Lords of Ether (Beta Test Version)

Lords of Ether

Historical Overview

(the well read fantasy enthusiast will likely know many of the works from which the premises here are borrowed – treat as a homage if you will)

In 1680, Sir Isaac Newton delved into alchemy and discovered the Ether, a universal energy on the boundaries of science and the doorway to magic that offered great powers and promised vast potential. Unfortunately, its use was soon turned to war, and in 1700 the world was consumed by magic and new science gone wild.

With the aid of godlike beings awakened or drawn by this new power, humanity fled its dying world and scattered across the heavens.

There on a thousand worlds the cycle of history continued; new civilizations rose, linked by mystical winds through space, these “Star Ways” that traders sailed over as they had the Trade Winds of Earth. However, in time some of these civilizations grew powerful and arrogant, and some challenged the gods that had brought them to this new heaven, bringing about a terrible war that broke the power of both.

The backlash of the terrible weapons used created great storms through the Ether that ravaged whole worlds, and made most of the Star Ways fatally inaccessible for almost a millennia.

It is now 3982 AE (After Exodus), though to most it is 1000 NE (New Era) measured since the end of the war between Gods and men. The terrible storms through the heavens have subsided over the past two centuries, and those who dare may now venture forth again to build their fame, fortunes. . . or Empires.


Basic Premise

Lords of the Ether is a story based SD, whose concept is based on the merging of science and magic. The basic element of power in the gameworld is Ether, which is used not just in all magical spells, but also for most high technology devices (super dense Etheric matter replaces uranium for instance). This makes it very valuable, and controlling it the surest route to power, hence the name of the SD. Players choose a group, be it nation; world; trans-stellar non-governmental organization; or even powerful individual (God, hero, arch-mage. . .) and, well, do whatever you want in the game world.

But what exactly is Ether. Well, it’s a magical substance of low density but with great conductive properties, and when properly used can generate large amounts of energy. It permeates the universe, but most often takes physical form inside large, dense objects.

On planets it tends to gather underground in concentrated areas called Nodes, from which it emerges as a greenish gas, or, more rarely an ultra-dense hardened solid like a glowing emerald (an Ether Geode - very valuable). In its gaseous state it can also be occasionally found in small quantities on the surface layers of large planets like gas giants or even stars (if you’re daring). It can also be found in very rich pockets within nebulas, though the danger of passing through a nebula tends to prevent making harvesting operations there routine affairs. The most powerful mages can also tap hidden “Ley Lines” that run across the universe and draw Ether out of, what appears to the uninitiated, to be thin air. Advanced sciences have also managed to redirect the flows of Ether into waiting Etheric battery cells.

Over the past few thousand years, such procedures and magics have tended to pool Ether in a system around those worlds inhabited by Ether using societies. Usually the Ether in the rest of the solar system is thin, dispersed and irregular, and harvesting it more work than is profitable. Some systems and worlds however retain untapped reserves, but most will have to seek new, fallow ground to acquire more.

Untapped reserves of Ether can be found in systems not so ravaged by continual harvesting processes, in the lair of magical creatures (who attract it), and in the occasional as yet undiscovered ley line or Node (which can appear in the strangest places).

In its useable forms Ether takes many guises. Most technological Powers use it mixed with a liquid compound as the flammable Ethernol to fuel internal combustion engines, on in a more teporary state in charged batteries. Also Ether Geodes are used to power fission reactors. Magical societies tend to keep Ether stored in various receptacles and then temporarily infuse it using transmogrification or certain magical creatures or devices into various magical “reagents” when they need to move it (Wagon loads of caskets filled with Etheric gas are fine, but a bit bulky for a wizard to take adventuring with him).
Within the rules, flexibility and imagination is not just encouraged – it’s a must, but there are some key points and then a lot of minor ones. Firstly, keep in mind that the point of (severe) divergence with our Earth was 1700. Earth is also long gone and is now considered more legend than fact, though of course the explorer who can find it would have his reputation made a thousand times over. Secondly, be aware that the difference between science and magic is more a matter of taste than power. A scientifically primitive civilization with vast magical powers against a magically inept civilization with the art of high technology at its command will be more or less evenly matched. Of course, the greatest power is gained from melding the two, but that is no easy task. Lastly, none of the powers, scientific or magical, verge on the “godlike”, even for those who actually *choose* to play gods. There will be no blasting planets to bits with superlasers, or wiping out entire civilizations with spells o’ doom. Even use of more mundane methods of mass destruction such as etheric fission bombs or city-wide rains of magical fire tend to have nasty repercussions, not just politically, but also physically, as the universe itself will react against too much wonton damage.

OK, that’s the basic stuff. Read ahead for the specifics.


Levels of Power

There are three basic levels of power.

Play an Empire

This is the standard Empire building level of power; where you command a planet or nation, its government, militaries and industries and go forth for the greater glory of your united people. You rule either the most dominant nation on your planet, or even the ONLY nation on the planet. This is the most powerful level for those who want to get most involved in the game as it offers the greatest abilities and the most options. It also takes the most work and dedication though. This level of play is for those who like to see their creation grow and eventually become a power the universe must reckon with.

Play a Trans-Stellar

This is where you command a non-governmental organization, be it Vast Corporation, Criminal Syndicate, Mercenary Army, Magical Society, etc. While this offers a great number of possibilities, it is, at heart, weaker than a full blown nation or world-empire. However the big advantage is that you start off spread across multiple worlds and with (usually) a far greater store of worldly universal knowledge than the Empires, most of whom have been isolated until the past few decades/centuries, and ALL of whom must start on a single world. Thus, while most Empires will be able to destroy a Trans-Stellar’s holdings in their particular bailiwick if they choose, the depth of resources held by these groups could make such a move incredibly unwise in the long term, and the benefits of co-operation with most Trans-Stellars are a hard thing to loose. This level of play is for those who like to remain neutral from the various wages of power and pursue their own more subtle agendas. . . such as pursuing a universal monopoly.

Play a Hero

You play an individual. Either a supernatural being (even a god) or a very powerful mortal. You are mythical warrior, a great wizard, or even a super spy. In a heroic age your actions can be the stuff of legends. Your personal power can even include devotees, henchmen or acolytes if you wish, but it must be realized that this is the *weakest* of the three power levels. No Heroic character can ever match an Empire, or even a Trans-Stellar. However, these characters are excellent for the occasional player who does not wish to be continually immersed in game as needed to build a viable nation or company, but also does not wish to be marginalized during play. This allows a player to pop in and out as they choose, and throws a great variable into the mix for established powers.


CREATING A POWER

A Walkthrough

OK, onto the nitty-gritty. Firstly, anything that is capitalized like “Capability”, “Empire”, “Hero” or so forth refers to a specific element of the game and (if I’ve done my job right) is not interchangeable. So, when someone talks about “Industrial Production” everyone should know exactly what they’re referring to.

Onward: To create your Power in Lords of Ether, a generic term that describes your Empire/Trans-Stellar/Hero, you get a certain number of Starting Points to assign as you wish to Capabilities and Advantages. You can buy more points by taking various Disadvantages. If you have an idea that requires an Advantage or Disadvantage not listed just buzz me up and we’ll work out a value for it.


Starting Points

An Empire gets 500 starting points, a Trans-stellar 250, and a Hero 50. Starting points are used only during the initial creation of your Power, and if you don’t use ’em you lose ‘em. They are also not a substitute for an actual concept (the numbers themselves are kinda dull) but are a necessary guide to what your Power is capable of.

At the start of the game, you have to purchase these Capabilities them with Starting Points. The Starting Point costs ONLY apply during Power creation. Once you’ve created your Power, the cost to buy anything with Starting Points is no longer important. In the walkthrough I have Starting Point numbers listed in blue. However, the only reason for you as a player posting SP values when you first post your nation is to make it easier to check to make sure all the point values work out to the correct tally. After your Power has been checked and OK’d you can wipe the all and forget about them.


CAPABILITIES

People

People are the number of people associated with your Power. For Empire’s it’s the Population who live and work under their rule; for Trans-stellars its those their Employees, and Heroes have two types: Companions who are specific characters they adventure with (their party if you will) and their Worshippers, be they devotees of a demi-god, or adventurer groupies. Worshippers are of the least physical benefit to a Power (though it never hurts to have friends wherever you go) however the strength of their belief and devotion to a Hero can generate a little extra *kick* of Ether.

Empire Population:
1 million Population = 1 SP
Every 2 million Population = +1 Industry
It costs 1 Starting Point to buy every 1 million Population for an Empire. Because the larger a population, the more industry a state can generate an Empire gains an Industrial Bonus of 1 Industrial Production for every 2 million Population.

Trans-stellar Employees:
10,000 Employees = 1 SP
Every 20,000 Employees = + 1 Wealth
It costs 1 Starting Point to buy every 10,000 Employees for a Trans-stellar. More Employees generate more Wealth, so a Trans-stellar gains a Wealth bonus of +1 for every 20,000 Employees.

Heroic Companions/Worshippers: (applies only to Heroes)
1 loyal companion = 1 SP
Every 100,000 worshippers = 1 SP
Loyal companions are individuals who travel and adventure with the Hero. Defining them is largely up to the Player. However, their powers should roughly equate to those of the very best Special Forces or Master level Magic Users. Unless they are powerful Mages, Companions need no formal Upkeep. However, you cannot take something like a Space Battleship as a companion; you can take the AI of a sentient spaceship as a Companion, but you must still buy the actual warship as a separate unit (and then pay the resultant Upkeep). The same basic idea goes for other high cost units like Great Wyrms and Star Kraken.
Note: A ship AI chosen in such a manner does not add to the cost, or the Added Capabilities of the vessel – after having bought it as a Companion its installation in a ship is free.
Worshippers are those “civilians” who, well, worship the Hero, either outright as a god, or just with fanatical fan worship. A Hero gains an Ether bonus of +1 per 200,000 Worshippers he or she has.

OK, we’ll walkthrough a Hero (being the simplest), so that gives us 50 SP to begin with. Let’s call our Hero Omicra the Ace. His concept is that of a roving mercenary mecha-warrior, out for a quick buck, a good thrill, and a great deal of money.

Omicra has 2 Companions; a pair of mecha pilots who form his team. That’s 2 SP spent. Being a merc is a thankless and un-valorous calling though, so Omicra is a bit short on Worshippers, so 0 SP there.

Note that these mecha-pilot Companions do not give Omicra the actual mecha – just the pilots themselves. The mecha will have to be purchased as separate military units.

So, in the People Capability, Omicra has now used 2 of his Starting Points.


Influence

Influence is the number of worlds on which you have your people. This is only available to Trans-stellars and Heroes (and only worthwhile for Heros with actual worshippers). A Hero or Trans-stellar will likely know of more worlds than just those on which it has influence, but this is where it has power. The first world comes free – where the Trans-stellar corporate HQ is, or the location of the Heroes Grand Temple, or so on. Every world after that costs 1 SP.

Once number of worlds influenced has been determined, the Power should indicate which ones (once we have the map up), and the number of People, Production Points and military units it has on each. Scattering your resources is not just cosmetic – a wider reach allows a Trans-Stellar to maximize its early advantages, and prevents a Hero from facing utter annihilation of his followers if he pisses off the wrong Emperor.

Trans-stellar Offices / Hero Worshippers: Every world after the first (free) cost 1 SP

Omicra has no followers, and so, while he and his team are familiar with dozens of worlds and travel regularly, he doesn’t need this Capability. He spends no points on it.


Advancement for Magic and Science/Technology

This is an expensive area of Capability. It’s also critical because it can eat up the majority of points; committing a large number here can give you a very advanced Power, but leave you light on the actual physical strength, or if you stint here, you can start with a massive infrastructure and military, at expense of leaving it somewhat primitive.

There are five Advancement Categories in each of Science/Technology and Magic. For Science they are Engineering, Chemistry, Physics/Mathematics, Biology and Psychology. For Magic they are Destruction, Creation, Movement, Mental and Transmogrification. The Categories (see the Advancement section) do not define specific abilities but rather general effects. So there is functionally no difference between the spells of a magic user that destroy a village with a lighting bolt, or one who does it with a disintegration ray.

Empires pay 1 Starting Point for every 10 Research Points, so reaching level five in any single Advancement Category would cost them fifty SP. Trans-Stellars pay the same, however they start with ten free levels, which they can assign as they like. This represents their greater basis of knowledge from being out and about a bit more. These free levels can’t be used for anything else though, so you can’t trade them in for 100 SP towards building a bigger army – if that’s what you wanted, you should have taken an Empire. Heroes get it the best – they pay 1 Starting Point for 100 Research Points. This is because heroes are some of the best at what they do. Because they can focus more energies on technology, a Hero will often have a higher overall level of Advancement than a Trans-stellar or even an Empire.

While the level system appears very all-or-nothing, there is a great difference between a nation with 300 points in Engineering, and one with 390. Both are still Level 3, but one will be clunking around with WWI tanks, and the other will have MBTs with EM guns and laser defences.

Note: advancement-transfer between players is no easy proposition. Specifically, while Heroes can gain tech from others, its nearly impossible for a Trans-Stellar or Empire to gain from Heroes in reverse. But more on that later.

There is also a third sub-group to Magic and Science/Technology – Technomagical Fusion. This is an expensive melding of Magic and Science to create the ultimate Technology. The methods for doing so are described in the Advancement section of the rules. A Power can start with some of its Categories already fused if it wishes. For an Empire or Transtellar cost is 10 SP per level of Fusion, for a Hero it is 1 SP per level of fusion. Fusion just works on levels, and there is no difference in point cost between Fusing a technology at 399 RP and at 300R; both are considered level 3.


Magical or Technological Categories:
Empires pay 1 SP for 10 RP
Trans-stellars pay 1 SP for 10 RP, but they also get 10 free levels.
Heroes pay 1 SP for 100 RP.

Technomagical Fusion
Empires and Trans-stellars pay 10 SP for each level of Fusion
Heroes pay 1 SP for each level of Fusion

Omicra, being a Hero will of course spend most of his points here. Looking at the Advancement descriptions he decides he needs at least Engineering level 4, Chemistry level 3, and Physics level 3 to create Mechs. However, being a Hero, Omicra wants something a bit more special, so he decides to instead Fuse Creation 5 (500RP), and Chemistry 5 (500RP) to create an enslaved mythic beast under an ultra-hard armoured shell (he wants Evas). He throws in Physics 4 (400RP) to give the armour force fields, repulsor impellers for flight, and beam guns, and then tosses in Mental 4 (400RP) for a controlling telepathic link with the beast. Rather than just pay the minimum in each level, Omicra decides he wants to be pretty good in Physics and Mental, and raises each to 450 RP. That’s still level 4 in each, but a more advanced version of the same technology.

So Omicra has spent 1,900 RP or 19 SP on Advancement Categories (5 for Creation level 5, 5 for Chemistry level 5, 4.5 for Physics level 4 (at 450), and 4.5 for Mental level 4 (at 450) ). He has also spent a further 10 SP in fusing Chemistry 5 and Creation 5 to create his super-mecha. He has used a total of 28 SP on Advancement – it would have been a monstrous 280 Staring Points, were he not a Hero!


Military

Military forces are roughly divided as Technological, Magical and Technomagical. Military units are divided into basic Types, to the point value of which is added additional Capabilities, and then the total is multiplied by the highest level of Advancement used, for their cost in Production points. This is detailed in greater depth in the Military section.

At the start of a game, the military of an Empire, Trans-stellar or Hero is purchased with Production points.
1 Starting Point buys 10 Production points. Any leftover Production points (numbers don’t always come out in multiples of ten) that are not spent on the military, can be banked as Wealth, and the player can begin the game with them.

(see the military section for specifics behind how this was calculated)
Now Omicra needs to buy his super-mecha. He looks down the list of Types and sees “Land Dreadnought”. That fits nicely with his desired power level. He then thinks about capabilities. On the magical side, the beasts that form his mecha will have the ability to regenerate (+1), be super agile (+1), and able to fly (+1). Then, on the technological side, they will have powerful defensive force fields (+1), really powerful main weapons (+1), lots of additional smaller weapons (+1), and super strong armour (+2). All told, with all the Added Capabilities, Omicra’s mecha is now a rather expensive 9 points. When multiplied by the total Advancement Level (10 – level 5 Creation and level 5 Chemistry fused) the final cost is a staggering 90 production points. Realizing he’ll be running a bit short on points, Omicra strips the extra weaponry from the mecha of his Companions (two points saved), reducing the final cost of each to a “mere” 70 points. All three mecha now cost 230 Production points, or 23 Starting Points – enough to buy a rather large army.

Production

Production is most important for Empires and only slightly less so for Trans-stellars, and is of course how you make things. Industry is your factories and such; Wealth the products of your more advanced industries and your economy; Research is your ability to find the answers to new mysteries, and Ether is your ability to gain that most critical resource of all. All these Production Categories produce “Production Points” equal to their rating each month, or in the case of research – each year.

Industry is most critical for technological Powers, and for those who wish to build large war machines, but it also is necessary for generating revenue, producing manufactured goods that can be sold. Wealth is most important for building up infrastructure, though its necessity for fielding a military also makes it indispensable to the conquering Empire. Research is just that – R&D – however it also has a second use: Magic Users are somewhat unique in that they are produced by expending Research points so the magical Power should pay some attention to this Production Category. Ether is the fuel for pretty much everything in the game, and this rating describes how much of it you can refine and produce.

Industry is notable in that it cannot be “saved”. If Industrial Production is not used to produce something and instead sits idle, that potential production is simply lost. Unlike Industry, Wealth and Ether can be stockpiled if not used.

Another point to be aware of is that without a specific Advantage, your Ether production can not be domestically increased in the same manner as the other three Categories. There are still means of raising this value, of course, but they’re not as simple as simply investing in Infrastructure. More on this later.

An Empire or Trans-stellar can start the game with a number of items already in production and 50% complete. This number is a value in Production Points equal to the total of all four Production Categories, plus the Bonus given by People. There is no additional cost to doing so.

Industry
Every 1 industrial production points gained per month costs 1 SP

Wealth
Every 1 monetary units gained per month costs 1 SP
Note: At the start of the game a Power has 5x this rating saved in its treasury.

Research
Every 1 point of research gained per year costs 1 SP

Ether Collection
Every 1 point of Ether gained per month costs 1 SP
Note: At the start of the game a Power has 2x this rating stockpiled in its strategic reserve.

Omicra decides he’s not going to have any steady sources of income. Rather, he’s going to trust that due to the power of his little team, he can earn or steal all the resources he needs to keep his group running.

He tallies up his point total:
People = 2 (2 Companions)
Influence = 0
Advancement = 29
Military = 23
Production = 0

Total = 54

Omicra is slightly over his maximum allowed points, so he begins thinking of Disadvantages. He decides to create one “Personal Enemy (-5): You have a powerful and tenacious enemy who holds a very long and very personal grudge against you.” This is not unreasonable for a mercenary after all. Omicra just hopes the Moderator will be kind and not make that Disadvantage too hard on him.

The disadvantage leaves him with 1 Starting Point left over, so on some consideration he takes the variable Advantage “Rainy Day Fund: This advantage can only be taken by Heroes. It allows you to start the game with a small stockpile of resources; Wealth, Industrial goods or Ether. This stockpile can ONLY be used to pay for Upkeep costs, and cannot be used to invest in future projects. 1 Starting Point buys you twenty of any resource in the Rainy Day Fund.” and converts the 1 leftover point into 20 stored resource points: 3 Industrial goods, 3 Wealth, and 14 Ether.

Omicra is now finished creating his Hero.

Now he just has to worry about playing the game. . .

Advantages
Rainy Day Fund (varies): This advantage can only be taken by Heroes. It allows you to start the game with a small stockpile of resources; Wealth, Industrial Goods or Ether. These goods are assumed to be in an easily transportable or – failing that – storable form. This stockpile can ONLY be used to pay for Upkeep costs, and cannot be used to invest in future projects, or sold to other Powers. 1 Starting Point buys you twenty of any resource in the Rainy Day Fund.

Ether Battery (varies): This advantage can only be taken by Heroes. It allows the Hero to store an amount of Ether internally equal to five times the rating of this Advantage. This stored Ether does not dissipate, and cannot be tapped by others. The Ether is undetectable unless in active use. Many mages consciously develop this ability. Some Heroes also naturally gain this internal strength, allowing them to power their equipment or special abilities by sheer force of will.

Dragon Heart (varies): This advantage allows the creating of self – generating Ether. Each point of Ether bought in this manner costs 2 SP rather than 1 SP. For Empires and Trans-stellars it usually means the organization powers a number of its vehicles and systems with the still beating hearts of Dragons. This is a great saving on logistics, but Dragons don’t take kindly to being harvested for power, and few organizations have access to more than 5 points of Ether generated in this manner.
For Heroes it often means that their own hearts have become a focus of power much like that of a Dragon, allowing them to generate their own power. Heroes have no limit; they can take this advantage as high as they can afford. Taken with Ether Battery this can allow a Hero to totally internalize his or her Ether.

