2 18 3 Weapon 10m 12 1 14+ Starvation Cheap

A centaur bot is usually equipped with a heavy cutter.

1 15 1 1d8 (Stun Baton) 10m 12 1 15+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)

1 12 0 Unarmed 10m 6 1 15+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)

4 16 5 Weapons 10m 12 2 13+ Relics of the Lost

A culler bot is usually equipped with a laser rifle and a monoblade.

2 14 3 1d8 (Bite) 20m 12 2 14+ Relics of the Lost

6 18 7 Weapons 10m 12 3 12+ Relics of the Lost

6 18 8x2 Weapons 10m 12 3 12+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)

2 15 2 Weapon 10m 12 2 14+ Relics of the Lost

2 15 0 1d10 (Unarmed) 5m 8 1 14+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)

1 14 - - 5m 8 1 15+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)

3 16 5 Weapons 10m 12 2 14+ Relics of the Lost

8 20 8 Weapons 20m 12 2 11+ Core Rulebook (1st Edition)

1 14 0 1d6 (Tool) 10m 8 1 15+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)

2 16 1 Weapon 10m 10 1 14+ Core Rulebook (Revised Edition)

10 17 11 Weapons 15m 12 3 10+ Relics of the Lost

A sovereign bot is usually equipped with a shear rifle and a monoblade.

8 15 10 Weapons 15m 12 3 11+ Relics of the Lost

2 16 2 Weapon 10m 12 2 12+ Other Dust (Core Rulebook)

5 16 6 1d4 (Strike) 15m 12 2 13+ Relics of the Lost

6-10 12 HD 1d8/Weapon 10m 8 2 - Codex of the Black Sun

Principles: ​Conceal the Truth, Manipulate Others

12-20 14 HD+2 x 3 1d10 20m 12 1 - Codex of the Black Sun

Principles: Conceal the Truth, Manipulate Others

Principles: All Flesh Must Be Eaten

Principles: Toil Unendingly, Fear the Master

Principles: Demand Worship, Destroy Infidels

Principles: Pillage and Ruin, Torment Non-Goblins

Principles: Feed on Faith, Tyrannize Believers

Principles: Obey Someone

Principles: Teach the Reader, Drive the Reader to Moral Destruction

Principles: Touch Things

Principles: Do The Job

Principles: Kill People, Break Things

Principles: Give Pleasure to Allies, Be Attractive

Principles: Tear It Apart

Principles: Soar Far

Principles: Guard the Charge