Chapter 5.1: Starships

The crew's ship is its home, field base, transport, and largest tool. A ship has its own Traits, Systems, Specializations, Scale, Resistance, Shields, Reserve Power, Talents, and weapons. A character directs its action; the ship Assists.

Ship Systems

Systems describe the vessel's physical and computational capabilities. They range from 7 to 12.

Interstellar Translation

Interstellar translation covers three FTL technologies. Every interstellar ship has a Translation Profile: Warp, Jump, or Hyperlane. The profile is a capability Trait, not a Talent. Record Warp Translation, Jump Translation, or Hyperlane Translation when you create the ship.

A hop is one interstellar leg by any Translation Profile. Three hops may mean three warp passages, three stellar-well jumps, or three hyperlane transits.

Routine travel requires no Task. State the available route and elapsed time, then move the commission forward. When damage, unstable geometry, pursuit, or a narrow arrival window makes the outcome uncertain, attempt a Control + Engineering Task at Difficulty 1; the ship Assists with Engines + Engineering. Raise the Difficulty when several pressures apply. Failure changes the journey through delay, position, damage, detection, or a lost opportunity. Destruction or permanent loss becomes a possible outcome only when the crew knowingly accepts those stakes before rolling.

Warp Profile

A warp ship can travel along any surveyed vector, stop in deep space, and change course during the journey. A field vessel normally crosses a few light-years per day. Strong gravity slows the field and eventually forces conventional propulsion. The Aelith stays connected throughout transit.

Warp travel leaves a detectable distortion. Another warp-capable ship can follow that wake and attempt an interception. Resolve the meeting through the positioning and conflict rules in Chapter 5.2.

Jump Profile

A jump ship travels almost instantly between suitable stellar gravity wells. A safe link normally spans up to six light-years; favorable geometry may extend it toward ten. The ship cannot steer during the fraction of a second outside ordinary spacetime, preserves its departure momentum, and loses Aelith contact until it emerges. Conventional travel to the departure vector and onward from the arrival region supplies most of the journey's elapsed time.

A routine jump with a certified solution requires no Task. To emerge deep in the destination well, attempt a Control + Engineering Task at Difficulty 2, Assisted by Engines + Engineering. Success creates Deep Arrival, shortening the remaining system journey or establishing favorable position. Failure produces a shallow or off-vector arrival and a concrete consequence. Collision with the destination star or permanent loss belongs only to a jump whose declared stakes included that risk.

Hyperlane Profile

A hyperlane ship enters fixed natural channels through registered lane mouths. Each lane reaches one specific system. Transit normally lasts from several hours to a few days, and the Aelith remains available. Hyperlanes carry heavy traffic efficiently but cannot reach a system outside their network.

Ships in the same lane can detect and intercept one another. Ordinary-space ships see only the gravitational wake. An uncertified, drifting, or damaged lane uses the general translation Task above; failure may force return to the entry mouth, add time, or carry the ship into the lane under an adverse Trait.

Multiple Drives

A ship with Integrated Translation Systems may carry a second Translation Profile. It uses one drive for a given transit, and changing drives occurs in ordinary space after the previous field disperses. Damage may disable one plant while leaving the other available. A Disabled Engines System prevents every drive from operating.

Safety interlocks permit one active translation plant. The rules provide no general procedure for simultaneous engagement or hybrid translation. A gamemaster may permit a story-specific jury-rig by fiat when the fiction supports it, defining the method, risk, and consequences for that event. Success does not create a repeatable or standing hybrid capability.

Ship Specializations

Ships use the same six Specializations as characters. A ship rating describes the facilities, software, and prepared capacity it contributes to that field. It does not replace the judgment of the character directing the action.

Medicine covers surgical bays, quarantine systems, and casualty support. Science covers laboratories, survey processing, and experimental control. Engineering covers repair facilities, fabrication, and power management. Diplomacy covers guest spaces, cultural records, and communication support. Security covers defense, containment, and weapons. Infiltration covers emissions control, covert access, and concealed movement.

Ship Tasks

When a character takes an action through the ship, build the character's Task normally. The ship Assists with 1d20 using one System plus one ship Specialization. The ship always counts as having an applicable Focus: a ship die at or under its Specialization scores 2 successes.

The lead character supplies intent and judgment. The ship supplies reach and capacity. A sensor sweep might use the character's Reason + Science, Assisted by Sensors + Science. A warning shot might use Presence + Diplomacy, Assisted by Weapons + Diplomacy.

One additional character may Assist when their contribution is distinct. In a conflict, Assistance costs that character's turn as usual.

Scale and Derived Ratings

Scale measures size and operational depth.

The Standing table in Chapter 2.6 sets the largest permanent vessel a crew may be assigned. A new crew normally begins with a Scale 3 inventory ship.

• Resistance equals half Scale, rounded up.
• Maximum Shields equal Structure + Scale + Security.
• Reserve Power begins each scene Ready.
• Breach Capacity equals Scale. A ship can carry Breaches up to that Capacity and is Defeated when its total Breaches exceed it. A System is Disabled when Breaches attached to it exceed half Scale, rounded up.