Natural Powers (varies): Rather than casting spells with the selected Magical Category, your Hero uses his Magic Capabilities as natural abilities. Instead of “spells” the Hero creates “effects.” The cost of this Advantage is the level of the Category to which it is applied, so turning Creation level 5 from magic to natural powers would cost 5 points – this is in addition to those spent to get Creation to level 5.
Natural Powers come with a number of advantages. There is no prep time for any effect. Those of level 3 or lower and they can be used as often as desired. Effects of level 4 can be used once a day, and effects of level 5 power, once a week. While the Hero must still pay the equivalent Upkeep and casting cost (for the larger effects) in Ether of a magic user casting times are only dictated by the nature of the effect. The effect requires no arcane study, forming of reagents, worrying about counter-spells or similar nonsense.
The down side is that Natural Powers are less flexible than “true” magic. The Hero chooses 3 specific powers for level 1 of a Category, 2 powers for levels 2 and 3, and 1 power for each of level 4 and 5. The method by which these powers work and the effect they have must be clearly defined, and cannot change.

Mad Scientist (-10 Starting Points): As a Hero you can enter into tech exchanges with other Empires and Trans-stellars. You can also transfer and receive twice the normal amount of research points.

Militant worshippers (-10 Starting Points): As a Hero you may use your worshippers as a pool for a ground force. However, troops are limited to Unskilled and Skilled infantry.

Excellent Reputation (-5 Starting Points): Your name precedes you. And that’s a good thing. You’re a well known and popular figure, and you can expect a favorable reception almost everywhere you go. However a good reputation can take years to build and can be lost in a single day. Help can be acquired from the locals on most worlds and acquiring new Worshippers is half the normal cost.
Note: You should specify what this good reputation is for and how it was achieved as this will influence who reacts to you and how.

The Stuff of Legends (-10 Starting Points): You're a legendary figure. You are a cherished and loved celebrity for your deeds of valor, or very well respected out of fear for your power. This can be a double edged sword as it can make you a target for those who fear such men, or wish to challenge them. Help can be gained from the locals nearly everywhere you go and acquiring new Worshippers is one fifth the cost.
Note: Again how this Legend was made should be specified.

Lucky (-10 Starting Points): You’re one lucky bloke. You always seem to be in the right place at the right time, the cards always seem to come out right, and you’re never in quite the right place to get hit when the other shoe drops. A nebulous advantage this reinforces the character shields around a Hero. Make no mistake, you can still be killed, but it’s going to have to be because of a focused effort on the part of your enemies, not just bad chance.

Crazy Luck (-25 Starting Points): This is luck works a bit differently from “normal” luck. It’s not so much that things always go your way (they usually don’t) but that you can sometimes do the impossible. Unlike normal luck, this usually happens only after a horrible string of ever worsening and hopeless events. Bad things happen with depressing regularity but somehow (not necessarily through your direct efforts) they manage to get turned around just before you hit absolute rock bottom. This is “Die Hard” or “Frodo” type luck, or for the more fatalistic; “Chow Yun Fat” type luck. The kind of luck that sees a hopelessly outmatched Hero somehow manage to defeat a power far greater than him or herself.
Players taking this Advantage should be prepared to write some seriously entertaining st

Huge Population (-10 Starting Points): An Empire may have a vast population. The number of people is multiplied by 10. This has no effect on the industrial bonus, though it does affect the draft pool, and population upkeep. This advantage tends to create a somewhat squalid Empire, but with a lot of draftable bodies.

Weak Neighbours or “I border Poland”(-50 Starting Points): As an Empire you are not alone on your world but you might as well be. The other local powers are not a patch upon your nation and provide a ripe arena for home-grown conquest. The other nations have a combined point value of ½ your own (note, while you *can* create the other nations yourself, they will be edited if they are a bit too easy of a conquest – thus this advantage can end up being a mixed blessing and should be taken with great consideration).

Elite Armed Forces (-50 Starting Points): Your armed forces are the crème de la crème. The biggest badasses in your region of the galaxy. Morale is high, professionalism the rule, and leadership excellent if not inspired. Unlike its opposite number – Incompetent Armed Forces – this advantage is a bit easier to lose. Mass casualties and long wars can drain away the vital skill pool.

Space Cadets (-5 Starting Points): You have a foothold in space, with permanent bases, residences and a level of industry.

Space Dwellers (-10 Starting Points): Your civilization is not bound by the confines of a planet. You have no need to deal with pesky gravity wells or upsetting natural climates. The space of the Deep Sky is your natural habitat and favorite element.

Mystical Society (-25 Starting Points): Your population bonus produces not Wealth or Industry, but magical energy in the form of Ether.

Martial Society (-25): Your Power has an old and strong military tradition. Much of the populace is trained in the ways of war, weapons are plentiful and stored in local armouries and great armies can be quickly mobilized in times of trouble. In practice this allows a Power to form Unskilled Infantry and Skilled Infantry at a much increased rate, taking only the Production Point Cost in months to complete each Batch.

Fanatical Population (-25): Your People are incredibly loyal and will go to great lengths for the state. The effects of Unrests are cut in half, or doubled in the case of conquest by an enemy Power. Population Infrastructure also costs half as much to increase, and Civil Order payments are twice as effective.

Untapped Ether Reserves (-50 Starting Points): Your organization has access to vast stores of Ether of which only the surface has yet been scratched. You can expand production of Ether in the same manner as Wealth or Industry, to a maximum level of five times your starting amount. Additionally, 5 out of every 100 rather than 1 out of every 100 Ether mined will be in Geode form.

Ancient Relics (-10 Starting Points): There was an older civilization on your world before you. Long before you. Now long gone, in scattered and isolated places some of their relics remain. Most of the artifacts found are merely of curiosity value, but who knows, there may be a few big finds left.

Ancient World (-25 Starting Points): There was once a vast and advanced civilization on your world that is now long gone, but the relics of it's civilization are everywhere. New cities built on the ruins of the old, strange monuments in isolated locations, and weird and often unknowable items sometimes found in the strangest places.

Magical Wildlife (-25 Starting Points): Your Empire resides in a world where magical creatures still roam. Humans are still dominant, but in the isolated regions of the world, groups, even small civilizations of magical beings thrive.

Mystic Haven (-50 Starting Points): Your world is rife with magical wildlife. Dragons are rare sights, but not unheard of, Giants rule the far mountains and strange creatures rule beneath the waves.

Terra Incognita Magicka (-100 Starting Points): Your Empire is but a small enclave of humanity on a world otherwise dominated by the Mystical and Magical. If taken in conjunction with "Hostile World" these Magical forces may indeed form entire civilizations greater than your own. In such a case the point value of the Hostile World disadvantage is (+50), not (+25).



Disadvantages
Heavy Debt (varies): You are heavily in debt. You owe x 20 the amount in SP of this disadvantage to someone who is quite capable of collecting from you by force. Interest is 10% and compounded yearly. This disadvantage is available only to Heroes and is subject to GM approval. Taking more than 10 points in this disad places the Hero in a special category where he or she is effectively owned by the creditor and may need to perform certain tasks for them.

Factious World (+5 Starting Points): As an Empire, while you are the greatest power on your world you are not the only one. Other nations exist which have no loyalty to you. They do not pose an immediate threat, but you cannot easily conquer or control them. The other nations are created with a point value equal to your own.

Hostile World (+25 Starting Points): As an Empire, your world is not your own. There are other powers on it, and some are greater than you are, and less than friendly. Forget conquering your neighbours; just think about surviving them. You are surrounded by nations with a point value at least double your own.

Weak Government (+25 Starting Points): Your government is not fully in control of your nation. Making decisions is difficult and carrying them out more so. It is impossible to effectively declare martial law, or start a foreign war, and military expenditures cannot be hurried or constructed with Wealth. If this weakness is due to failings in the system rather than by design (in the case of an Anarchist state) other Powers can wield correspondingly greater influence over the population.

Discontented Population (+10 Starting Points): While your society does function, there are rumblings of discontent at certain levels. The production bonus from the Population is halved, and the people while not openly disloyal are willing to lend an ear to foreign voices.

Angry Population (+25 Starting Points): In addition to automatically gaining the effects of this disadvantage upon conquering an unwilling people, a player can take this disadvantage at the start, beginning with a less than rosy reputation in the eyes of his people. The population produces no bonus, and the people are receptive to foreign influence.

Rebellious Population (+50 Starting Points): The people aren’t just dissatisfied; they’re on the verge of open revolt. A newly conquered nation will usually have this disadvantage for some time before settling down into mere dissatisfaction. As well as no bonus, production in all categories is only 50% and the people will jump at the chance to ally with foreign powers against you. This lasts until this disadvantage is negated, by one means or another (not an easy task).

Pariah (+10 Starting points): You did something somewhat repugnant in the past, or are associated with the more unsavoury side of life, and now are a bit of a loner in the community. Others will only deal with you under the table, and always with guarded looks and an eye for suspected betrayals.

Magical or Technological Ineptitude (+10 Starting Points): One Category simply defies the abilities of your Empire or Trans-Stellar’s people to master, costing twice as much to research as normal. This can bought for multiple categories, except for Heroes who can only take it once. Be aware that this ineptitude also makes it difficult to deal with magic or technology using the selected Category and can create weaknesses, for even if a Power has no plans to use a Category, it is often necessary to defend against it.

Magical or Technological Intolerance (+50 Starting Points): Can be added on top of Ineptitude; the people of your Empire or Trans-Stellar have a blanket prejudice against either Science or Magic, placing a permanent level cap of 2 on all categories in the chosen area, and cannot fuse the two. Your people will also react poorly to civilizations of the opposite bent. A Hero can take this disadvantage, but only gets 25 points for doing so rather than 50.

Resource Poor World (+20 Starting Points): Industry on the home world of your Empire can never rise above 50, and increasing it costs twice as much. This does not include any Population bonus.

Impoverished World (+20 Starting Points): Wealth on the home world of your Empire can never rise above 50 and increasing it costs twice as much.

Barren World (+20 Starting Points): Population on the home world of your Empire can never rise above 50 and building population Infrastructure costs twice as much.

Incompetent Armed Forces (+25 Starting Points): Your armed forces just don’t have their shit together. They’re poorly trained, poorly motivated and poorly lead. This is a very difficult disadvantage to remove as incompetence is institutionalized at all levels.

Fear and Loathing in Lords of Ether (+25 Starting Points): You are despised. Others will attack you on sight and whole empires will ally against you at the earliest opportunity. You top the most wanted lists on most every world, and mothers frighten their children with your name. (This is a suicidal disadvantage for an Empire or Trans-Stellar; it’s intended for rogue super-villains).

Undiplomatic (+25 Starting Points): Your Empire lacks diplomatic graces. You have a great deal of trouble closing deals with other states. In practice, all diplomatic actions are twice the normal cost (so buying that battleship from the Formor Staryards will cost you 20 Production Points rather than 10). The same goes for thers trying to deal with you. The extra money is simply absorbed by a difficult, combative or restrictive diplomatic bureaucracy.

Physically Weak (+10 Starting Points): Your people are weaker than the norm, and others can more easily overpower you in hand to hand combat.

Slow Population Growth (+5 Starting Points): The Population of your Empire grows half as fast as normal. In addition to this the pressures of an ageing populace mean that it costs twice as much to build up infrastructure for what little new population you do gain.

No Population Growth (+10 Starting Points): Your Empire has stagnant Population growth. The only way to increase it is by immigration or costly artificial means. Again, the pressures of an ageing populace mean that integrating these newcomers into the infrastructure is twice as expensive. Additionally, if immigrants arrive in large numbers social tension can arise and cause Discontent.

Negative Population Growth (+25 Starting Points): The population of your Empire is in a slow but seemingly irrevocable decline. Every year it decreases by 2.5%. This can be staved of by immigration or costly artificial means, but the pressures of an ageing populace mean that integrating these newcomers into the infrastructure is twice as expensive. Additionally, if immigrants arrive in large numbers social tension can arise and cause Discontent.

Scientific Technology

Scientific Technology is defined by the mechanical use of Etheric power in ways clearly defined by established or enforced universal laws. Technology offers power to everyone who can read an instruction manual, which is its strength. Tech level 1 roughly equates to the Ancient World, Tech level 2 from the Dark Ages to early Industrial Era, Tech level 3 to the Industrial and Information Ages, roughly equating to the 20th Centry and extending into the near future. Tech level 4 and 5 are futuristic tech and reach into the bounds of imagination. It should be noted that growing levels of Etheric power are needed for most functions at level 3 and higher.

Engineering
Level 1: Primitive construction
At this level tools are simple with only rudimentary moving parts (simply pulleys, water-screws) and houses are mud and brick of no more than two or three stories. Large structures can be made but they are ultimately simple in design and function. Ships such as galleys and vehicles like carts can be made.
Level 2: Simple construction
At this level large and intricate construction becomes possible, with massive buildings thoughtfully designed, and ultimately machines like steam engines, printing presses and other machines with multiple fine moving parts. Ships ultimately become majestic sailing ships and ironclad steamers, and carriages, trains and even steam tractors can be created.
Level 3: Complex construction
This is when construction moves into structures like skyscrapers, suspension bridges and massive hydro-dams. It also includes even more complex machines, like internal combustion engines, mechanical (and then with the advancement of Physics electrical) calculators, automatic weaponry, the first robotics, and other precision equipment. In combination with increasing metallurgical technology, ships grow ever in size going from the first Dreadnoughts to the huge Carriers, while vehicles like tanks and aircraft are possible.
Level 4: Advanced concepts
At this level even larger moving structures can be engineered like Super Capital Ships. Having conquered the large, this technology tackles the small. It allows extremely complex micro-scale machinery which leads to feats of engineering like humaniform robots and vehicles.
Level 5: Hyper tech concepts
The biggest discovery at this level is Nanotech which makes much of what was previously impossible possible. Construction can be speeded by these little workers and machines can shift form and function by internal redesign. At this level transformable weapons can be made and the largest vessels constructed.

Chemistry
Level 1: Simple chemistry and metallurgy
At this level of advancement a civilization can work bronze and iron, creating spears and swords. Tincts and dyes can be created, as well as natural poisons.
Level 2: Advanced chemistry and metallurgy
At this level a Power learns how to make that dominant ancient alloy – steel. As tech progresses through this level these steel working procedures become ever more advanced and deal in ever greater volume. Such chemicals as gunpowder and then later dynamite also become available.
Level 3: Alloys and compounds
A Power learns how to create substances like plastic, aluminium, titanium, silicone compounds so common in electronics and various other modern alloys. Industrial chemicals become common like reliable fuels both solid and liquid, and explosives progress in lethality.
Level 4: Super-solids
At this level a power begins creating material whose complexity lies on the molecular scale, where the bonds that bind a material can be artificially reinforced. Armours such as tritanium and durasteel become possible. Inducing energy efficient catalytic fusion becomes a reality and offers a new and greater form of power.
Level 5: Hyper alloys and reactants
In conjunction with nano-tech the most advanced alloys can be created out of woven nanofilaments or even single stretched molecules. Advanced chemistry also allows the synthesis of stable Etheric Anti-matter, gram for gram the most powerful energy source in the galaxy.

Physics/Mathematics
Level 1: Basic literacy/numerology/geometry
At this level a power has a developed system of letters and numbers and can conduct simple mathematics – Addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and eventually even geometry and algebra. The power also has a rudimentary understanding of the universe, though much may be erroneous.
Level 2: Advanced mathematics
At this level a power begins to understand advanced mathematics like Calculus, and begins delving into more in-depth physical models of the universe. The first experimentations with electricity also come at the end of this level.
Level 3: Basic sub-atomics
At this level a power begins to delve into relativity theory, tapping into the power of the atom, both for nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Electronics become more advanced with radio and radar, and the first computers are born, quickly becoming powerful machines with complex mathematical languages. The first early laser weapons and rail guns arrive at the end of this level.
Level 4: Advanced harnessing of sub-atomics
A power begins to be able to manipulate energy on a more extensive scale creating localized fields of energy for limited defensive fields, or motive fields. The electromagnetic spectrum can be twisted enough to make the first simple cloaking devices or powerful ECM jammers. Truly viable large scale beam weapons make their first appearances and quickly gain in power. Computers begin using photons to speed processing, and more extensive hardening of systems against both harmful energy and magical effects becomes possible.
Level 5: Universal forces
The power can tap into the base state of the universe, drawing on the Etheric “Zero Point” for power and using it to instantly route communications. Forcefields become far more powerful and complete and energy weapons expand into the exotic like particle beams and wave cannon. Vast information nets can be linked on a subatomic level to create the most powerful and extensive computing machines.

Biology
Level 1: Basic breeding
The Power is able to actively domesticate and breed animals and plants for desired characteristics, creating farm animals and beasts of burden and seed crops.
Level 2: Early medicine
The power begins to learn the basics of human physiology and develops effective and not so effective means of treating and curing various ailments. At the higher end of this level surgery becomes possible, and battlefield medicine becomes more effective with knowledge about germs and infection.
Level 3: Advanced medicine
Surgery becomes ever more complex progressing to effective operations on the various internal organs. Pharmaceuticals become increasingly common and effective at a wider range of things, and finally early genetic engineering becomes possible. First used on plants, at the end of this level its use can be introduced on humans to remove congenital defects, and hereditary ailments. With Engineering the first true cybernetics can be added to the human body.
Level 4: Full genetic engineering
Full genetic engineering becomes possible, and geneticists can rewrite human DNA at will, enhancing physical characteristics far beyond the normal. Drugs can be created to manipulate existing functions with speed and accuracy, increasing the strength of a person, or speeding healing rates. Cloning becomes fully viable, though clones are just genetic copies that must grow to maturity like normal humans. Cybernetics expand to become more powerful and more integrated, with powerful multi-function bionic limbs, and neural enhancements possible in conjunction with the appropriate levels in Engineering and Psychology.
Level 5: New life
Genetic engineering reaches Frankensteinian proportions, with geneticists able to recode DNA on such a scale that a man need no longer be anything close to human. In fact, entire new lifeforms can be created, and machines can be fashioned out of living matter, allowing a power to craft living starships, using Biology rather than Chemistry and Engineering. Cloning allows new beings to be artificially gestated to maturity and with psychology their entire intellect can be constructed. Drugs can manipulate complex functions and totally rewire biological processes such as dramatically increasing intelligence, or allowing humans to temporarily breathe methane. Cybertechnology or even Magic for those into fusion can be integrated with human physiology on a seamless cellular level.


Psychology
Level 1: Basic group-control
At this level a power understands the basic mentality of the mob. It can control people with things like codes of laws and self-generated mythos.
Level 2: Co-ordinated Propaganda
The first co-ordinated use of propaganda to influence the masses becomes truly popular, and the power can create more advanced social movements to influence the development of a people. The first knowledge about the basics of human thought is gained at this level.
Level 3: Basic knowledge of the human mind
Psychology comes into its own at this level as the theories of human emotions, desires and sub consciousness are developed. Propaganda becomes deadly effective and unscrupulous societies can use this for mass indoctrination and brainwashing. At higher end of this level, in conjunction with biology this allows increasingly complex brain surgery. Along with growing computer power, it also allows easier interaction between machines and men with better interfaces and the first false intelligence.
Level 4: Advanced knowledge of the human mind
At this level the full extent of human thought is known and the neural pathways have been mapped. The development of a human mind can be engineered from birth ‘til death with controlled stimuli to manipulate a human into having the desired intellect. Links between human brains and machines can be created, and early mind probes can be used to ferret out truths and untruths. False intelligence slowly shifts into the first limited AIs by the end of this level.
Level 5: Psychohistory
At this level the mass movements of humanity can be modelled and predicted with startling accuracy, approaching a degree of precognition. Entire artificial intellects can be created, with full AIs as self-aware as any human. Mind probes or links achieve near totality, being able to read and react to the mind as if it was an open book.


Magical Power

Magical power differs from Scientific in its use of the powers of the Ether in that it relies on the will of the user rather than the use of a machine. Magic requires a lifetime of learning to master, and so can be used by far fewer than technology, but the personal power offered is greater. In general the equivalent effects with technology take a greater level of Advancement: Physics level 4 can use forcefields to create the same effects as telekinetics with Movement level 3.

Destruction
Level 1: Cause harm to one person (1 person)
At this level spells to cause harm can be created that act on a personal level. This includes things like beams of fire shooting from the finger, or etheric and magically summoned or created weapons like swords and daggers. Such weapons tend to be more durable and damaging than their physical counterparts.
Level 2: Cause harm to a small group (around 10 people)
Spells like a fan of flame, or a freezing breath of ice begin at this level. Etheric weapons become more powerful, able to slice through normal armour as paper.
Level 3: Cause harm to a large crowd (around 100 people)
The ubiquitous fireball comes into its own at this level. Lightning bolts and clouds of gas and fumes are also a staple.
Level 4: Cause harm to a community (around 1,000 – 10,000 people)
At this level the mage is able to effectively create small natural disasters. It also includes things like rains of fire or mass lighting strikes. If focussed on a single target, even warships can be destroyed.
Level 5: Cause harm to a city (from 100,000 to 1 million people)
At this level the mage can wreak havoc of near-Biblical proportions, smiting cities with meteor storms or lakes of fiery magma. Blasts and bolts powerful enough to crack open even Super Capital ships can be summoned.

Creation
Level 1: Minor manipulation
At this level magic can perform minor effects on living things, healing wounds not immediately life threatening and curing simple poisons and minor diseases.
Level 2: Serious manipulation
Serious life threatening wounds and more dangerous ailments can be healed. Simple life such as plants and insects can also be both created and modified.
Level 3: Animation and reconstruction
Crippling injuries such as the loss of a limb can be healed, and small animals such as dogs and cats can be created and manipulated – creating a fire breathing Hell Hound in conjunction with Destruction perhaps, or a Phase Shifting cat in conjunction with Movement. Also at this level the dread art of necromancy becomes available, as mages can now animate the dead.
Level 4: Large scale creation
The most complex ailments can be cured, and animals from man to elephant magically wrought or modified. The creating of more powerful undead is possible with malignant and crafty spirits called back from the grave.
Level 5: Resurrection
At this level the dead themselves can be returned to life. The price for doing this though can often be higher than the mage expects. Also mythic creatures such as Wyverns, Centaur and even – at the very upper ends of this level – pale copies of dragons can be created.

Movement
Level 1: Minor telekinesis
At this level small objects such as stones and ultimately hand held weapons can be moved by the power of the mind alone. Speed increases until such telekinetically thrown objects can be quite lethal. Telikinetic shields can protect against arrows and blows and even the occasional bullet.
Level 2: Moderate telekinesis
Levitation is one of the neater tricks of this level, and eventually matures into full flight. It is also possible to hold and trap other humans at this level, or the move them around – violently at the upper ends of this level. Telekinetic shields can hold of concerted physical attacks.
Level 3: Teleportation and strong telekinesis
At this level a mage is finally able to forgo normal 3 dimensional movement, teleporting herself or other objects short distances, or longer distances over marked and prepared routes. Telekinetic powers become powerful enough to move ever larger objects until sailing ships and even small modern warships by willpower alone. Telekinetic shields can protect the mage from harm by large weapons, like heavy artillery.
Level 4: World Gate, massive telekinesis
A mage can now create a teleportation portal through which objects of increasing size can move, from small groups of people to entire massive warships. Standing portals like this can link separate worlds for fast travel. Telekinesis expands to a scale that can move even Mega Capital ships about the sky. Telekinetic shields become truly powerful, and when merged with destruction are easily a match for anything technology can create.
Level 5: Dimension Gate
At this level a mage is able to fully break free of the bonds of this reality, and create portals into the unknown realms. Divine or hellish creatures of awesome power can be called into our reality. Telekinesis expands to the movement of the most massive objects like floating cities.

Mental
Level 1: Minor Empathy
At this level the mage can only receive the emotions of others, sensing happiness, sorrow, fear, joy. . . This can be either used in a localized area in which case only the strongest emotions register, or the mage can focus the sense on a single individual for a more nuanced reception.
Level 2: Full empathy and minor telepathy
At this level the mage can send emotions as well as receive them. This sending can be done at an unconscious level, making a subject slowly more frightened, or bulwarking the courage of failing comrades. Minor telepathy is also possible as the mage can receive the surface thoughts of a target. However, attempting to do this on a wide scale as with empathy inevitable leads to a psychotic crash as the mage is inundated with mental clutter.
Level 3: Full telepathy
At this level the mage can send her thoughts as well as delve more deeply into the minds of others. Two-way links can be created for communications. This level is also of great use to summoners, who can use it to call mindless simple spirits to do their bidding.
Level 4: Invasive telepathy and minor astral projection
The mage can now plumb the depths of a target’s subconscious, can rewire their thoughts and tear through their minds. Mages can use this power for great good or ill. Summoners can call more powerful spirits. The mage can also become a spirit heself, detaching from her body and floating through the Ether. This method of projection is dangerous and fraught with perils, but also incredibly useful.
Level 5: Create new minds and free astral projection
The mage can now magically create an entirely new mind, or totally disconnect her own from her body and wander as a true spirit (though death of the host body is still fatal). The mage can even possess and puppet other humans. With knowledge of the extra-planar from Movement, a mage can even use this to steal the very soul of a person. The greatest spirits can be called to do the summoner’s bidding.

Transmogrification
Level 1: Change very small object
At this level a mage can change small object – a coin or pebble – from one simple substance to another. A copper coin could be turned to gold, or an incoming arrow turned to air (if the mage is fast enough).
Level 2: Change small object
At this level larger objects can be transformed. A mage could turn a chair from wood to iron, or a heavy lock to clay. Simple objects can also be moulded into form. Magical societies often use this as a substitute for such Categories as Engineering and Chemistry. This level of transmogrification is very popularly used in conjunction with Creation, and such spells as turning a soldier’s assault-rifle into a poisonous snake have been a staple of sorcerers in conflicts between tech and magic for centuries.
Level 3: Change large object
At this level objects of man-sized or larger can be changed in form, with the mage changing small houses by the end of this level. An armoured door could be turned to glass, or a tank to paper. Generally it is easier to affect the inanimate than the living, as changing the form of dynamic living beings takes greater effort and longer casting (and usually knowledge of Creation). Complex alloys can be formed, and at this level the properties of materials can also be changed, with objects heated or cooled, or strengthened or weakened beyond normal bounds. At this level a mage can sculpt matter like an artist.
Level 4: Change very large objects
At this level very large objects like multi-story buildings and warships from Small to Capital can be changed in form. The mage can also create large complex objects with multiple parts and functions essentially from nothing, changing air, dirt and Ether to form his creations. Such objects can also be magically imbued, and this is the level where golems can be created.
Level 5: Change huge objects and create advanced magical materials
Things like Super and Mega Capital Ships can be changed and moulded, with the creation of automatoma and gargantua becoming possible. However the most powerful art is that of creating wholly new and magical materials like Mithril and Adamantine armour, or specially repulsive metals like the anti-gravity Sildron or Levi-Stones.



Technomagical Fusion

Fusion is the melding of Magic and Science into a unified whole. This creates the ultimate in power and ability. Fusion has no levels, but is rather an extra cost paid to meld magic and technology into a seamless whole. Any scientific category can be fused with any magical category, and vice versa.

In practice, it works like this: The Assassin’s Guild of the Fandor Belt has Destruction at level 2 and Chemistry at level 2. They decide fuse their knowledge so that, among other nasty things, their smiths can create swords of demonic hellfire, making each man as powerful as an entire party of warriors. The two levels are added to each other, for an advancement level value of 4. The multiplier of x100 is then used for a value of 400, which is then the cost they must pay in Research points. Once paid, the Assassins can now meld any Chemistry tech up to level 2 with any Destruction power up to level 2, so having paid the cost, they could now also use their knowledge of Destruction level 1 with Chemistry level 1 (perhaps to make a magically poisoned bronze knife) and so on. Fusing doesn’t just give you the one signature ability – it gives you anything you can conceive of that could come from the melding of the two Categories.

However, if the Assassins gained Chemistry level 3, and now wished to create a magical gas that could exterminate a goodly chunk of land with added oomph, they must add the levels again (this time level 5) and pay the resulting cost of 500. Already having Destruction/Chemistry fused at 400 points, a combined level of 4, this just means an added 100 Research points need to be paid, not an entire 500.

If the Assassins then gained a Destruction level and wanted instead to create a musket that could destroy a village as a cannon, they would need to meld Destruction 3 with Chemistry 2. A musket needs Chemistry 2 and Engineering 2 to create, but the critical component is the gunpowder – Chem 2. When fusing for a technology that may have multiple components, simply take the highest, or most critical one. The combined level of Chemistry 2 and Destruction 3 is 5, or 500 points. The assassins already have Destruction and Chemistry fused at 500 points, but they don’t have it fused at Destruction level three, only level two. In this case, the full level of the new Destruction (3) must be added to the level of Chemistry already fused (3) – for a total of 6, or 600 Research points. The highest level of any Category already fused must always be used when calculating fusion costs.

Note: A mage can enchant an item or cast various spells upon it without having to resort to fusion. Fusion simply allows non-mages to use items that would otherwise be mundane but now permanently display magical powers.

Militaries

Military forces are a must in any empire-building universe. In Lords of Ether their type varies hugely, from medieval bowmen to plasma armed space marines to elder dragons to space battleships. Military units can be broken down into two rough categories – Technological and Magical. Technological covers everything from spearmen up to starships. Magical covers those units that are summoned, artificed, or bound by magic, from zombies to great wyrms.


Technological
Pretty much every Empire or Trans-stellar, even the magically inclined ones, will field technological units, even if only simple ones. To create them, and determine how much they will cost there are a number of steps.

Types, Batches and Base Cost
The first step is to determine Type. Types are general descriptions into which the unit falls and come with initial point values per Batch that will be subject to later modification. Types where the individual units would cost far less than 1 point come in Batches. A Batch is a grouping of like military units that have a combined Base Cost of 1. This value per Batch is the Base Cost. It should be noted that you will rarely pay the Base Cost to build something – it serves as a value on top of which modifiers are added and multiplied.

Ground Unit Types
Ground units are those that are effectively earth-bound, at least by design. These form the army of a power.

Unskilled Infantry: 1 point per 100,000
Unskilled Infantry are poorly equipped and trained troops that are often raised quickly to act as cannon fodder of hastily fill gaps in the regular forces. Peasants with pitchforks or raw conscripts with weapons a generation or two less advanced than the regular army fall into this category.

Skilled Infantry: 1 point per 10,000
Skilled infantry are your standard soldiers, armed with your standard weapons. The backbone of an army. Roman Legionaries, pikemen and riflemen fall into this category.

Elite Infantry: 1 point per 1,000
Elite infantry are specially trained troops, usually armed with the best weapons available. These are still “line” combat forces, but they have special capabilities. Paratroops are a good example of Elite Infantry.

Special Forces: 1 point per 50
These are the very best of the very best. Handpicked men given equipment the rest of the army may not even know about yet, and trained to the absolute highest standards. Paratroops dream of becoming these guys; very few ever realize that dream. Ninjas, Knightly Champions, SAS, all are in this category.

Artillery: 1 point per 200
Artillery is the usual “big stick.” A necessity for any well-rounded army it covers things from catapult, to black powder cannon, to modern howitzers.

Logistics Vehicles: 1 point per 1,000
These are things like carthorses and wagons, to 5 ton trucks to hover pallets. These are what you use to transport your troops and supplies on something other than their boots. Cargo Capacity is 5 for tech 1, 10 for tech 2, 50 for tech 3, 100 for tech 4, and 200 for tech 5.

Mobile Forces: 1 point per 500
These are your fast units, usually mounted or motorized they are normally the eyes and ears of your army. Light cavalry or armoured cars are a good example.

Armour: 1 point per 100
This is the stuff you call on when you need to just create havoc and panic and smash great big holes in the enemy lines. Usually fast striking, hard hitting and well protected. Heavy cavalry or tanks should come to mind.

Advanced Armour: 1 point per 50
Advanced armour is not so much determined by size and power as by complexity. Hovertanks and battlemechs would fall into this category.

Very Heavy Armour: 1 point per 25
These are extremely large tanks. Historically few of these (like the inappropriately named German “Maus” – mouse) ever served, but you can change that. Huge tracked beasts often with coaxial guns other tanks would be proud to call main cannon, and main cannon warships would be proud to own, they are lumbering and expensive and mighty impressive.

Hyper Advanced Armour: 1 point per 10
This stuff is more than just a little over the top. Equipment so advanced it strains credulity. Mecha and Mobile Suits are in this category.

Mobile Gun Fortress: 1 point per 10
This is a rolling, crawling or hovering weapons platform bristling with the firepower of multiple gun and missile systems. One of these can take on a company of tanks. As expansive as Hyper Advanced Armour, it’s much more powerful, forgoing things like agility and mechanical gee-whizzery in favour of simple brute firepower.

Land Dreadnought: 1 point per 1
This is for those people who feel the need to create something even more devastating than a “mere” Mobile Fortress. Titans and Bolos fall into this category.


Modifiers
To create a batch and determine it’s cost, you must select its Base Type and then begin adding and multiplying various modifiers. Modifiers come from Added Capability and Advancement Level.

Added Capability refers to nifty little additions made to the unit, beyond that which it would normally possess. Each added capability adds 1 point to the cost of the unit. Players can determine their own Added Capabilities. Common ones for ground units are additional armour, additional or more powerful weapons, more weapons, longer ranged weapons, faster speed, improved sensors, and so on. There are also a few added capabilities that add 2 points to the cost, rather than 1, such as AI or robot controlled. If a unit is becoming to expensive, cost can also be reduced by removing or Reducing capability. So, for instance a player might build a tank with added armour and firepower (+2 points), but make it less mobile (-1) to partially compensate for the cost. Cost can never be reduced below 1 point, and reducing capability does not change the maximum number of Added Capabilities allowed.

Some Added Capabilities such as armour and weapons can be applied multiple times, but a unit can never have more Added Capabilities than its highest Advancement Level (regardless of how many capabilities are reduced to compensate). In the case of Technomagically fused units, Technologically based Capabilities can only be added up to the Advancement level of Scientific side of the fusion. Magically based Capabilites can also be added, but again, only up to the Advancement level of the Magical side of the fusion. So, a unit which was created through the fusion of Biology 5 and Transmogrification 5 still can only take 5 added Tech capabilities, but it can then take another 5 Magic capabilities (if you are willing to pay the resultant massive cost).

Technological Advancement Level is the next major modifier. The point value of the Basic Type, plus the points from any Added Capabilities, is multiplied by the highest level of Advancement used to create the unit. In the case of Technomagically fused units, the total level of fusion is used as a multiplier.

The final number after Type + Added Capability, all multiplied by Advancement Level is what it will cost to build one of the unit in question.

Let’s go through an example. The Empire of Kyrast wishes to field a Mechanized Infantry Division, using technology about as advanced as the present day. To do this, Kyrast will need the Basic Types “Skilled Infantry”, “Artillery”, “Mobile Forces”, and “Armour”.

Kyrast starts with the 10,000 Skilled Infantry (1 point). The Empire wants more than just troops with assault rifles; it’s infantry will be armed with the latest in weapons, like the OICW, and with full body armour (+1 point for heavier weapons and +1 point for additional armour). That’s a total of 3 points. Since Kyrast will be using Level 3 Technology (actually Kyrast has a 375 in most Tech fields, but only the actual level is important here), those 3 points are multiplied by 3 for the maximum Advancement Level, for a final cost of 9.

Kyrast also wants to mount these infantry in APCs, and decides it will need 1,000 of them, or 2 points worth, using the Type “Mobile Forces” (1 point per 500). Kyrast decides that it will add anti-tank missiles to these APCs (+1 point, applied to each). With its total cost for two groups of up-armed APCs now at 4 points, Kyrast decides that’s enough, multiplies by the Advancement Level, and gets a total cost of 12.

Now Kyrast looks at its tanks. It wants really kickass tanks, so it takes the Type “Armour” (1 point per 100), and adds in two levels of additional armour and a battlecomputer (+3). While Kyrast would like to add in a bit more speed too, it has reached the maximum amount of added capability for an Advancement Level 3 unit. With cost at 4 points, it multiplies that by 3 for the tech level for a total of 12. This is for 100 tanks, but Kyrast decides its division will need at least 300, so for three groups, the final cost comes out to 36.

Finally, Kyrast deals with its artillery. These too it wants to improve above the basic Type of “Artillery”. It adds +1 for extended weapons range, another +1 for added mobility (the guns are now tracked) and another +1 for some armour protection. Multiplying the total of 4 points by 3 for the Advancement Level Kyrast comes up with a cost of 12. Kyrast decides it only needs 200 of these, so just stays with one group.

The total size of this force is now 10,000 men, 1,000 APCs, 300 tanks and 200 self-propelled guns, and its total cost is a whopping 69 points. Kyrast now has a very modern force. Had it simple settled for the basic Type and Advancement Level its cost would have been a mere 21 points, but then its army would have been far less capable.



Air Unit Types
Air units cover anything that can fly at better than a low hover. Only the more advanced aerial craft can break free of the gravity of a planet on their own, but there is fundamentally little difference between flying in the Sky or Deep Sky – save that puttering about the Deep Sky off the Star Ways takes a great deal longer. Also, for those unable to build a Sky Navy, planes and airships make a viable alternative.

Aerial Scout: 1 point per 500
These are unarmed or lightly armed aerial scout. Cessnas and Storks fall into this category. It can also be used for WWI era aircraft.

Fighter: 1 point per 25
This is your basic aircraft for shooting others down. Of course the multirole ones can also be used as a limited bomber, but its main role is air to air. Spitfires, Sabres and F-16s, even F-22s on the high end. Attack helicopters like Apaches also are in this category.

Super Fighter: 1 point per 5
These are aircraft of near unbelievable abilities, often transformable, like Veritechs.

Medium Bomber: 1 point per 20
Your average specialized tactical bomber. Heinkel 111s to F-111s.

Heavy Bomber: 1 point per 10
Your usual mud mover – larger and more capable. B-17s to B-52s.

Super Bomber: 1 point per 1
This is the big daddy of aircraft, for those who thought the Old Dog was a bit on the pansy side. These aircraft would be huge with many engines and multiple weapons – some Mobile Armour fit this category rather well too.

Light Transport Aircraft: 1 point per 50
These little planes can carry up to 50 men. Examples are old twin engine WWII Dakotas. These vehicles have a Cargo Capacity of 25 times their tech level.
Transport Helicopters also fall into this category.

Medium Transport Aircraft: 1 point per 25
Larger aircraft like the Hercules, these can carry 50 times their tech level in Cargo Capacity, over longer ranges and usually at greater speeds.
Massive Helos are in this category.

Heavy Transport Aircraft: 1 point per 15
In the range of the C5 Galaxy, these have a Cargo Capacity 100 times their tech level, and the longest ranges.

Super Transport Aircraft: 1 point per 3
Giant transports, often used for moving huge mecha, these have a Cargo Capacity of 500 times their tech level. They take level 4 tech to make.

Small Airship: 1 point per 25
This is a small airship or blimp. Just a gas bag with a gondola slung underneath. Good for patrolling, and with a bit of Ether enhancement to its lifting gas, able to zip up into the Deep Sky. Without IC engines, they can be built with Engineering level 2 and Chemistry level 2, making them the earliest pure technology flying machines.

Large Airship: 1 point per 10
Your usual Zeppelin. Often used for hauling a few hundred tons of cargo, sometimes as a war machine – in which role they’re roughly equivalent to a patrol warship. One of these rigged just for cargo duties can lug up to a Cargo Capacity of 100 times its tech level.

Super Airship: 1 point per 1
The kind of ship the Count dreamed of, but never got to build. When used for war these ships can pack firepower about equivalent to a cruiser. When designed as a transport (without Added Capabilities) they can carry up to 1,000 points in Cargo Capacity times their tech level.

Leviathan Airship: 10 points per 1
This ship is the kind that lives in the mad fantasies of the wildest SF writers – an airship as big as a small town. They are roughly equal to a Super Capital Ship in power if designed as a warship, or capable of carrying 25,000 points in Cargo Capacity times their tech level if made as a transport. They take Tech level 4 or prodigious levels of magical assistance to create.

Sensor Aircraft: 1 point per 5
These can take a multitude of different forms, however at heart they’re all the same thing – an aircraft designed to detect other aircraft at long ranges. They’re invaluable for the side that has them, and prime targets for the side that doesn’t.

External Booster Packs: 1 point per 50
Booster Packs are those devices, of various means, that allow an otherwise non-capable craft to ascend into space and zip around there. Usually they’re rocket or ramjet sustainers strapped onto hardpoints or external mountings. By adding these to a plane you’re essentially giving it one level of Added Capability in your best rockets.