Creating the Crew's Ship

1. Choose Scale

Choose a Scale allowed by the crew's Standing. Beginning crews use Scale 3 unless the campaign starts with an established record.

2. Choose a Translation Profile

Choose Warp, Jump, or Hyperlane for any Scale 2 or larger ship intended for interstellar travel. Record the corresponding capability Trait. Scale 1 craft use conventional propulsion unless a specific Trait says otherwise.

3. Assign Systems

Set every System to 8, then distribute 8 additional points. No System may exceed 12. Record the final six ratings.

4. Assign Ship Specializations

Set every ship Specialization to 1, then distribute 6 additional points. No ship Specialization may exceed 4 during creation.

5. Choose a Working Profile

Choose one profile. Increase one listed System by 1 and one listed Specialization by 1, respecting the limits. Take the profile Trait and one listed Talent.

If an increase would exceed a limit, place it in the other listed rating or move it to another rating with the gamemaster's agreement.

6. Choose Facilities

Every field ship has ordinary habitation, clinic and workshop space, general stores, and small-craft access suited to its Scale. Choose three Facility Traits for capabilities beyond that baseline. A Facility makes specialized work possible and may lower Difficulty when it directly fits.

Surgical Bay, Quarantine Ward, Field Laboratory, Foundry Bay, Secure Containment, Guest Habitat, Expanded Shuttle Deck, Deep-Survey Array, Archive Core, and Relief Hold are common examples.

A secondary drive plant enters the ship through Integrated Translation Systems and replaces one of these three choices. Record the specific installation, such as Secondary Warp Coils, Jump Transition Ring, or Hyperlane Phase Couplers.

Prepared Assets may add temporary facilities for a commission. A facility built into the ship remains part of it.

7. Choose Talents

The profile grants one Talent. Choose one additional Talent from the list below. A ship can gain more through Standing and refit work in the fiction.

• Deep Sensor Aperture. Once per scene, re-roll the ship's Assist die on a Sensors Task.
• Defensive Fields. Increase Resistance by 1 while Shields remain above 0.
• Emissions Discipline. Tasks to detect the ship at Long or Extreme range increase in Difficulty by 1 while it is transmitting no high-volume traffic.
• Experimental Bay. Choose Science or Engineering. Once per scene, the first bonus d20 purchased for a shipboard Task using that Specialization is free.
• Modular Wards. The ship can treat patients of any known species without an incompatibility penalty. Unknown biology may still require research.
• Open Table. Once per scene, create an Accepted Neutral Ground Trait when both parties voluntarily meet aboard. No Task is required.
• Precision Projectors. When the crew makes a Disabling ship Attack, spend 1 Momentum to choose the System hit.
• Probe Foundry. The ship can fabricate and launch replacement survey probes during a scene. Launching a probe is a Minor Action.
• Reserve Fabrication. Once per scene, declare a common commission supply or emergency structure available as a temporary Trait. Substantial or rare systems still require a Prepared Asset.
• Signal-Bending Hull. Once per scene, spend Reserve Power to create Bent Around Local Sensors at Potency 2 until the ship makes an Attack or high-volume transmission.
• Interpretive Lattice. Ignore the first Complication caused solely by an unfamiliar language or signal structure during a scene.
• Integrated Translation Systems. Choose a second Translation Profile and replace one Facility Trait with its secondary drive plant. The ship may use either profile, one at a time. A Scale 5 or larger ship may take this Talent a second time through refit, replacing another Facility Trait and gaining the remaining profile.

8. Arm the Ship

Every Imperial field vessel carries a Precision Projector. Choose one additional weapon if the ship's profile or history supports it.

Remote ordnance is Limited: the ship carries enough for a commission, and a Complication may deplete it. Firing it adds 1 Threat because its reach and yield raise the scene's escalation.

9. Finish the Ship

Name the vessel and add two Traits: Imperial Field Vessel and a frame Trait describing its form, provenance, or history. Record who designed or previously used it, one place aboard each character treats as theirs, and one visible sign that the ship has been lived in.

Reserve Power

Reserve Power is either Ready or Spent. A ship begins each scene Ready. Spend it before rolling the ship's Assist die to set that die to 1, scoring a critical success. Any Complication on the lead Task counts twice because the overpowered System has less tolerance for error.

Some Talents and actions also spend Reserve Power. A ship cannot spend it again until a character Regains Power under Chapter 5.2.

Refits and Standing

When the crew reaches a new Standing Rank, choose one refit after the fiction provides time and Foundry access:

• increase one System by 1, to a maximum of 12;
• increase one ship Specialization by 1, to a maximum of 5;
• add one facility Trait;
• add or replace one ship Talent;
• add or replace one weapon supported by the vessel's Scale.

A custom ship gained at higher Standing may be rebuilt through this procedure at its new Scale. Keep its name, history, and earned Traits unless the crew chooses a new vessel.

Ships and official refits are Imperial support placed behind the crew's work. Standing governs that access. The crew does not purchase its assigned vessel or fund a commission refit from personal energy credits.