Modifiers
Modifiers for air units work in exactly the same way they do for ground units, adding Capabilities and the multiplying by highest Advancement level. Some usual Added Capabilities are manoeuvrability, speed, multi-role, STOL, extra weapons, stealth or added ECM, better sensors, and so on. VTOL, or jump-jet capability costs 2 points, as does full stealth, and integral rocket boosters before tech level 4 is reached in the relevant Categories, at which point they all cost only 1 point. At tech level 5 rocket boosters of any sort are no longer required for an aircraft to fly into space. Armour is generally anathema to aircraft. Adding it automatically brings a reduction in either speed or manoeuvrability, unless the unit in question is a helicopter (1 level of armour allowed without Reduced Capability), or is using Pysics level 4 (1 level) or level 5 (two levels). Another key Added Capability is Ether enhanced lifting gas for airships. This is a simple enough procedure (Chem:2) that gives an airship twice as much lift – enough to carry armour plates or fly out into space itself! It costs 1 point of Added Capability, but also adds an extra point to Ether Upkeep, which will be discussed later.

For example, Kyrast wishes to give its above division some air power. Some attack helicopters, some multi-role fighters, and even some AWACS.

For the helicopters it takes the base Type “Fighter” (1 point per 25), and uses the attack helicopter sub category. It decided it’ll take advantage of the armour option and adds one point (+1 point). Were it a normal aircraft this would automatically make it either slower or less manueverable, however, for a helicopter, the first point of armour is free of this manuever minus. Kyrast decides it want another point of armour on its helicopters though (+1). It has to pay for this one in performance, and chooses to make the helicopter less manoeuvrable. It also wants some extra heavy guns on its flying tank, so it takes a final Added Capability. 4 points total x 3 for the Advancement level, and 50 of these attack helos cost 24 Production points.

For fighters, Kyrast decides it wants something that can do a host of tasks. It takes the basic Type, “Fighter”, and then adds in a single point for multi-role. Any aircraft can drop bombs of course, but now this fighter is a true fighter-bomber. At 2 points times 3 levels of advancement, 25 of these aircraft cost 6 Prduction points. Kyrast wants 100 of them, so the total cost is 24 Production points.

Buying it’s AWACS now, Kyrast takes the Sensor Platform Type (1 point per 5). It adds in 2 levels of sensor range, and 1 level of sensor power (to deal with ECM and stealth), for 4 points, and an ultimate production cost of 12 for 5 of the AWACS. However, for now Kyrast only wants 1, so it’s final Production cost is 2.4

One of Kyrast’s nearby neighbours, the Jenom Corporation has developed a rather more powerful weapon system – the Multi-Form; an advanced aero-space fighter that can turn into a squat humanoid form for melee combat at even ground battle. Kyrast is looking to buy this off them. The Multi-Form uses the base Type of “Super Fighter” (1 point per 5). At tech level 4 it has the Added Capabilities of armour (+1), multi-role, in this case its transforming ability – something it would be impossible for a lesser class or lower Advancement level of aircraft to take (+1), added weapons (+1) for a number of close range an melee devices including a beam sword. There are two versions of the Multi-Form; one with added manoeuvrability as a fighter and one with superior melee ability as a humanoid. Kyrast decides to order the melee option (+1). At 5 points and tech level 4, a mere 5 of these craft will cost 20 Production points. Not having integral rocket boosters with them, Kyrast also purchases some from Jenom so the Multi-Forms can fly from the planet up into space – the basic Type are 1 point per 50, modified by Advancement level of 4 for fusion thrusters – paying 0.4 Production points for 5. All of course before Jenom suitably marks up it’s prices for export. . .

Another of Kyrast’s neighbours, the Ishanti Imperium fields airships rather than aircraft. It’s most common design is the Starclimber. The Starclimber is a Super Airship Type, costing 1 point for 1. At Advancement level 3, Ishanti equips them with the Added Advantages Ether enhanced lift gas (+1), rockets (+1), and extra missiles (+1). Multiplied by the Advancement level of 3, each costs 12 production to build. Expensive for an air unit, but in fact, with its Ether enhanced gas the Starclimber is also a spaceship! The addition of rockets is not necessary, since as an aerial vehicle it can fly around the deep sky as well as the sky, but they do give it some needed speed in the voids of space. However, these two abilities also add two points of Ether Upkeep to this expensive vessel – Upkeep will be discussed in detail later.

Naval Unit Types
While Naval units can be the normal sea-bound forces, but more often than not in Lords of Ether Navies are made up of space or deep sky capable vessels. There are any number of ways to modify a standard ship for use in space. The first is to make it lighter than air – Zeppelin style. This can either be done by making it a Zeppelin, or by attaching more arcane magical items to it, such as Levistones or Aldanium ore (assuming you have some). Lacking that, another method is to have the ship piloted by a mage skilled in the magical art of Movement. Of course there’s also the scientific route such as rockets, though while these serve for space, they’re a very poor means of getting a large ship out of a gravity well, fusion engines, or propulsive force fields, or even inertia-less drives.

The ships listed below are basic wet-navy vessels, and would lack motive power to get into space, or to sail the deep sky, unless it was added as an Added Capability. A warship without any motive means in space, but built or assembled there is basically a defensive platform. Note that a starship in no way must look like a flying Yamato – the capability of weapons at equal levels of tech is simply comparable.

Concerning combat capability, generally at level 3 a warship uses large calibre guns and missiles for offence, and armour and active point defences for protection. At level 4 ships start using energy weapons and gain a degree of shielding (usually selective, directional, or very weak), and continue into more advanced and esoteric weapons and more total shields at level 5.


Freighter: 1 point per 10
This is your basic heavy transport ship, be it carrack or cargo hauler. At tech 1 these ships have a cargo Capacity of 500, 2,000 at level 2, 10,000 at level 3, 15,000 at level 4, and 25,000 at level 5 Unless they’re in the direct service of the military, you pay no upkeep for freighters.

Super Freighter: 1 point per 2
This is the bigger brother of the basic freighter – a grand galleon, liner, or super-tanker. Far more efficient for long bulk hauls it can carry ten times as much as a Freighter. The only downside is it hurts more if you lose it. Again, unless they’re in the direct service of the armed force, you pay no upkeep for super freighters.

Fast Warship: 1 point per 10
These are quick light combatants. They usually have minimal gun armament and as their main weapon use a small number of limited use but hard hitting torpedo or missiles. They gain an automatic +50% to speed after all other modifications, but similarly suffer -50% to range.

Patrol Warship: 1 point per 10
These are things like brigs, sloops and corvettes. They usually have light armament, usually specialized to one or two roles, and are usually not particularly fast or tough. They are generally used for tasks that require a warship of some endurance but don’t warrant a full destroyer.

Small Warship: 1 point per 5
Frigates from the age of sail, or modern destroyers fall into this category. These are ships that usually have a fair gun armament, and, if available, usually pack good missile armament as well. Later model ships of this Type often carry a couple or smaller aircraft.

Cruiser: Value 1 point per 2
Cruisers are larger ships with range, autonomy and a fair bit of firepower. They’re often the workhorse of a peaceful navy. They tend to have a mix of gun and missile weapons, preference usually towards the latter, but often dependant on tech era and the designers intent.

Capital Ship: Value 2 points per 1
Capital ships include Battleships, Battlecruisers and Carriers. These are the big guns of any fleet, and the centerpieces of the navy. They usually pack massive gun armaments, or facilities for multiple aircraft (the average carrier packs 100).

Super Capital Ship: 5 points per 1
These things are monsters. Battleships and carriers rolled into one, usually with a hefty portion of assault ship on the side. Small fleets in and of themselves. They cost as much to keep running too, so these ships are often kept mothballed and brought into service only for war.

Mega Capital Ship: 25 points per 1
This is for those people with serious issues of power, who wish to create things like fighting planetoids or mid-sized flying islands. Really, you’d be better of questing to salvage one rather than *build* it since you’re looking at a decades long construction time, but as you like. The more common use for this size of ship is in making giant asteroid fortresses, which, while mostly immobile and of usually weaker build (being rock rather then super alloys) only take their Production Point cost in months to complete.

Submarines: Varies
Submarines use the basic Type of the relevant size of warship (a coastal sub would be Patrol, an attack sub Small, a Boomer a Cruiser Type), and then take the Added Capability submersible which is one point. In space, this can be simulated by extra stealth or cloaking devices which are two points. A ship MUST be specifically designed to make full use of a cloaking device; slapping one on a normal vessel usually leads to no more effect that an extra brace of ECM pods.


Modifiers
As with ground and air units, modifiers work the same for navy units. Common Added Capabilities are for armour and weapons (often with specifications for which weapons have been boosted) sensors and increased carrying capacity.

As has been mentioned, for travel into and through space or the Deep Sky, special equipment is needed that deserves particular mention. The technology to do so begins at Engineering and Chemistry level 2 with sail and steam power, though to function properly magical assistance is required. The first real technological method for travelling in space begins at Chemistry level 3 with rockets, and then continues with Physics/Mathematics level 4 with propulsive forcefields, and fusion-catalyst drives with Chemistry level 4. Finally at Chemistry level 5 easily available etheric anti-matter can be used as a drive source, or at Physics/Mathematics level 5 inertia-less forcefield drives can be created.

Unlike aircraft, naval ships are not inherently motive in space or the deep sky and must always take one of the above forms of propulsion (or a rough equivalent – exact definitions and descriptions can vary however you like). Also, until force-fields are used for propulsion, they have a very difficult – if not impossible – time leaving a planet’s gravity well under their own power (if they are not initially constructed in space) or manoeuvring in atmosphere.

The uses of steam and sail ships in space will be detailed in the magic section. At tech level 3 only Small Warships or less may have atmospheric capability – usually gained by two Added Capabilities of rockets (one simply would not provide enough power) and the Added Capability of aerodynamics. At tech level 4, one of the now much more powerful rockets can do what previously took two and ships as large as Cruisers can be flown through the atmosphere. Or, for a more radical choice the ship can forgo rocket propulsion entirely and use a form of forcefield – doing so removes the need for aerodynamics, and allows even Capital Ships to cruise the skies over a planet. However while more versatile force fields are a much slower means of travel than rockets, until inertia-less ones are developed at level 5. However, by then anti-matter rockets are also available which are still faster. Both these means can lift even the largest vessels up to the stars.

Some Added Capabilities for ships are rockets, aerodynamics, various extra weapons, force fields, extra armour, extra carrying capacity for carriers and cargo ships (+/-25% per point), tanker (+ 100% carrying capacity, but may only carry fuel) and so on. Some common 2 point Capabilities are AEGIS, which is an advanced integrated anti-air system, and super gun which can only be mounted on capital ships or greater – this last often takes the form of a single massive slow firing beam cannon of some sort, capable of destroying smaller ships with a single shot and crippling ships of the same size class.


As an aspiring power, Kyrast has commissioned the expansion of its existing fleet with 10 new Destroyers and new Super Battleship.

Kyrast wants its destroyers to be capable of flight in both sky and space. It would like to use force-fields to do this, but at tech level 3 it doesn’t have that option – it has to stick with chemical rockets. This limits its design options. To fly in space the destroyers need at least one Added Advantage in rockets (+1), else they’ll just be drifting defence platforms. Moreover, to develop the power to fly in atmosphere and under the influence of a gravity well, they need another set of rockets (+1). Had they more powerful level 4 tech rockets they would not need to spend this extra point. They also need the Destroyers to be aerodynamic (+1), else they’ll fly with all the grace of falling bricks, so that’s their last point of Added Capability. At Advancement level 3, the Destroyers will cost 12 Production points.

To build its Super Battleship Kyrast has had to receive plans and parts from the more advanced Jenom Corporation – Engineering:4 for the ship itself, and Physics:4 for the engines and main gun. The ship itself is powered by a repeller force field drive (+1). It is little more than a flying gun, mounting a massive beam cannon (+2). Kyrast has had this enhanced yet further, so that rather than simply destroy Capital ships in a single shot, it can destroy even Super Capital ships with a single blast (+1). Including the cost of it’s Type “Super Capital ship: 5 points per 1”, this comes to a whopping 9 points, and when multiplied by the highest Advancement level of 4 the cost is a staggering 36 Production points. For a single ship, Kyrast considers this a bit much, and so throws in a Reduced Capability, removing the other main guns (-1), and bringing the final Production point cost down to 32.



Security Forces
Security forces are a nebulous set of unit types that are used to keep track of the population, detect and arrest enemy spies, put down dissent and – in necessary – oppress the population into total subservience. Normal military units can often do these tasks under martial law; Security Forces just do it better.

Informers: 1 point per 100,000
Informers are a handy thing for any police state to have. They’re nothing more than the local populace on the government payroll, ordered to keep an eye out for any suspicious persons. A state with a loyal and happy populace and no great paranoia has little need of informers, but in an Empire suffering from discontent they can be invaluable. Unfortunately, once discontent becomes open defiance, informers tend to lie low. In the right circumstances, Informers can also be bought in the populace of another Empire, but doing so takes times as much as ten times the cost and upkeep respectively, and is hardly as hassle free as it is when you control the local security apparatus. The employees of a trans-stellar are automatically informers for their organization. The Advancement modifier for Informers is the average Technology level of the organization on which they are informing.

Secret Police: 1 point per 10,000
Secret police are para-military troops whose main task is to look after the internal affairs of the nation. They are more effective at putting down civil disorder and keep a close eye out for enemy infiltration. In a pinch they can serve as combat troops, though they’re usually only half as effective as Skilled Infantry.

Spies: 1 point per 100
Anyone willing to betray their country can become a spy, but these are specially trained and prepared agents. They are often sent on deep cover penetrations, or other hazardous tasks. Unless you give them the Added Advantages of combat skills, these men and women are simply masters of deception and intrigue; not James Bond. They are useful not just for ferreting out enemy secrets, but also for defending your own from enemy Spies.

Modifiers
Informers are have no modifiers beyond the Advancement modifier for the civilization they come from – yeah, it’s easier to buy the peasants of an iron age civilization than the advanced cosmopolitans of an information age cyberstate. On the other hand, the informers of an advanced state will have a great deal more resources to use. Informers require only Wealth for Upkeep. The modifier is the single highest Advancement Category the civilization has. This does not include technomagic.

Modifiers for secret police and spies are usually for additional equipment like extra surveillance gear, or specialized riot control. Specialized training can also be bought to combat specific problems like cybercrime or black markets. Another common point for the paranoid is added loyalty: an Added Advantage to ensure the security forces have but one master – that being you.


Weapons of Mass Destruction
These are the horrors of the universe; weapons with which it is possible to slaughter people en-masse. Many were used during the Godwar, and many worlds still bear the scars. Using these can lead to severe political consequences, or worse, physical consequences. There are many groups and individuals who will do anything to prevent the collapse of civilization into a second annihilation induced dark age. . .

Gas
Basic Gas: 1 point per 50 uses
Gas is one of the more minor weapons. It’s usually not as lethal as even conventional high explosives, however it is an excellent terror weapon for cleaning out civilian populations. Unfortunately using it can have mixed benefits as it’s difficult to employ and can react to unpredictable conditions. Basic Gas is stuff like mustard gas, chlorine, nerve agents and so on.

Advanced Gas: 1 point per 5 uses
This is the nasty nasty stuff. Often enhanced with Ether, it requires at least Chemistry level 4 to make. Gasses like Mystronix; a gas that kills only magical creations and creatures and magic users, or Hellion, a chemical often deployed at night that leads a population to spontaneously combust in sunlight are infamous in the horror they can inflict. Use any of these and you can marvel at their effects. . . before you have to deal with a likely resultant Jihad to exterminate you.

Bioweapons
Basic Bioweapons: 1 point per 25 uses
Bioweapons are cheap, but often very unpredictable; moreso than gas. Sometimes a use can fizzle even under the best circumstances inflicting only a dozen deaths, or sometimes it can run rampant and nearly exterminate a population – occasionally your own: bioweapons have been known to backfire. They are also highly vulnerable to medical sciences, and using them against an advanced society, especially one that uses genetic engineering is likely to result in few effects. The basic ones are things like various plagues and viruses; Black Death, Anthrax, Ebola, and others.

Advanced Bioweapons: 1 point per 5 uses
These are rather more deadly. Needing at least Biology level 4, and often cultured in Etheric vats, these weapons have some of the most deadly effects. However, many are also fast mutating due to their energized mystical state, and can even more easily prove fatal to the user once deployed. Technomagic can be of great use in creating these weapons. Gangur is the most horrific example; an airborne highly infectious bacterium that that mutated a population in a matter of days into mindless superhuman homicidal abominations. Gangur was used only once – the civilization that did so was wiped out days later by a combined fleet of warships and its world turned to glass.

Modifiers
Gas and Bioweapons are defined by a “use”. How much substance this requires depends on the concentration of the substance, however a use is deadly to as many as 100,000 people. This number is more reliable when using gas, but falls drastically with protection, to the point where a properly protected and deployed army will likely suffer a few hundred casualties at best. An unwary and unprotected civilian population can be quickly exterminated however. Also, the greater the tech level difference between the gas or bioweapon and its target population, the greater the effect will be – perfect for eliminating those tribes of pesky savages on the Ether rich world you’re about to claim.

Normal modifiers are concentration, invisible, persistent, selective, and so on. Gasses require only industrial upkeep, though the Advanced ones often also need a point of Ether. Bioweapons require both Wealth and Industrial upkeep, since staff are required to maintain the conditions of most bioweapons. Again the more advanced ones also require Ether upkeep.


Nukes
Tactical Nukes: 1 point per 10
These are weapons in the 1 Kiloton to 10 Kiloton range. They may not actually be nuclear weapons, but the term is a generic one, and describes yield rather than method. At the high end, many advanced non-nuke beam and missile weapons equal these in power, making them a useful method of gaining limited parity for a less advanced civilization. Most civilizations can get away with limited use of these in space.

Strategic Nukes: 1 point per 1
These are weapons in the 100 Kiloton to 1 MT range. The actual yield of the nuke within this range is up to the designer and incurs little extra cost. This may seem an invitation to immediately build the biggest weapon in each Type, but various considerations can suggest against it.

City Busters: 5 points per 1
These are weapons in the 10MT to 100 MT range.

Crust Busters: 25 points per 1
These weapons are in the Gigaton to Teraton range.
These are awesome weapons that can shatter the crust of a planet down to the mantle. Only ten of these were ever used, coincidentally all of them in the destruction of the world that used Gangur.

Modifiers
Firstly, nukes are hard to make and store. They require the acquiring of Ether Geodes which are not common – half their Production Point Cost must be paid in Ether, and only in Ether from Geodes. Then, once built, the warheads require a great deal of upkeep (x2) or they degrade into uselessness within a matter of months. This degradation seems to be exacerbated by number of warheads possessed: nations which have tried to amass large numbers of these weapons have been continually frustrated by this effect. Exactly why this occurs is somewhat of a mystery, since when used in normal fission and fusion reactors Ether Geodes can last for centuries, but the fact is very large stockpiles of nukes are impossible to maintain. Some aspiring Powers keep a dozen or so on hand though, just in case.

Oft used Added Capabilities for nukes are dirty nuke, clean nuke, small size (taken multiple times to make suitcase bombs), low emission (for those who like to hide their stockpiles). Related Reduced Capabilities are things like high emission and large size.


Launch Vehicles
Short Range Missile: no cost
This is just a standard missile; the kind normally used by your armies or warships. It costs no extra; just slap the nuke on and away you go.

Medium Range Ballistic Missile: 1 point per 100
These are missiles with ranges of 100 to 1,000 km. This is just the missile: buying special launch vehicles or silos for them is extra. Normally more advanced civilizations (level 4) have normal missiles that can fly these distances so they don’t need these.

Inter Continental Ballistic Missile: 1 point per 25
These are much larger, longer ranged weapons. Their ranges are 5,000 km + and they can usually strike over an entire world. Making them mobile on anything less than a mobile fortress or cruiser sized warship is impossible.

Inter Planetary Missile: 1 point per 5
These huge destroyer sized weapons take at least tech level 4, and can be flung from world to world at fantastic speeds in a matter hours or minutes. They can be used to deliver conventional munitions, but given that they cost almost as much as a cruiser the small deliverable payload makes it a bit pointless. Mounting them in space rather than planet bound silos provides no real added benefit or reduction in cost.

Modifiers
Launch vehicles work very much like aircraft. They’re the necessary means of delivering your WMD. For launch vehicles, things like speed, additional range, and accuracy are common – automated point defences for the imaginative would cost 2 points, as would MIRVs (usually up to 5 warheads). In all cases, things like silos and missile transporters must be separately purchased. As a general rule, a normal silo costs as much as the missile it is storing, with multipliers added in for increased survivability.


Upkeep

Normal Upkeep
This is the part everyone hates, but like it or not, those massive militaries have to be maintained. Upkeep comes in three separate parts: the money you have to pay for your forces or Wealth; the goods you have to make to keep them going or Industry, and the fuel you have to use to run them or Ether.

Your troops need to be paid, as do the mechanics who work on your war machines, and the service people who feed and clothe them, and more. To calculate how much, look at the Type. 10,000 Skilled Infantry cost one point, so to pay for the monetary Upkeep of one Batch of 10,000 Skilled Soldiers, would take 1 point of Wealth every year. Added Capability and Advancement Level play no part in this particular Upkeep.

In the previous example, the Kyrast Empire would have to pay 7 Wealth a year for its Mechanized Infantry Division.

For its new naval ships, once built, they would cost it 6 Wealth a year.

If your forces are fairly simple – spearmen, swordsmen, archers and so on – the above Upkeep is all that is necessary to keep them going. However, once you move into more advanced industrial age units, their equipment begins to consume a steady flow of resources. This industrial Upkeep is calculated in the same way as monetary Upkeep. Units with extra physical weapons such as added missiles or extra heavy guns (basically a +2 Added Capability or more) usually need to pay an extra point of Industrial Upkeep.

Again referring to Kyrast, the Industrial Upkeep would be 7 Industry a year.

Similarly, the ships will cost 6 Industry a year.

Finally, anything with an engine burns Ether to some degree – it’s the fuel for nearly everything more powerful than a steam engine after all. Some things burn it in greater quantities, like high performance aircraft, enhanced airships, the heavier armoured vehicles, or the massive star battleships. As a rule, any aircraft with rocket enhanced engines, any airship with Ether added to its lifting gas, any ground vehicle with extra heavy armour, or any Capital Warship or larger burns twice as much Ether as the normal – this is twice as much as the basic Type, not twice as much as the Basic Type plus extra Ether for special Added Capabilities. Additional Ether upkeep can also be added to this on a case by case basis if certain Added Abilities warrant, such as a warship with twice as much engine power as normal or one with super powerful beam cannon (again +2 in energy systems or more). Technomagical Units have no intrinsic added upkeep, but the wealth of Added Capabilities such units commonly have usually leads to it.

For Ether Upkeep on the troops, Kyrast doesn’t have to pay for the Infantry (they don’t use fuel), but everything else does. So, the APCs require 2 Ether a year, and the self-propelled artillery another 1. However, with their two levels of added armour the tanks certainly qualify as extra heavy, and so they take 2 Ether apiece, or 6 Ether for all three groups. So, the total Ether consumed by the Mechanized Infantry Division every year is 9 points.

For the ships, the Destroyers have a basic Upkeep of 1, however they have extra rocket engines (2 rather than just 1), so that doubles the basic Ether upkeep to 2. The Super Battleship is much, much more costly. Its basic Upkeep is 5. This is then doubled to 10 because it’s a Capital Ship or larger which doubles the basic Ether Upkeep cost. Then it adds another point because of its massive beam gun, to a total of 11. The moderator decides that since the gun has been uprated still further, it will require an extra point of Ether, so that becomes 12. – so the final Upkeep in Ether just for the Super Battleship is 12 points of a year. 14 points for the naval force in total.


Note
When calculating upkeep, the BASE COST is what is used to determine upkeep per Batch. Thus, a bog-standard TL3 destroyer and a fully tricked-out TL5 space destroyer both have the same upkeep - 1 each Industry, Wealth and Ether.

However, there are exceptions to this. Infantry units (and infantry-types), unless equipped with powered armor do not require Ether. Some modifications will drive up upkeep, such as a +2 in almost any field.

Some examples are as follows:
+2 missiles or guns - +1 Industry
+2 energy weapons (beams) - +1 Ether
+2 ECM/Cloaking devices - +1 Ether
+2 shields - +1 Ether
-1 Maintenance intensive - +1 Industry
-1 Fuel Inefficient - +1 Ether

Generally a combination of those will also drive up upkeep, for example a ship with +1 missiles, +1 guns, + 1 beams and +1 shields will cost an extra +1 Industry and +1 Ether.

Note however that reaction or forcefields drives don't count towards this unless they're taken at +2 or more. A +1 drive system will probably not accrue extra running costs, especially if it on a naval ship, as they require +1 drives simply to move in space. On aircraft, the reverse can be true, a +1 drive system can either be +0 Ether and be fast, or be +1 Ether and be very fast, capable of breaking orbit.


Wartime
It gets worse. During war, upkeep costs skyrocket. A unit in combat can go through supplies that would have normally lasted it a year in a matter of days. In wartime, all units on the battlefront or ships deployed on combat missions pay their upkeep every month rather than every year. At least for Industry and Ether. It is a rare army that pays its troops extra simply for doing their jobs, so Wealth remains the same.

This makes modern war a very expensive proposition, and difficult to sustain. Note that a less advanced army using forces like cavalry, pikemen and archers is not affected by this increased wartime expenditure.

The lesson is, make sure you have sufficient stockpiles before the start of hostilities.

Exceptions
You don’t *have* to pay Upkeep. While definitely recommended, there are dodges you can pull. Firstly, you don’t have to pay the men. If you do this during times of prosperity simply because you’ve diverted the funds to pay for new battleships or a new palace you’re looking at a rather nasty revolt in the armed forces. Also, troops without pay still have to eat, and while they may hang around out of patriotism, they may also begin looking for other ways to supplement their non-existent incomes: crime rates high. However, if you’re in the midst of a desperate war against an enemy who is already kicking your ass, not receiving their paychecks probably won’t affect troop morale much.

Similarly, you also don’t have to pay the Industrial and Ether costs. Doing so however will enforce a level of idleness on the army that is bad for training standards and tends to lower morale. You can get away with this for short periods, or by only using selected units – a few units detailed to barracks duties each year on a rotating basis won’t harm overall capability much – but if you shut down the entire army, and especially if you do it for more than a year, the troops are going to begin losing their edge. Also, after five years, most of the equipment will be unserviceable. Obviously while a common peacetime option, doing this during wartime is a very bad idea. Troops don’t fight well without bullets, and a tank without fuel is just an expensive coffin.

You can also mothball expensive equipment like capital ships. It doesn’t really pay to mothball smaller units like tanks as there are just too many of them (in practice they usually end up sitting in vast parks, rusting). While in mothballs, you simply pay the normal Wealth Upkeep for the ship to keep it maintained, but forgo any Industry and Ether running costs. However, to break a ship out of mothballs and into service takes an immediate payment of full Upkeep, at least six months and then a second payment of full Upkeep.

If you don’t want to go as far as mothballing, you can keep the big ships on peacetime routine. Then, the battleships mostly stay in their home area and conduct only limited and brief maneuvers, and avoid running things like weapons or shields for all but the briefest of periods. The Carriers while often away on cruises disembark half of their air wings and only fly limited missions. This removes the double cost in Ether these ships normally pay, but lets the crews stay in practice. This is actually the normal state for these ships in most navies.

Magic
Magic is about one thing: power. Technology gives ability to any who would use it whether they understand it or not, but magic concentrates it in the hands of the chosen few. This means that even in mystical societies magic is always less widespread than technology, but then there are few things on heave or earth as awesomely powerful as the most powerful mages and their creations. Few things are also less expendable, and Mages are a resource that must be carefully horded, nourished and nurtured.

Type
The basic Type for any magical society is of course the Mage. The key thing to remember about Mages is unlike any other unit, their Production costs are paid in Research points, not Industry or Wealth. This cost is determined by adding Added Abilities to the cost of the Basic Type, and then multiplying by the highest level of Magical Advancement the mage is capable of casting. A Power must obviously possess knowledge of the Magics in question for his mages to learn them. Also regardless of the knowledge their civilization possesses, Mages tend to specialize; the demands of learning many different magical disciplines are usually too overwhelming; it is rare to find a mage equally skilled in all Magical Categories.

Note: Mages gain power over time. Every year you can have up to 10% of your Magic Users gain a level. This gain can be divided as you choose, and comes free of any charge, save the requirement that you have paid the Upkeep for your mages that year. However this increase comes with a corresponding decrease. An equal percentage of your Magic Users must “burn out”, either dying, losing their power or otherwise permanently washing out of magical training. So while up to 10% of your Mages may gain power, 10% will also be permanently lost – magic is not for the fainthearted.

Magic Users
Postulant: 1 point per 1,000
A Postulant is a mage-hopeful. Postulants have a single Magical Category at a single level, though they are not “true” mages. In fact, only maybe a tenth of these will ever become mages. As many as half the others usually burn themselves out (often fatally). The remainder though unable to progress further in the magical arts, often find use as assistants, or occasionally as specialized soldiers in a sorcerous soldier corps, using their weak magics to give them an extra edge in battle. Sometimes nations with a surplus of the magically inclined create whole legions of such troops.

Apprentice: 1 point per 100
An Apprentice is a mage in the early stage of his training. An Apprentice has two Magical Categories, both at level 1. Apprentices generally spend their days in intensive study and training.

Disciple: 1 point per 20
Disciples are mages who are in the final stages of their training. A Disciple can have a maximum level of 2 in any Magical Category. A Disciple usually has 3 levels of Magic in total.

Adept: 1 point per 10
An adept has finished his schooling in magic and is a true mage. Adepts can have one level as high as 3, and have a total number of as many as 5 levels. Adepts are the mages most often sent on missions and quests, and often accompany armies, ships and expeditions.

Master: 1 point per 5
A master is an experienced mage. Masters have a level as high as 4, and have as many as 8 levels of Magic Capability in total. Masters are often in charge of Adepts when conducting military operations. However, masters rarely take places on the front lines – they’re far too valuable for that.

Arch-Mage: 1 point per 2
An arch-mage has settled down into a life of deep study and experimentation and has subsequently accumulated great power. Arch-magi may have as high as 5 in Magical Categories, and have as many as 12 levels in total.

Oracle: 10 points per 1
An Oracle is a rare creature, so bathed in Etheric forces as to be barely human. Oracles know every magical art their civilization possesses, but no Power may start with more than one at once. Sometimes Oracles rule their civilizations, sometimes they simply drift through realms unknowable, occasionally called into reality to serve others before retreating again.

Specialist: 1 point per 20
A specialist is a mage solely focussed on one task and one task only. These are commonly found in the more technological societies as “Empaths” and “Telepaths” or “Tekes”. In magical societies they are most often “Artificers”, “Healers”, “Windcallers” or “Summoners”. A specialist can have a single Magical Category as high as 4, but can only do one basic task with it, and cannot learn any other Category. For instance, a Telepath might be able to read minds, but could never astrally project, or a Windcaller propel a ship through the sky by telekinesis, but could never teleport.

Acolyte: Varies
An acolyte is not a Type of Mage so much as it is a job. Acolytes are those lesser mages who are psychically bound to an Arch-mage or Oracle using Mental level 4. Through this bond the Acolyte can serve as a “remote” for his often distant master. There is no range limitation on this link, though it can be disrupted. While functioning, it allows the master to cast spells through the Acolyte. An Arch-mage may never have more than one Acolyte at a time, though an Oracle may have as many as five. If the Acolyte is killed, the master will be unable to cast any spells for about a month. After that, his magic slowly (painfully) returns at a rate of one level a month.
An Acolyte must be at least an Adept, and must be minimally knowledgeable in the Magic Categories the Arch-mage or Oracle wishes to use through him. Cost of creating an Acolyte is equal to the combined levels of both Acolyte and master. It is paid in Ether. Once cast, the link is permanent, and cannot be easily dispelled even by the caster.

Modifiers
Like all units, mages can take modifiers for Added Abilities, and also Reduced Abilities, and then multiply the lot by their highest Advancement level. As always, the number a limited by the highest Advancement Level. There are more potential Added Abilities than can be listed here, but a few are as follows:

Battlemage: +1 point. The battlemage is skilled at casting spells in combat, and can cast the usual combat spells surely and quickly despite distractions.
Warrior Skills: +1 point. This can be taken multiple times. It makes the mage skilled in armed or even hand to hand combat. Any true mage would avoid this skill and the necessary study time wasted on martial training like a vat of Mystronix, but it’s very useful for certain Specialists, Postulants and other failed or rogue mages assigned to duties as soldiers. In practice, at one point it gives martial skills equivalent to a Skilled Infantryman. If taken at the maximum of three points, it gives martial skills equivalent to Special Forces.
Fast Casting: +1 point. The mage can reduce casting times in half.
Counter Mage: +1 point. The mage is more adept than normal at countering magical attacks, and is 25% more likely to succeed in preventing spells.
Extra Skill: +1 point. The mage has a level of Magic beyond his normal maximum – however this cannot raise a Category higher than the usual cap for his Type.
Ether Miser: +2 points. The mage is unusually efficient in Ether usage and always pays 1 less Ether than normal for any Spell or Enchantment. However this cannot reduce any costs below 1.


Casting Basics
Before continuing there are some basics about casting magics:

Magical Categories can be combined to create different spells. For example Creation level 3 could be combined with Mental level 3 to heal brain damage, or Destruction level 4 combined with Transmogrification level 3 to turn an onrushing army to stone. If Categories are combined, for purposes of spell preparation the combined level is used as the spell becomes more complex and needs more work to create, however Ether costs are calculated from the single highest Magical Category used, as the spell is just more complex, not more powerful. Combining Categories allows a mage more options, and also can make spells harder to defend against. An army may be prepared for a Destruction attack as a wall of flame or a hail of lightning, but it’s harder to defend against being turned to stone.

Casting spells and enchantments is rarely instantaneous, especially for the most powerful ones. A mage must spend time preparing his magics and binding Etheric power into the right forms. In the case of simpler spells (levels 1 to 3) that time is usually a day or so. However, the preparation can be done long prior to the casting, in creating the necessary mental state, spell components or reagents. Battlemages are particularly adept at this. In practice, for purposes of the game there is no need to declare what spells a mage is preparing at this level – so long as he can find the necessary time and would logically have the necessary resources on hand it’s assumed to be automatic and he can toss spells of this level around ‘til doomsday.
However, at level 4 Spells and Enchantments often take a week to prepare, and at level 5 as much as a month. Combined spells or enchantments of higher levels take an additional month for every level over 5. The build up of power during such castings is hard to hide and subject to disruption. Once finished, the Casting can be immediately used, or can be infused into some item or person, where it resides until being released. All Castings can be stored in such a manner for about a month. Paying extra ether can increase this storage time. For game purposes, the preparation of Castings of this magnitude must be specifically declared.

Casting can be disrupted. The most effective way to prevent a fireball is to shoot the mage casting it first. Since even with prepared reagents Casting is usually takes a few seconds to a minute this is a very effective option. A disrupted casting has a nasty habit of backfiring on the mage, even if the actual act of disruption didn’t kill him first. Battlemages often take special training and carry special equipment to prevent this. However, nothing stops the summoning of Gurgash the Gargantuan Grotesqueness from the Ninth Hell Dimension better than a cruise missile into the Casting Chamber. . .

Castings have ranges. This is usually determined by the skill of the caster. A Mage with no Category higher than level 1 is limited to affecting objects and people within his immediate vicinity – about 10 meters. A level 2 Mage can affect out to 100m. Level 3 extends this to as much as 1,000m. At level 4 a mage can affect essentially anything he can see with his eyes (no, remote video doesn’t count). At level 5 a mage can affect anything he can accurately conceptualize. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. The mage must have a completely accurate picture of what he is trying to affect. Astral projection and other means of clairvoyance often help, but Astrally Projecting across the Ether of the Deep Sky without a very firm anchor at the far end is akin to suicide, so in practice this limits a mage to the world he’s on.

Castings can have mass effects. Apart from castings using Destruction, all other Magical Categories are assumed to only affect a single target, and usually in a benign manner. To actually harm someone (directly cast magic on them against their will) Destruction must usually be added. To affect a large group of people, “Area Effect” levels equal to the size of the target group are added to the spell. These numbers are roughly equivalent to the target numbers of the Destruction category, but this doesn’t mean the Mage has to know Destruction – those numbers just serve as a guide to Area Effect. For Area Effect the mage needs to have a level of skill in the necessary Category at least equal to the level of effect desired – an Apprentice cannot affect a city, no matter how hard he tries. For example; a Healer specialist with Creation:4 trying to cure an entire town of a serious plague in a single spell would need Creation level 3 with an added 4 Area Effect levels (affect a community), for a total spell of 7 levels. Had the Healer forgone the Area Effect levels and just used Creation 3, they would have to heal the town one patient at a time. As always, it’s much easier to destroy. A War mage with Destruction:4 would just need a spell of 4 levels to ravage the same community. Destruction is already an Area Effect Category.

Mages can co-operate. This allows mages with different skills to combine their abilities, so long as each has at least a minimal level of understanding of the various Categories involved. This co-operation can never be done on the fly and must take at least a day of work to prepare. Long castings also require multiple mages – powerful as they are no Mage can chant for a month straight. Usually at least 5 mages are required, though only one is required to have full knowledge of the Casting in question (that’s why Arch-mages have Apprentices). Doubling the number of mages can half casting time, as can doubling it again, and so on. However, this correspondingly doubles the casting cost. Casting in specially designed areas, like Laboriums and Summoning Annexes and Chanbers can also half Casting time, at no additional cost to the spell – though the facilities themselves must exist.

Castings can be Countered. Spells, Enchantments, Summonings, Callings; all can be countered. A Mage who knows how to cast the spell in question also knows how to unravel it. This is not a sure thing. The mage must be within range of the Caster, and it’s hard to counter a fireball that’s already in flight and heading your way. Also, if you fail to block a Curse, or prevent an Enchantment at the moment it is cast it is very difficult to subsequently lift, and usually takes the preparation and casting of a similar reverse Enchantment.
In practice, a mage who could have cast the Casting in question has about a 25% chance of countering it on the fly, and a 50% chance if prepared. Numbers count: the more mages trying to counter, the more chance of success. Similarly the more mages casting, the more chance one will break through. The numbers tend to favour the casters, so the best defence is ultimately a good offence.
Power also counts: for every maximum level of magic (the mages highest Category) the Caster is above the Mage attempting to Counter, chance of the spell being countered reduces by 10%, or, if the Countering mage is the higher level, increases by 10%. Also a mage who tries to stand in the way of a level 4 or 5 Casting that has been weeks or months in the making is likely to be bowled over – in such cases an effective counter is five to ten times as difficult. Stopping such spells is better done with another prepared spell (like a Telekinetic shield dome to save a city from a massive beam of hellfire).

Castings cost Ether. Any spell using no Category above level 3 costs no extra Ether to cast. However, the larger spells such as those of levels 4 and 5 take 1 and 2 Ether to cast respectively. Ether is rated by spell, not by number of mages casting that spell, though increasing the number to speed casting does create a greater Ether drain.

Once a level 4 or 5 casting is prepared and "infused" into something it can reside for about a month in "storage" before activation. This is the same for spells, enchantments, and summonings (though its often best to do those last in a controlled environment, given how tetchy summoned creatures can be at times).

There are ways to increase this storage duration. Specially prepared items can double the storage times of spells infused into them, like a Wizard's magic staff, or magic ball. These devices take time to make and "attune" to a mage, but mages of Master and higher skill level are naturally assumed to have gained such items over the course of their training. Other mages can pick them up over the course of a story. This item is however unique to a mage - if an Archmage loses his staff, it may be a year or more before he can get hold of another.

A mage can also double storage time as an Added Ability, making his or her castings naturally more stable and longer lasting. This ability can be taken multiple times and is cumulative. A lot of Enchanters take this, allowing their Enchantments to be stockpiled for later use. Magical creations made with a level 5 casting can also take this as an Added Ability. They can't necessarily cast the spells themselves, but spells cast on or into them can be stored longer (Note that this has no effect on the duration of the spells effects when activated).

Finally, by paying one point of extra Ether in casting cost, the storage duration of a casting is increased by 1 month.


So, for example, a Limnan Skymaster is enchanting levistones for the fleet. After casting the enchantement (Movement 3) he pays 1 Ether, raising storage time from 1 month to 2 months. He has a magic staff, but that only works for spells cast into the staff itself, not into an otherwise rather mundane rock. However, he does have two Added Abilities in spell storage, so storage duration increases to 8 months.

So now, the skyship can keep the enchanted levistone in storage in its hold for eight months before it's enchantment fades. In this time the levistone is not active (when activated it's power lasts for a week).


The same works for things like enchanted arrows and cannon balls. Often mages who spend their days doing such enchantments have many levels of Added Ability in spell storage, so as to ensure the castings remain potent when activated many months later.


Spells
Spells are the standard magics cast by a Mage. They are generally short in duration though of course in the case of things like fireballs and properly cast healing spells their effects can be very permanent. While the actual mechanisms can vary wildly, their effects are derived by looking at the various descriptions in the Advancement charts.

Some examples of common spells:
Minor Healing (Creation:1). This spell can cure infections and minor diseases (which might become serious later, and remove tiredness, pain, and heal hurtful but non-fatal or crippling wounds.
Empathy (Mental:2). A favourite of vat-grown psychic enforcers in totalitarian thought control states, this allows the Empath to sense the emotions of his target; the anxiety that comes with a lie, the fear that comes with the knowledge of treachery. . .
Fireball (Destruction:3). The old standby. The mage flings a massive whirling ball of fire into his quailing targets and chars the lot. Who needs artillery?
Gateway (Movement:4). The mage opens up a gate between one world an another. Using an established portal point (two linked magical items on separate worlds), a single mage can pull this off, but lacking such an aide it usually takes an apprentice or fellow mage performing exact and specific procedures at the far end for the spell to focus on. This means it is much easier for mages on distant duties to recall themselves home than it does for mages to send themselves out to distant and unknown locations.
Ether Focus (Transmogrification:5). With this level of power a mage can concentrate Ether into various forms, creating (temporary) Ether Geodes. However, once tapped the Geode is tapped for power the magically formed structure becomes unstable and they dissipate in about a month, whether their full power has been used or not. This makes them mostly useless for technological purposes which need small but constant amounts of power over the long term, but for the Arch-mage who does not wish to cart around a wagon load of Etheric gas to power his spells they are invaluable.


Enchantments
Magical societies usually avoid Technomagic as it is based more on Tech than Magic, and instead work primarily in Enchantments. While both enhance technology with magic there are two critical differences. Firstly, an enchantment requires no costly use of Research in fusion as does Technomagic. Secondly, unlike Technomagic, enchantments are temporary and fade quickly over time. Most last no more than a week once cast.

Enchantments infuse the effects of a spell into a person, group of people or items. Only one major enchantment can be cast on a target at a time – multiple ones tend to interfere with each other causing the later cast one to fail. This can be partially circumvented by casting one enchantment on the man, and another on his weapon, but more than this usually ends in failure. Enchantments are not cheap to cast, costing their total Magic level in Ether. So, to enchant a large army an Arch-mage would use Area Effect 5 (which in this case will affect 100,000 men) and Creation 3. This will cost him 8 points of Ether and take some four months to prepare. So why not just go blast the enemy with Destruction five. At one month prep time and 2 Ether it’s much cheaper? Because doing that will most likely put the Arch-mage in a great deal of personal danger – a hostile power would trade 10,000 men for an arch-mage in an eye blink and be glad for the exchange. Also, the spell cast on the army will last much longer, and has the potential to do much greater damage.

So what exactly does Enchantment do? Well, it in effect it gives additional levels of Added Ability. These levels can be no more than the highest level of the spell, and must be related to the Magic Capabilities involved in the casting. In the above example the Arch-mage increased the muscle mass of all his men – increased strength (+1) – and hardened their skin – heavy armour (+2) which on top of the mail they’re already wearing makes them equivalent to infantry in powered battle armour. The Arch-mage now sits back and watches from afar as his army tears through the enemy. Mages like to get others to do their dirty work.

The opposite of an Enchantment is a Curse, which has a negative effect on the target. A Curse also lasts for about a week. A curse does not require Destruction to have negative effects, though Destruction is usually used if the Curse is intended to have ultimately fatal effects. However, Curses are not so much used for killing as for punishment. Cursing a recalcitrant city is a great way to break a rebellious spirit.

A thing to note about Enchantments is they have minimal effect on Technology above about midway through Tech Advancement Level 3. By then, the complexities of machines and devices make sorcery too difficult (mages cannot properly envisage molecular honeycombs or microchips to properly enhance them), and the more simple effects are usually redundant or ineffective. On the other hand Curses remain effective, since while system hardening and redundancy becomes more effective at higher levels, added complexity presents the mage with more opportunities to “glitch”.

Summoning
Summoning is often a very dark art, dealing in the undead, and demons, though it can also be used to call more benign spirits and Elementals – not evil, just amoral. Because of the number of undead it is possible to raise, or the sheer power of elementals and demons Summoning is a quite popular art among those so inclined. However, necromancy has been said to taint a mage and the repeated touch of the dead on a mind can often drive one mad.

To summon a magical Type in bulk, a Summoning Circle (usually five Mages) is used. At least one must have the necessary spell level, and the mages must then pay the point value of the Type + Added Abilities, all times total Magic Capability Level used. This is all paid in Ether. Summoning normally takes time commensurate with spell level (a day for levels 1-3, a week for level 4, and a month for level 5, and so on) but using an established Summoning Circle can reduce this time in half. Doubling the number of mages, as with Spells and Enchantments, also halves the needed time, though it doubles the Ether cost. However, apart from the time needed to prepare the necessary summoning ritual, the actual act of summoning takes almost no time at all. Often the power of a summoning spell is stored in a suitable mystical vessel, and released as needed to suddenly and dramatically change the course of a battle.

In the case of small numbers of minor summoned creatures (those that individually would cost far less than even a single point of Ether, and require only level 3 or lower in a Magical Category) a single mage can whip one or two up in a pinch if the necessary preparations have been made and reagents available. If summoned in such a manner the creature dissipates or disappears after a day. The cost for such summonings can be considered negligible and safely ignored.

Normally a Summoned creature or spirit lasts for about a month, before it is forced to return to its normal plane of existence. This can be extended by Added Capabilities (+1 per month), but in essence Summonings are very temporary affairs.

At Mental level 3 the mindless dead can be raised as shuffling Zombies. With Mental level 4 insubstantial Wraiths and Spirits can be called, and with Mental 5 the most powerful and intelligent Spirits can be called into being. Also, with Movement level 5 powerful creatures from other dimensions such as Elementals and even Demons can be summoned.

Zombies: 1 point per 10,000 (Mental 3)
The key to remember when summoning Zombies is that the mage is actually summoning mindless spirits trapped in death to possess the bodies of the newly dead. These spirits have the most limited intelligence mostly focused on battering the living into bloody pulps. Only in the rarest and most advanced summonings (read lots of Added Abilities) will a Zombie be able to use any equipment more complex than a club or sword, and then only marginally. However, while slow and stupid, Zombies are incredibly hard to stop, and possess fantastic strength (enough to smash through thick wooden doors and tear off human limbs with ease). The body must be totally incapacitated to halt one, burning being the preferable method. Chopping of the head is much loved in tales, but the Zombie is driven by spirits, not brain matter and can function quite well without a head, sensing its prey by their very life-force.

Wraiths: 1 point per 100 (Mental 4)
Wraiths are rather nasty things – more powerful spirits of death that do not require a body to manifest and are possessed of a cunning and malicious intelligence. Moving through the Ether of the nether realms they interact with the physical world in only a passing manner, floating right through solid matter. Their immediate presence brings a sharp drop in temperature and can disrupt electronics and complex mechanics. Their extended touch can cause metals to turn brittle and shatter, or human hearts to stop. On top of this they are extremely hard to see, little more than shadows. However, they are not invulnerable – hot fires that they cannot immediately quench or other forms of high energy can drive them off, and direct mental attacks can kill them. Daylight though is their ultimate enemy and Wraiths must seek deep shelter (usually by sinking far underground) before sunrise else they will be destroyed with the dawn. Generally Wraiths are “nuisance” weapons, though very terrifying ones.

Greater Spirits: 1 point per 10 (Mental 4)
Greater Spirits come in a wide variety. Most often summoned are the spirits of war to possess suits of armour or spirits of the greater dead to possess corpses. Such spirits are highly intelligent and can often communicate verbally. Their powers vary from those of a super-warrior to their own semi-magelike capabilities. Usually, unless a greater Wraith, the total destruction of the physical vessel will drive the spirit off. However, most people find it very hard to totally destroy a suit of armour filled only with air and wielding a massive sword with superhuman strength and skill.

Elementals: varies (Movement 5)
The cost in Ether to summon an elemental varies greatly depending on power. A small fire elemental capable of lighting candles at best would be negligible, while a water elemental powerful enough to create a tidal wave that could swamp a city would have a base cost of some 10 points. Elementals are difficult creatures to control as they have a single-minded and alien intelligence, the more powerful, the more difficult. Often giving specific commands to the largest is impossible, and their effects can be as random as nature herself. Elementals can take a multitude of forms, based on their prime element, though often human mages mould the lesser ones into humanoid forms for aesthetic purposes.

Demons: 1 point per 1 (Movement 5)
The most awesome of the summoned creatures, demons are often magic users in their own right, on top of being walking engines of destruction. Fearsomely intelligent they come in a variety of forms (many gigantic) but almost all are malignant and hateful towards humans. Only the most powerful or foolhardy of mages summon these creatures, and even so there are many recorded instances of Demon summonings backfiring horribly. Almost all such accounts are second or third hand, as few who can directly recount such tales live to tell about it.

Lords of Hell: 20 points per 1 (movement 5)
These are the mage equivalent of the “Mega Capital Ship,” in that they’re something that’s out there, but you’re really better off NOT trying to actually summon them.


Artificing
Artificing is the art of using magic to build creatures and creations. It is a much more time consuming method than Summoning as well as being significantly more complex, but it creates permanent forces, that do not simply dissipate. Artificing deals with things like Skeletons, Golems and an infinite variety of magically bred servants and warriors.

Artificing generally needs Mental 2 to create a construct that can only directly respond to orders. At least Mental 3 is needed to give creations low animal instinct or minimal autonomy, Mental 4 for simple intellect, and Mental 5 for full human level intelligence. Creation is most often used for forming beings out of living matter, while transmogrification is usually used to deal with inanimate. Dead matter falls in the boundary, but is most often manipulated with Creation.

Like Summoning, Artificing can be speeded by working in a prepared area – an Artificers Laborium – and by using multiple mages. Generally about 5 full mages and as many as 50 helpers (often Apprentices) are used for a truly productive Laborium. The number can, as with Summoning, be doubled for twice the cost and twice the speed, but there is no bonus for using a prepared Laborium – such is a vital necessity. However, if a Power fuses either Transmogrifiction with Engineering or Creation with Biology it gains the advantage of being able to produce Artificed creations without the need of mages – it can turn the entire process over to magical factories.

As with all units, Added Capabilities can be bought for Artificed creations. Unless the creation is using the simplest level of intelligence (Mental 2) its mind must be purchased as an Added Capability, costing 1 Added Capability slot for Mental 3 programmed autonomy, 2 slots for Mental 4 simple intellect and 3 slots for Mental 5 full intelligence. The level of Creation or Transmogrification used determines the Advancement level. Build time is the Production Point cost of the unit in question in months. A great deal of magic as well as materiel is used in this process, so half this cost must be paid in Ether, the other half in industry.

Artificed creations are usually exclusively made in laboratories or magic factories, at it is a difficult process indeed to do “in the field”, and such work is usually limited to repairs and maintenance. In such cases where time is a factor, summoning is the method of choice.

Some broad examples of Artificed creatures are provided below:

Skeletons: 1 point per 10,000 (Creation 3)
The Artificer’s twin to Zombies and the easiest creation to make, Skeletons just require a set of properly prepared bones. The simplicity of the spells involved allows them to be animated en-masse. Skeletons are smarter and quicker than Zombies, being able to use armour and weapons, even guns, but they are more fragile and not as strong. Unlike a Zombie chopping off the head will destroy a Skeleton. One advantage though is often when destroyed the Skeletal warriors can be re-assembled and re-animated in the field.

Lizardmen: 1 point per 1,000 (Creation 4)
Lizardmen are one of the staples of a magical army, and come in numerous shapes and sizes. Most are extensively modified Crocodiles, which are run through an exhaustive process, though there are rare examples of modified Dragonmen – creatures of great intelligence and ability. Lizardmen are usually stronger, faster and tougher than humans, though their intelligence is limited. They make excellent footsoldiers, though like all but a few magical creations they are infertile and cannot breed.

Golems: 1 point per 100 (Transmogrification 4)
These constructs are made out of various ensorcelled materials: Iron, Stone, living flesh. . . They are usually humanoid and 6-10 feet tall and invariably possessed of great toughness and strength, often speed and acuity of senses. Mages often use them as personal guardians.

Great Golems: 1 point per 10 (Transmogrification 4)
These are massive war machines as big as a house, and used by magical armies in much the role of tanks or mechs. The are usually humanoid, but can in fact be made in many forms.

Automatoma: 1 point per 1 (Transmogrification 5)
Automatoma are massive magical constructs that tower over battlefields. Their creation varies wildly, some being magically formed beasts, others being animated stone or enchanted iron.

Gargantua: 10 points per 1 (Transmogrification 5)
Gargantua are magical creations the size of space battleships or larger. They are often living ships made of massive magically sky-borne trees, or monstrous space creatures. These take the most powerful magics to create and a great deal of time.


Binding

Binding is the method of fining various creatures in the wild and magically enslaving them. It can be a very cost effective method of draft, but it does require a nation have ample stocks of such creatures to bind, as magical creatures are hard to domesticate and breed poorly in captivity. Giants are a common favourite, as are Wyverns or Dragonets. The ultimate prizes though are those greatest of Dragons – the Great Wyrms – or the monstrous Star Kraken.

Binding can be done by various means: Mental is the more common, but Destruction has been used to great coercive effect (disobedience brings pain), as has Movement (the creature cannot flee). It can even be done with payment, as occasionally Magical creatures will sign on to a cause for recompense. In any case, Binding is treated as a spell or enchantment usually done in game as a story action and so has no set Production Cost. Rather the costs listed below are for use in calculating Upkeep.

If a player wishes to start the game with magical creatures already bound, use advancement level 5 to determine the cost.

Giants: 1 point per 100
These are big, usually rather stupid humanoids, though there are some very intelligent clans. Strong and tough they have monstrous appetites and usually poor self control, which makes them difficult to retain long term.

Wyverns: 1 point per 50
These are flying creatures about the size of a small fighter plane, often called Dragonets, though in fact they are a different species entirely. A man can ride on one, and they are one of the more common bound creatures. They have a doglike level of intelligence and can over time become attached to humans. While their talons are poisonous, they do not breathe fire.

Young Dragons: 1 point per 10
These are young Wyrms no more than a few centuries old. Between 100 – 200 feet long, and twice that in wingspan they are just coming into their power and are often cocky and adventurous, making them the easiest dragons to capture. Like all dragons though, they are as, or even more intelligent than humans, making keeping them tricky.

Elder Dragons: 1 point per 2
Elder Dragons are full grown, usually well over 300 feet long and possessing great power in strength, magic and intelligence. Capturing one is difficult, keeping it more so, but they have been known to work with humans when interests coincide. However, these creatures have egos to match their size and such deals are rarely without trial.

Great Wyrms: 5 points per 1
Great Wyrms are monsters over 500 feet long, some more than 1,000 feet. They are millennia old and remember days long before the arrival of humans. Difficult in the extreme to deal with, they can be as capricious as they are powerful, as to them humans are no more than insects.

Star Kraken: 25 points per 1
Old tales tell of gargantuan tentacled space monsters the size of large asteroids/small moons. Far less intelligent than Dragons, these monsters make up for it in raw power. Their tentacles and mental attacks can destroy fleets, and their spoors and living fire can devastate a world. They are very rare around human inhabited worlds these days however, usually retreating to the great Nebula.


Upkeep
Upkeep for magical units has some differences from that for technological units.

Mages require 1 point of Wealth, Industry and Ether per year per point of Basic Cost (so an Oracle needs 10 points of each). As with technological units the Industry and Ether Upkeep must be paid every month for mages in battle. A mage who does not pay this Upkeep is unable to cast spells, or to study magic. A mage who has reached level 5 in either Creation or Transmogrification can pay the Industry in Ether, sicne she can now create the needed materials spontaneously.

Summoned units have no upkeep – they fade after a set time anyway.

Artificed units have no Wealth or Industry Upkeep, however they must consume Ether to function. If this Ether is not paid the magics on the unit fail and it is destroyed. Normally this Ether is double the points of the Basic Cost (so 100 Golems would require 2 Ether), however such units can be placed in “hibernation” for very extended periods of inactivity which removes this double cost.

Bound units have varying costs, depending on exactly how they were acquired and what they are. Usually they require 1 Industry per point of Basic Cost in facilities, food and so forth. Those with magical abilities also often require Ether in the same manner as mages. The great exceptions are Dragons, who actually generate their own Ether for their own use. This makes the heart of a Dragon a very valuable commodity – for those willing to take the risks of gaining one.

Production

Production covers all those facets used to buy and support organizations, units and actions in game; Industry, Wealth, Research or Ether.

Industry

Industry is the standard method of building anything. It represents the raw production power of a Power. It is the normal means for gaining things like swords, tanks and ships. The mechanism for this is simple – every month the industry allows production of items of cost equal or less than the total industrial production. However, if the full production is not used it is lost – Industry cannot be “banked”. The monthly Industry Production becomes available at the beginning of every month.

Production is not instantaneous. The full cost is paid as production starts (and if this cannot be paid for then construction cannot start) but completion can extend over months or even years. In the case of military units, the time to completion is determined by the total Production Cost of the unit multiplied by four. This number in months is the amount of time needed to finish the unit in question. In the case of Unit Types made up of multiple individuals, for general simplicity all units are completed in one big whack at the end of this period. However, in desperate times when every tank and plane counts, this can be broken down for individual pieces of equipment.

For example, 25 Tech level 3 fighters have a Production Cost of 3 – a year for all 25 to be completed. However, if the Power in question is in a desperate air war and needs what it can get now then it could instead receive them at a rate of 2 a month. This method makes keeping track of numbers harder and creates a lot more work, so unless needed it should not be used.

You can also speed up production. Doubling the Production Cost halves the time taken, which is nice in emergencies. This double cost must be paid at the beginning of production though (the workers must be previously informed of the rushed cycle). If Production is needed to be rushed on a project already underway, the full extra cost of the unit is paid, but only the remaining time is cut in half.

Advanced construction facilities can also reduce the construction time. At Engineering level 4, a Power multiplies the Production Cost by only 3 to determine construction time, and at Engineering 5 by only 2. Similar levels of Transmogrification can reduce the construction time multiplier by similar levels, though because this takes the active help of mages it requires a committal of magic users (possessing the required Transmogrification level) to the project of Production Point cost equal to the Production Point cost of the Unit or Units being built.

As with Enchantments, mages cannot aid advanced production, however, a Power that Fuses Transmogrification with Engineering can reduce this to a multiplier of 1, though this only applies to those items it could build with the fused level of Engineering. Engineering 3 fused with Transmogrification 3 could increase the speed of a battleships construction, but would be unable to help with building mobile suits faster (they require Engineering level 4).

Production points can also be maximized by specializing, either on extraction of resources, or refining them into finished goods. This effectively doubles the Industrial Production rating. This is an excellent way for a Power which has surplus industry to get around the “no banking” rule – producing raw materials and selling them to other Powers which can then correspondingly increase their own production. Converting from a mining and manufacturing industry to just mining or just manufacturing takes a cost in Wealth equal to the points being converted and shuts that portion of Industry down for a month to make modifications. A Power can make only raw materiel without specializing, but then they are just shutting down the corresponding manufacturing facilities and not turning what they extract into finished products and thus they gain no benefit of a double rating.

Note: When calculating build time for Technomagically fused units do not use the full Production Point cost. Instead calculate build time based on the Base Cost of the Unit or Batch, plus all Added Capabilities, all multiplied by the single highest Advancement level. So while a Battleship with 4 Added Capabilities made with Physics 3 fused with Destruction 2 ((2+4) x 5)would cost 30 PP to build, its normal build time (assuming Engineering 3 and no double costs) based of a number of 18 ((2+4) x 3)would be 72 months, NOT 120.


Wealth

Wealth functions in a manner similar to Industry in many ways, but is often more versatile. It is easier to transfer, and unlike Industry generated Wealth can be stockpiled and banked if not used. There is not interest gain on stored Wealth, though if Powers feel like setting up their own inter player banking systems one could be created. However, deficit spending is not allowed. You can borrow money from another player and spend it, but the money must come from somewhere.

Wealth can be used to augment Industry and increase production. A Power can spend an amount of Wealth as Industrial Production, equal to its Industry rating. This Industry rating does not include the bonus given by the Population of an Empire. So a Power with an Industry of 10 could boost Industrial production as high as 20 by pouring 10 Wealth into the factories.

Wealth is also the primary method with which all Production Categories are raised. This is discussed further under “Developing Infrastructure.”

Research

Research is a time consuming process that raises the knowledge of Science and Magic for a power. It is also used to train Magic Users. Research points are spent once every year rather than once a month. For the purposes of those with Magic Users, the points can be said to be all generated at the start of a year, and spent at its end, giving the player the ability to train new mages (subject to the same build time limitations as for Industry) as needed.

If not used for producing mages, the points can either be saved, or spent on increasing the various Advancement Categories. Loading all accumulated points into a single category might seem to be the thing to do, jumping a Category from 100 to 200 in a massive fell swoop, however, no category can increase by more than 10% of its initial point value a year without serious penalties. If the increase in an Advancement Category is more than 10% the current value, the Research Point cost to increase is doubled. If it is more than 20% the cost is quadrupled. The increase can never be higher than 25% the original value. In the cases where 10% of the current value is lower than 1, a player can still always increase by 1 (though only by 1) without additional penalties.

While the chart is very all-or-nothing, there is a great difference between a nation with 300 points in Engineering, and one with 390. Both are still Level 3, but one will be clunking around with WWI tanks, and the other will have MBTs. Technology can be immediately applied once gained, but old units are not immediately upgraded – to do so for most incremental increases it takes a payment equal to the Base Cost of the unit in Industry and four months of refit work. More serious refits can cost more and take more time on a case by case basis.

Research can be sped up by co-operating with a Power who already knows the secrets being researched. Such Research Treaties cost Wealth equal to, at minimum, the number of Research Points being transferred (the transferring Power may well charge a great deal more, but this is the minimum necessary outlay of funds). The Research points gained in this manner cannot ever be higher than 5% of the current point value of relevant Advancement Category of the nation transmitting the Research Points. Be aware that the Transferring Power can use this opportunity to send bogus aid, damaging the research of the Receiving Power rather than aiding it. Heroes can receive Research Treaties, but unless they take a specific Advantage “Mad Scientist” they can never offer them.

It might seem that reverse engineering technology is a good way around this, but while anyone can operate technology, it takes someone who actually knows what they’re doing to build it. As a rule, a Power can gain nothing from reverse engineering something they would never have been able to build in the first place. Thus, while two Powers with Physics at 450 points would be able to reverse engineer each other’s power-cell reactors, a third power with Physics at 300 would only succeed in destroying the advanced reactors by disassembling them.

However, spies deployed on scientific espionage missions can get some return. This is usually spotty in result, and requires the Category being spied on to be no more than 50 points above your own. The spy must infiltrate the enemy’s own research or high tech establishments, or recruit informers and sympathizers from the same. There is no set return for this kind of business, chance playing a big factor, but spy can in the highly successful cases pull in as many as 10 Research Points. However, far more spies fail than ever succeed.


Ether

Ether is the key resource of Lords of Ether, hence the name of the game. Ether mines produce the amount listed in the Ether Production Category at the beginning of Ether every month.

So, what exactly is Ether? It’s a magical substance of low density but with great conductive properties, and when properly used can generate large amounts of energy. It permeates the universe slightly out of phase with normal matter though it can be detected by its interaction with light. However, it does take tangible physical form under certain conditions; usually interaction with large dense objects like planets or stars.

On planets it tends to gather underground in concentrated areas called Nodes, from which it emerges as a greenish gas, or, more rarely an ultra-dense hardened solid like a glowing emerald (an Ether Geode - very valuable). In its gaseous state it can also be occasionally found in small quantities on the surface layers of large planets like gas giants or even stars (if you’re daring). It can also be found in very rich pockets within nebulas, though the danger of passing through a nebula tends to prevent making harvesting operations there routine affairs. The most powerful mages and highest technologies can also tap hidden “Ley Lines” or “ZPE fluxes” that run across the universe just below our reality and draw Ether out of, what appears to the uninitiated, to be thin air.

Over the past few thousand years, such procedures and magics have tended to pool Ether in a system around those worlds inhabited by Ether using societies. Usually the Ether in the rest of the solar system is thin, dispersed and irregular, and harvesting it more work than is profitable. Some systems and worlds however retain untapped reserves, but most will have to seek new, fallow ground to acquire more.

This is the key point about Ether – unlike Industry, Wealth and Research, Ether Production cannot be increased by simply investing Wealth. New sources of Ether must be found and exploited.

People

People produce a Production Bonus, for Empires, Trans-stellars and even Heroes. For Empires this is Industry, for Trans-stellars Wealth, and for Heroes, or those taking the “Mystical Society” Advantage, Ether. Every 2 basic units of People produce 1 extra point of Production in the relevant category.

Population, unlike the Production Categories, can grow naturally, though only for Empires. Growth is based on the Empire’s level of industry. If Industry Production is 1/2 or lower than the Population Production Bonus, then the Empire is largely rural and its population grows at 3% a year. If Industry is equal or less than the Bonus then the Empire is industrialized and the population grows at 2% a year. If industry is greater than the bonus then the Empire is heavily industrialized and grows at 1% a year.

Actually this growth is automatic whether the Empire wants it or not. Why might you not want it? Well, because a growing population requires a continual expansion of housing and infrastructure that ultimately can be rather expensive. If the Empire doesn’t pay for these things for the growing population eventually becomes a slum and poverty problem. States can live with this indefinitely if they choose, but the new Population also doesn’t generate any additional Production Bonus until the required infrastructure is built.

Building this Infrastructure costs 10 Wealth for every 1 million new People. This can be draining though, and by paying a fifth this amount an Empire can provide sufficient social support for them to avoid a slum situation, though it still won’t get any Bonus from them.

People can also be raised by paying money, in fact this is the only way to do so for Trans-stellar Employees and Hero Worshippers. Trans-Stellars pay 10 Wealth for every 10,000 Employees. This is not just hiring the new Employees but training them, and building the facilities for them to work in. Heroes also pay 10 Wealth for every 100,000 Worshippers. Apart from the amount of Wealth a Trans-Stellar or Hero is willing to expend there is no limit to their ability to increase their number of People. By Paying a tenth this cost the Trans-stellar or Hero could (for whatever reason) recruit new Employees or Worshippers that would add nothing to the Bonus and be of no benefit to the organization – creating their own slum much like an Empire that hasn’t paid the necessary infrastructure for its growing Population.

An Empire can also artificially increase its population with increased Immigration (must be done in game) or by advanced/enforced fertility methods. Usually done with Biology (though occasionally Psychology) this costs more at the higher levels but is also more effective. Giving out fertility drugs or using psychological indoctrination can effectively increase the Population for determining all facets of growth percentages by the amount of Wealth spent. This amount can be no greater than the total actual Population (so an Empire with 20 million people could spend no more than 20 Wealth on this method). Test-tube babies are available at Biology 4, which can increase the Population for a cost of 25 Wealth per 1 million, irregardless of current Population size. Not that this cost does not include building the infrastructure for these test-tube babies once they’ve been gestated. A Trans-stellar can conduct a similar program among its employees if it chooses, though on a necessarily smaller and less efficient scale, paying 25 Wealth per 10,000, so there’s really no point to doing so in most cases.

With Psychology 4 and Biology 5 a Power can conduct full human cloning. This option is open not just to Empires, but to Trans-stellars and even Heroes, in need of a massive influx of new bodies. Clones cost 1 Wealth, 1 Industry and 1 Ether per 1,000, and can be churned out in as many numbers as can be afforded. They take about a year to mature fully with suitable accelerants and can embody all sorts of qualities the Power desires in their spec-made men. These are bought in much the same way Added Capabilities are, each new quality (genius intelligence, extra strength, etc.) adding a point of Wealth, Industry and Ether to the final cost. Additionally, to be trained as useful members of society or soldiers they still need the necessary costs on top of their “gestation bill.”


Civil Order

It is often necessary to keep the People in line. The best way is to bribe them and pre-emptively prevent disturbances. This is done with either Industry (building various community facilities) or Wealth (bonuses, tax relief, etc). Usually it’s 1 Point (Wealth or Industry) per population, per year. This is enough to keep most people fairly content. You don’t have to pay this, but it can raise rumblings of discontent in hard times, such as distant unpopular wars or hostile takeover bids. You can increase this, pouring more into the populace, or even select areas of the populace if you are concerned about the loyalty of certain areas. There is no cap on this, but it is subject to the laws of diminishing returns.

There are also some times when the people just hate you and will not be placated, no matter how many baubles you throw their way. That’s when you keep the proles in line by declaring martial law and putting troops on the streets. 10,000 men keep one unit of population in line. Security forces do it better, being twice as effective at minimum, three times as effective with propaganda. They can also be deployed without having to declare martial law.


Developing Infrastruture

Obviously all levels of Production do not remain static at their starting levels; they can be increased over time by expenditures of time and resources – specifically Wealth. Infrastructure development occurs over the course of a year. It is usually started at the beginning of a year and generally finishes at the end, allowing the newly purchased points to be generated for the new year. The increase must be paid for at the beginning of the project.

Industry, Wealth, and Research all take Wealth to raise; 10 Wealth buying one new point in each. If the increase is more than 10% the current value, the cost in Wealth to increase is doubled. If it is more than 20% the cost is quadrupled. The increase can never be higher than 25% the original value. At minimum, a Power can always increase infrastructure by its tech level in Engineering.

Ether of course cannot be naturally raised, however building the necessary facilities to exploit new and heretofore untapped Nodes costs 10 Points of Industry and 10 of Wealth per point of Ether to be extracted and refined.


Logistics

Logistics is a very important factor of Lords of Ether. Resources do not magically materialize when needed, and having the necessary supplies to power your armies is all very well, but they must still make their way to the battlefront. Players are not expected to be Logistics Officers (god knows a hard enough job for those who specialize in it) but some attention must be paid. The system is simplified by the three general commodities to be moved – Wealth, Industry and Ether – and general rules for various military units.

In short, everything carrying unit has a Cargo Capacity, and everything to be carried has Cargo Space it takes up. As tech levels increase, the Cargo Space taken up by some items can increase or decrease.

Wealth

Wealth is perhaps the simplest commodity to move. It is usually transported as valuable goods or representative tokens of some sort, even electronic information (note though that no interplanetary banking system exists at game start). At lower tech levels it tends to be physical commodities such as diamonds, gold and silver, but at higher levels it becomes more representative. Of course, even the most advanced nations sometimes have to revert to trading physical commodities when their respective economies don’t mesh. Within all but the most blisteringly primitive societies though, transfer of funds to from one point of a single organization to another is considered automatic and should not be a concern. Only movement of Trans-stellar wealth between outlying worlds, or inter-player/NPC transfers should be an active player concern.

Physical Wealth takes up between 10 (diamonds) to 500 (gold) to 1,000 (silver) points of Cargo Space per 1 point of Wealth.
The space taken up by Representative Wealth is often negligible and usually just token. So long as a means exists for moving it from one place to another, it can be transported.

Industry

Industry is more problematic to move than Wealth. Industry is often moved to supply factories and refineries from the sources of Raw Material. This is usually done automatically by civilian networks and is normally little concern of the player beyond purchasing a starting merchant navy roughly commensurate with the amount of goods the Power foresees moving by sea or sky (don’t worry about trains), but it can be disrupted by enemies. The more common focus of industrial transportation is moving military supplies such as parts and armaments. These Industrial Goods take up less space than raw material.

Raw Material takes up 25,000 points of Cargo Space per 1 point of Industry
Industrial Goods take up 5,000 points of Cargo Space per 1 point of Industry

Ether

Ether is the most important commodity. Most advanced societies normally ship large quantities of it around continually. These civilian networks are of no concern to the player. Mostly what will be the focus of players is moving Ether for military purposes. Usually the lower the tech level the more space this transporting takes. Here are some general examples:

Pure Ether (available at Chem 2 or Transmog 1): 25,000 points of Cargo Space per 1 point of Ether
Pure Ether is Ether in its gaseous state. It’s usually stored in sealed containers and can be difficult to transport.

Ethernol (available at Chem 3): 5,000 points of Cargo Space per 1 point of Ether
The most common form of Ether, this is the gas mixed with a liquid solution and burned in various engines. It comes in various types and can power everything from cars to rockets.

Concentrated Ether (available at Transmog 3): 1,000 points of Cargo Space per 1 point of Ether
Concentrated Ether is just that – Ether gas of extreme potency. Mages often carry small phials and glass spheres of Concentrated Ether to power their lesser spells.

Ether Cell (available at Phys 4): 1,000 points of Cargo Space per 1 point of Ether
An Ether Cell is concentrated Ether in a battery like apparatus. It can be recharged from lesser forms of Ether and is a very stable method of continued power, as well as less bulky.

Etheric Fusion Catalyst (available at Chem 4): 1,000 points of Cargo Space per 1 point of Ether
Etheric Fusion Catalysts drive the more advanced rocket propulsions. Where an Ether Cell puts out a steady stream of power, Catalysts are great for sudden, whopping great expenditures.

ZPE reactor (Available at Phys 5): 100 points of Cargo Space per 1 point of Ether a month
The Zero Point Ether reactor taps into distant stocks of Ether and the space is only that taken up by the device itself. It is thought that originally this Ether could be taken from anywhere in the universe, but now with the concentration and polarization of Ether resources, the ZPE reactor can only draw on stocks, or raw supplies of Ether, that have been specifically “attuned” to a specific wavelength (a very technical and in depth process). However, this can be done irregardless of distance, and means the vessel needs carry nothing more than the reactor itself.

Etheric Anti-Matter (available at Chem 5): 100 points of Cargo Space
The space taken is actually by the storage and containment and reaction apparatus, the space taken by the actual matter is negligible. Each container can store as much as 100 points worth of Ether in a stable fashion.

Ether Geode (naturally occurring or Transmog 5): less than 1 point of Cargo Space per 1 point of Ether
Ether Geodes can range in size, but the smallest are no more than fist sized. They are prized for Etheric Fission reactors and magic Castings. 1 point of naturally occurring Ether in every 100 is in the form of an Ether Geode. Ether Geode power in Fission Reactors saves a great deal of space, allowing Tech level 3 and 4 ships so equipped (and even the more advanced TL 2 ships using it as ultra-pure Etherite Coal) to pack in an extra Added Capability. This doesn't work at TL5 as by then ZPE and EAM reactors are already as small or smaller than Etheric Fission Reactors. The downside of course is that if you run out of Ether Geodes your ships aren't going to be going anywhere.


Carrying Troops

Of course a big ticket item is the military. Troops, Tanks, Trucks, all take up space. Your average soldier takes up about 1 point of Cargo Space for a trip of no more than a day or two, but 10 points for any trip longer than that. Light vehicles take up 50 points, and heavy ones like Tanks 100. Mobile Fortresses take up 1,000, and Land Dreadnoughts 2,000 or more – often much much more.


Carried Supplies

All military units carry certain integrals stocks of supplies to carry them for a certain duration.

Ground Forces

Primitive ground forces usually manage to live off the land; when it fails so do they. Modern or advanced Magical forces though maintain extensive supply chains. Generally a Division (10,000 – 20,000 men) can contain enough supplies to operate independently for as much as three months, or a week in battle. A Corps (50,000 – 100,000 men) can usually survive for a year on its own stocks, or a month of battle. An Army (250,000+) can carry enough supplies to operate for as much as four years in peace, or four months in wartime. This, it should be noted, is the maximum that can be carried. Formations may well have much below this, but if fully stocked this is how long they can go before needing external aid.

Note: Humans can also be used as pack-mules (the Ho Chi Minh Trial idea), in which case every 5 humans can carry 1 point of Cargo Space. Weighing down combat troops like this is a poor idea, but its an option for using unskilled labour to move supplies in difficult times.

Air Forces

Air forces usually dump their supplies at their bases. A typical airbase will usually stock enough supplies to operate its local contingent of aircraft for a month of heavy combat, or a year of peace, but this is very variable.

A Batch of aircraft with their tanks fully topped off will contain about 1/50th of their total Ether Upkeep in fuel.

Naval Forces

Ships usually go through fuel much more regularly than they go through ammunition, but when they expend ammunition they tend to do so in large amounts, keeping expenditures roughly equal. At tech level 3 ships usually carry about a months worth of wartime stocks on board, or a years worth for peacetime operations.

It should be noted that normally a tech level 3 ship has only enough fuel for sailing continuously for about a two months at cruising speed. Specific Added Advantages or certain low-volume power sources such as Geodes, Anti-matter or ZPE can increase fuel capacity allowing more Ether to be stored, but unless a ship is using a form of sail, it depletes its yearly fuel upkeep after two months of travel. The need for sprints at flank speed and other manoeuvres in war depletes this in about a month, while in peacetime it’s usually enough to get a ship through the entire year, but be aware that even if in peace you continually move warships vast distances (shuttling back and forth between stars on a regular basis) you may have to pay extra Ether Upkeep.

Interworld Travel

Travelling between worlds depends upon the Star Winds. Star Winds are fluctuations in the Ether that carry vessels along like the trade-winds of old. Star Winds normally run from sun to sun but their tributaries usually include most objects of significant mass in a star system. The fluctuations caused by orbits rarely disconnect a planetary body, even temporarily, but they can make navigation for those not familiar with a system slow and hazardous.

From outside a Star Wind can be faintly seen with the naked eye as a kind of aurora. From inside a Wind is a scintillating tunnel often tens of thousands of kilometres across widening dramatically as it approaches a star. Coruscating lights float by and strands and clouds of cooling star gasses (the ways rapidly disperse the heat of stars making passing near them in a Way uncomfortable but not fatal) fill the interstellar distances growing thicker and more benign as distance from the star increases. Some organizations have set up waypoints along oft-travelled routes, great islands of rock or metal drifting eternally in the Ways to act as beacons and service passing ships.

Ways are, through strange Etheric physics, omni-directional. While old star-dogs will talk about this Way or that Way having a directional preference that only the most skilful hand can discern and utilize, to most they are multi-lane, multi-directional highways.

Speed

Firstly a game point; Lords of Ether is as much about fantasy as it is ever about science. Thus the distance and speed scales used would drive any astronomer bonkers, however it is chosen for story value and play balance. Using realistic astronomical speeds invalidates many concepts as viable game options.

Speed inside the Star Ways is relative, and while actually much faster to an observer from outside the Ways than similar speeds on a planet tends to be rated in kilometres an hour, a measure popularized after Napoleon Bonaparte lead the Paradisium Grand Armée to conquer most of the known worlds a century after the Exodus.

Ship Speeds are listed below:
-A simple sailing ship like a galley built with Tech level 1 can travel at about 25 km/h in the Ways. Such ships can sail the ways without magical assistance, however they usually need it to get there in the first place.
-A more advanced sailing ship like a frigate or galleon can travel at 50 km/h.
-A ship aided by the telekinesis of a Movement level 3 Mage or a normal (barring Added Capabilities) Tech level 3 vessel cruises at 100 km/h, though both have flank speeds at least twice as high.
-A ship driven by a Mage with Movement level 4, or Tech level 4 cruises at about 200 km/h. In the case ships driven by fusion engines, they have the same cruise speeds as those driven by force fields but have flank speeds four times as high as their cruising speed (more with Added Capabilities).
-A ship driven by a Mage with Movement level 5, or one by Tech level 5 cruises at 300 km/h, again with a higher flank speed (even teleportation for the mage). Ships driven by Etheric anti-matter rockets (not those using it to fuel power sources, but those who directly inject it into the drive for propulsion) can have flank speeds five times or more than their normal cruising speed.
-Aircraft travel at speeds equivalent to those they are capable of maintaining in atmosphere.

Distance

Distance has two measures, the Great League and the Astrometer. The Great League is the more common one, because of its simplicity, though it is less precise. A Great League is the distance a ship travelling at 100km/h can cover in a week on a normal Star Way. An Astrometer is more precise, being 10,000km, as measured in the Star Ways.

Routes

However, not all Star Ways are equal. As well as varying in length, on some routes the flow of the Etheric Wind is faster. Travel on these “Blue Routes” is twice as fast as normal. These routes are usually well marked with various beacons, waypoints and markers suspended in the Ways by various means and operating through various functions.

There are also “Red Routes,” Those dangerous and difficult paths. Travel on one is usually half as fast as normal, but that is not the only peril – these Ways are often changeable and fluctuating, making navigation difficult and passage perilous. Accidents are more common on such routes.

Nebulas. Nebulas are the proverbial Dark Forests. There great Ether Winds sweep around aimlessly and massive clouds of star gasses drift in huge formations. Ships entering a Nebula can be lost for centuries if not careful. Which is, of course why so many try: There are rumoured to be great riches hidden inside Nebula. Certainly many strange things reside within, and few of them human born or made. . .

Blocking Routes

It is difficult in the extreme to totally impede passage through a main Star Way route. Sensor readings and communications are unreliable at long ranges, and there is a great deal of cover offered for those using stealth. It would take a massive fleet indeed to catch every ship using a Way. This is exacerbated since the main route of a way always passes by the sun, but not the inhabited planets of a system.

However, the necessity of ships to navigate, refuel, rest and re-orient makes certain waypoints preferable points for a stopover, and convoys wishing to retain any cohesion and make best speed usually hop from one to the other. The approaches to these can serve as chokepoints; also Tributaries of Star Ways leading to planets are much smaller than the massive main routes and can be more easily patrolled and interdicted.

Travelling off Routes

One does not have to follow the Star Ways or their Tributaries. It is quite possible to sail in open space. Ether still permeates it, but it is not as energized and motive. It takes ten times as long to sail a distance without using a Way. While an unexpected route of approach, his is not commonly used in war since it’s also correspondingly much easier to detect a ship sailing outside of the interference of the Etheric Winds.

Some worlds however are not connected by any known routes, and can only be reached by sail by such a long and arduous process.

Communications

The only methods of instantaneous inter-world communications come with Physics/Mathematics level 5 or Mental level 5 (or, perhaps also Psychology 5?) and then only between individual and previously linked receivers and transmitters. Otherwise communications can take months or even years, and are often scrambled confusingly by the Ether. Most common message traffic over more than a Great League moves as fast as the fastest ship. Legend speaks of a network of relay stations that flashed messages around the known worlds before the God Wars but the great Etheric Storms have long since destroyed such a network, if indeed it ever existed.

Additional Hero Options

Being individuals rather than organizations (like Empires and Trans-stellars) Heroes need a few additional rules and abilities to flesh them out. However, it should be noted that the ultimate tool for fleshing out a Hero is a good description and a good story. These rules only act as guidelines, not substitutes.


Upkeep
Spell casting Heroes (and mage companions) have a level of upkeep. They must still pay Ether to power their spells, even if they don’t – like all Heroes – require Wealth or Industry. A Hero is assumed to be a single Batch all on his or her own, with a Base Cost of 1. Companion mages are matched to the Upkeep of mages of equivalent level (thus usually having Upkeeps lower than 1).

For example, a Hero mage with 2 Masters as his companions would pay 1 Ether in upkeep for himself, and 0.4 points for his Companions. As with everything else, this is yearly in times of leisure, and monthly in times of hostility.

Note: This lack of official Hero upkeep is not because the weapons of a Hero have unlimited ammunition or anything like that – it’s just because the costs are negligible in terms of these rules.

Experience
Before continuing it should be mentioned that Heroes and their Companions do grow in power over time, however this is more story driven than by any expenditure of Wealth or Industry. The system for this is story driven, and reliant on other factors than mere rules. With that said. . .


Added Capabilities
A Hero can buy Added Capabilities much as a normal military unit can. Each Added Capability costs one full Starting Point. A Hero can take as many Technologically based Added Capabilities as his highest tech level, and at the same time may take as many Magic based Added Capabilities as his highest magic level.

In the case of Technological Added Capabilities, most apply to personal equipment, as with technological military units. While certain exotic skills outside those the Hero normally uses in is particular niche, and bonuses to use certain equipment can be taken as Added Capabilities they are largely redundant, as the Hero is assumed to be fantastically good at what he does anyway.

In the case of Magic Added Capabilities, specifically those for mages, things like “Fast Casting” and “Battlemage” are rather more useful to the Hero spell caster. Most magic using players will want a number of these Added Capabilities.

Note: Companions can take as many as many Added Capabilities as their Advancement Level with no additional cost. 1 SP per Companion already covers everything.


So, in the case of Omicra the Ace; Omicra is already an ace mecha pilot. He’s already assumed to be exceptional at all forms of combat in his selected genre – mecha pilot being his greatest skill, but he’s also very good at things like martial arts and marksmanship, as mecha aces tend to be. He doesn’t need to take skills like that separately. He could take a skill like “Master Archer” (Robin Hood style), or “Infiltration” (James Bond style) since his character type as a Mecha Ace certainly doesn’t cover that, but why waste an SP on it?

However, Omicra does want a bit more protection than just a flight suit and beam rifle when he leaves the cockpit, so he takes a formfitting suit of living molecular lightweight battle armour (possible through his fused levels of Chemistry 5 and Creation 5), onto which he slaps some added (but micronized) heavy weaponry. Since this is really powered armour it would be a 2 point modification, and with the added weapons another 1 point. So Omicra would have to pay a total of 3 Starting Points for this whole personal package.

Omicra is nowhere near his maximum in Added Capabilities (10) but doesn’t see a need to spend any more on this particular area.



Heroic Advantages
On top of this, there are a number of Advantages that are specific to Heroes. Many are aimed towards the movement of resources. Lacking the infrastructure an Empire or Trans-stellar has, Heroes can find it very difficult to gain and move resources like Ether in the normal manner, so a number of Advantages are possible to aid them. Some of these are also listed in the general Advantages section, but are listed here as well for convenience.


Rainy Day Fund (varies): This advantage can only be taken by Heroes. It allows you to start the game with a small stockpile of resources; Wealth, Industrial Goods or Ether. These goods are assumed to be in an easily transportable or – failing that – storable form. This stockpile can ONLY be used to pay for Upkeep costs, and cannot be used to invest in future projects, or sold to other Powers. 1 Starting Point buys you twenty of any resource in the Rainy Day Fund.

Ether Battery (varies): This advantage can only be taken by Heroes. It allows the Hero to store an amount of Ether internally equal to five times the rating of this Advantage. This stored Ether does not dissipate, and cannot be tapped by others. The Ether is undetectable unless in active use. Many mages consciously develop this ability. Some Heroes also naturally gain this internal strength, allowing them to power their equipment or special abilities by sheer force of will.

Dragon Heart (varies): This advantage allows the creating of self – generating Ether. Each point of Ether bought in this manner costs 2 SP rather than 1 SP. For Empires and Trans-stellars it usually means the organization powers a number of its vehicles and systems with the still beating hearts of Dragons. This is a great saving on logistics, but Dragons don’t take kindly to being harvested for power, and few organizations have access to more than 5 points of Ether generated in this manner.
For Heroes it often means that their own hearts have become a focus of power much like that of a Dragon, allowing them to generate their own power. Heroes have no limit; they can take this advantage as high as they can afford. Taken with Ether Battery this can allow a Hero to totally internalize his or her Ether.

Natural Powers (varies): Rather than casting spells with the selected Magical Category, your Hero uses his Magic Capabilities as natural abilities. Instead of “spells” the Hero creates “effects.” The cost of this Advantage is the level of the Category to which it is applied, so turning Creation level 5 from magic to natural powers would cost 5 points – this is in addition to those spent to get Creation to level 5.
Natural Powers come with a number of advantages. There is no prep time for any effect. Those of level 3 or lower and they can be used as often as desired. Effects of level 4 can be used once a day, and effects of level 5 power, once a week. While the Hero must still pay the equivalent Upkeep and casting cost (for the larger effects) in Ether of a magic user casting times are only dictated by the nature of the effect. The effect requires no arcane study, forming of reagents, worrying about counter-spells or similar nonsense.
The down side is that Natural Powers are less flexible than “true” magic. The Hero chooses 3 specific powers for level 1 of a Category, 2 powers for levels 2 and 3, and 1 power for each of level 4 and 5. The method by which these powers work and the effect they have must be clearly defined, and cannot change.


Mad Scientist (-10 Starting Points): As a Hero you can enter into tech exchanges with other Empires and Trans-stellars. You can also transfer and receive twice the normal amount of research points.

Militant worshippers (-10 Starting Points): As a Hero you may use your worshippers as a pool for a ground force. However, troops are limited to Unskilled and Skilled infantry.

Excellent Reputation (-5 Starting Points): Your name precedes you. And that’s a good thing. You’re a well known and popular figure, and you can expect a favorable reception almost everywhere you go. However a good reputation can take years to build and can be lost in a single day. Help can be acquired from the locals on most worlds and acquiring new Worshippers is half the normal cost.
Note: You should specify what this good reputation is for and how it was achieved as this will influence who reacts to you and how.

The Stuff of Legends (-10 Starting Points): You're a legendary figure. You are a cherished and loved celebrity for your deeds of valor, or very well respected out of fear for your power. This can be a double edged sword as it can make you a target for those who fear such men, or wish to challenge them. Help can be gained from the locals nearly everywhere you go and acquiring new Worshippers is one fifth the cost.
Note: Again how this Legend was made should be specified.

Lucky (-10 Starting Points): You’re one lucky bloke. You always seem to be in the right place at the right time, the cards always seem to come out right, and you’re never in quite the right place to get hit when the other shoe drops. A nebulous advantage this reinforces the character shields around a Hero. Make no mistake, you can still be killed, but it’s going to have to be because of a focused effort on the part of your enemies, not just bad chance.

Crazy Luck (-25 Starting Points): This is luck works a bit differently from “normal” luck. It’s not so much that things always go your way (they usually don’t) but that you can sometimes do the impossible. Unlike normal luck, this usually happens only after a horrible string of ever worsening and hopeless events. Bad things happen with depressing regularity but somehow they manage to get turned around just before you hit absolute rock bottom. This is “Die Hard” or “Frodo” or for the more pessimistic; “Chow Yun Fat” type luck. The kind of luck that sees a hopelessly outmatched Hero somehow manage to defeat a power far greater than him or herself.
Players taking this Advantage should be prepared to write some seriously entertaining stories.

A Primer on Biological Ships

Oncce a Power reaches Biology level 5 It is possible to forgo the “conventional” shipbuilding practices of metal-alloy and mechanics and instead build living ships out of organic materials. Such ships function similarly to their organic counterparts, but there are some differences that go beyond style.

Cons
Firstly, the downsides. The natural armour on biological ships is only as strong as Tritanium or Durasteel and cannot match Mono-carbons or Adamantium. The engines of bioships at best are only as capable as fusion catalyst plants and cannot keep up with powerful EAM drives. While bioships can regenerate themselves they are no better at this than a ship using nanotechnology, and while they often have minds of their own the powerful supercomputers have them equalled or beat. They are no cheaper or faster to breed than mechanical vessels are to build, and they possess less of the widgets, gadgets and extra accoutrements present on even the most Spartan conventional ship.

Pros
So why build them? Well, for a start they require less Advancement. A basic bioship requires only one Advancement Category – Biology – rather than two: Chemistry and Engineering for a basic technological ship. And while Biology alone doesn’t intrinsically give the bioships things like forcefields and beamguns, Physics/Mathematics isn’t required to give them intelligence – only Psychology. For another, Bioships are essentially crewless. Even those without intelligence operate on an autonomic nervous system which takes minimal human involvement to maintain. Finally Ether pools more densely in the living. Where a standard Fusion powered starship might carry enough Ether to operate for 10 years, a bioship can carry enough to last it 100 – in fact the lifespan of bioships is often rated by how much Ether they have (it can be recharged, but after about 100 years most bioships come to the end of their lives).


Added Capabilities
So, you’ve decided to buy a Bioship. So what’s different from normal mechanical units?

Brain: The brain of a bioship is functionally similar to the AI of a mechanical ship with a few small changes.
At +0 the ship is still alive and still has a brain – just a very small one incapable of independent thought or conscious action. The human crew must directly control the ship’s actions. The Moths in Lexx have this level of Brain. This requires no knowledge of Psychology.
At +1 the ship is intelligent and capable of thought but cannot take independent action. It needs direction from its crew. The Lexx itself is at this level of Brain. This requires a 4 in Psychology.
At +2 the ship is fully intelligent and capable of autonomus decisionmaking and action, often superior to that of its crew. Voidhawks in “Night’s Dawn” display this level of intelligence. This requires a 5 in Psychology.
Note: It is possible for a bioship to eventually mature from +1 to +2 intelligence, however this can take a great deal of time – usually at least the Production Point cost of the ship in years.

Drive: A bioship naturally comes with the ability to sail the Star Ways. This functions as the sails on a sailing ship (50km/h) and is not purchased as an Added Capability. However, bioships can take natural chemical and fusion drives at the same cost in Added Capability of similar technological drives.

Weapons: Bioships usually have less weapons than mechanical ships and concentrated into fewer systems. Without building biological beam weapons (needing Physics or perhaps Destruction) a bioship built with only Biology is limited to physical weapons (often melee) and a few expulsion weapons like superheated gas from the fusion core or peristalsis launched projectiles. These are roughly equivalent to weapons built with Engineering and Chemistry at level 4.

Defenses Without adding Physics, Bioships have no natural shields or force-fields. They rely on armour and other internal systems.

More options
If a Power with Physics knowledge decides to build biological ship it is quite possible to outfit it with biological beam weapons and force fields generated by the ship itself. It is also possible to use Chemistry or even Transmogrification to build better armour onto the bioship (though this partially defeats the purpose of going bio in the fist place). It is also possible to cybernetically graft mechanical components into a bioship, and to introduce organic components into a mechanical ship.


Life Cycle
The life cycle of a bioship can vary dramatically. However, most are born and bred in space and mature there over the months or years of their development. Throughout this process they require nurture, nourishment and training, making the process no faster than building a ship with Engineering 5 (Production Point cost x 2 in months).

Once they mature they live for about 100 years. If a bioship ever runs out of energy, it dies. If it is recharged before, or shortly after death it can be revived. Bioships can generally ingest any form of Ether save EAM which reacts badly to pretty much everything when not in a closely controlled containment field. Resting a bioship in a free Node, bathed in Etheric flows, is usually the best method of natural recharge. Many a bioship hatchery is built over such nexus.

Eventually grandfather time comes for everyone. Bioships don’t live for ever, and those that live the most active lives tend to die the youngest. By then bioships tend to have strong and active personas, and close bonds with their captains and crews. Bioships don’t like to just expire in space. A send-off is usually an emotional event as the aging bioship disembarks its crew for the last time and hurls itself into a star or gas giant as a final salute. . .

Research and Development

Having the technology is all well and good, but it needs to be applied. This is where the “development” part of R&D comes in. Whenever you bring in a new unit design you have to spend a certain number of months 'designing' it, taking a developmental time equal to the Batch cost, and paying that same amount in Wealth. The time can be reduced by spending 1 Research Point per month of hastened development. This doesn’t reduce the Wealth paid, just the time taken.

So a 30PP battleship would cost 30 Months and 30 Wealth to design. Or by the expenditure of 20 RP, only 10 months and 30 Wealth.

Furthermore, you can use older/other designs to speed the research process up. This design evolution is only calculated off things in common.

Example:

Battleship: TL3, +1 armour, +1 weapons, +1 rockets; 15 PP

to

Battleship: TL4, +1 armour, +1 weapons, +1 rockets, +1 shields; 24 PP

The first battleship has everything the second has, so its full 15 DP could be used to cut down the 24 DP of the TL4 ship to 9; 9 Wealth, 9 Months.

However, if it had been:

Battleship: TL3, +1 armour, +1 weapons, +1 rockets; 15 PP

to

Battleship: TL4, +2 armour, +1 rockets, +1 shields; 24 PP

Then since the +1 weapons has no parallel in the later design, only 12 DP of it could be used.

Or, if it had been:

Cruiser: TL3, +1 armour, +1 weapons, +1 rockets; 12 PP (Batch Cost is used, otherwise new infantry weapons could be designed overnight)

To

Battleship: TL3, +1 armour, +1 weapons, +1 rockers; 15 PP

Then while all the Added Capabilities mesh, the hulls are different, and so only the 9 PP of the Added Capabilities count to reducing design time of the larger ship.




This process can be aided by espionage and reverse engineering.

For espionage you deploy spies, and then through stories and secret rolls you occasionally manage to snag something of value.

For reverse engineering you take the design, tear it apart and after a number of months equal to its tech level you know all there is about it - HOWEVER this only works if you have the tech level to build the device yourself. A TL 3 civ gets nothing by trying to reverse engineer a TL5 ship.

The same kind of thing applies to magic. In that a totally new kind of spell takes a number of months equal to its overall level to research. This isn't as big a deal for magic-users as it is for technological nations, and mostly it can be ignored (a Power’s spell books are naturally assumed to be vast) but it is there to stop one magical Power from immediately copying a nifty and totally original spell created by some other Power.

Trade

The mechanics
Trade is an integral part of international relations. High profile, high cost items like war machines, high technology and bulk resources are dealt with on an individual deal-by-deal basis; these rules describe the day to day movement of luxuries and non-essentials that can truly enrich the commercially inclined.

When setting up a trade route there are a number of things to consider. A Trader Power must be able to regularly commit to maintaining the route to its Customer, providing a continuous supply of goods and the ships to carry them. The intervals don’t have to me monthly, bi-monthly, or even tri-monthly, but they must arrive on a regular schedule. If this cannot be done, if there are too many interruptions, the route may collapse and will cease to bring a profit. That means a Power must have both a steady supply of free industry to make the Trade Goods and a large enough Merchant Marine to move them.

Each unit of Trade Goods takes 1 Industry to make, and takes up 5,000 cargo points.

Also the expected return must be calculated. This is determined by relative Wealth of the Trader and Customer, relative Advancement, and distance covered. These are added together as plusses, whose cumulative total determines the profit or Return:

If the Trader has a greater Wealth-per-month (Wealth, and Employee Bonus for Trans-stellars) than the Customer then they gain +1 return. If the Trader has a Wealth-per-month more than twice as great as that of the Customer they gain a +2 Return.

If the Trader has at least one Advancement Category higher than the same Category of the Customer they gain +1 return. If the Trader has an Advancement Category more than twice as high as the corresponding Category of the Customer they gain +2 Return.

If the one way distance from Trader to Customer is greater than 10 Great Leagues the Trader gains a +1 return. If the distance is greater than 20 Great Leagues the Trader gains a +2 Return.

The total of all these plusses gives the total Return in Wealth on each unit of Trade Goods delivered.

This deal isn’t totally one sided. The Customer gains the amount in Trade Goods towards Civil Order Upkeep. They can also, if they choose, charge tariffs on the Trader, though this can often drive business away.

Some points to consider
Trade ships need a point to refuel and restock if they cannot make the entire round trip on one tank (two months sailing for most). Usually this is at the point of delivery, though on especially long routes other way stations may be used. Upkeep for such civilian registered ships is automatic and requires no expenditures of Ether or Industry on the part of the Trader. However, this does bring some benefit to the port chosen for such stopovers, and the local Power (assuming this Power is a different one from that owning the ship) gains 1 Wealth for every Batch of ships that use its facilities.

Security is also an issue on long routes, since freighters laden with riches are pirate magnets. Traders can contract local Powers to provide security at key points along such long routes. This does cost the Trader extra; a pre-determined amount between Trader and the power providing security. Annoying local warlords can also charge “protection” money, or more politely “toll fees” for ships passing through their territory, though they’d better be prepared to enforce such edicts.

Trade can be conducted on “reduced overhead”, by using such fuel efficient means for trade ships as standard or star sails, or by using idiotic robot freighters. This reduces the capability of the ships in question (either slower or stupider) but gives a +1 Return.

Similarly overhead can be increased by lack of a safe port and the necessity of carrying extra supplies. Vessels at Advancement Level 4 or higher usually can carry enough Ether to extend fuel range significantly (while standard range is 2 months, they can usually pack in enough Ether for 10 months or more though for civilian ships such excess is not standard practice), but the needs of stocking up on this extra fuel at their homeport result in -1 Return.

Trade can be moved by World Gate. This is extremely costly in Ether, since it’s at least 1 Ether per spell, often 4 Ether for the more lengthy enchantments necessary for moving all the goods; this plus the monthly Upkeep for a dedicated mage to cast the spell repeatedly. Still it can’t be beat for moving goods vast distances, without all that mucking about with boats.

Like all other deals with other Powers, undiplomatic Powers halve the Wealth gained if they are the Trader, and halve the Civil Order Upkeep gained if they are the Customer. This tends to make them hesitant to engage in such deals.

Trade necessarily opens up a society’s borders to all manner of visitors and ideas. It also gives the Trader a measure of power over the Customer, as a sudden cut-off of luxuries is never taken well by the populace. The more insular or controlling or simply unstable Powers are thus VERY hesitant to allow it. On the flipside, a Power particularly closed to trade can bring added bonuses to daring Black Marketeers.

At maximum, no society can accept more than five times its population rating (per million people) in Trade Goods a year. In fact many will limit the influx of trade before this number is reached at two or three times basic Civil Order Upkeep. This is because a society will be VERY cautious about raising the standard of living of its citizens to levels which it cannot maintain should the Trade ever be abruptly cut short. In the case of competing Traders the ultimate decision is in the hands of the Customer on whose goods to accept. All else being equal, the Customer will generally take the better (read: more advanced) goods, but this decision can be “swayed” with financial incentives and generous tariff agreements.



For an Example we’ll look at the great Trading Power New Phoenicia. Among its other Customers, New Phoenicia trades heavily with its largely independent colonies of Alumenecar, Gades and Sarfax.

In the case of Alumenecar, New Phoenicia trades 5 units of Trade Goods every month. This takes 25,000 points of cargo space, which the highly advanced Phoenicians can pack on a single freighter, of which they have many. The round trip distance is a little under 7 Great Leagues, a distance a Phoenician freighter on Star Sails (100 km/h) can cover in just under 2 months, meaning two freighters can easily meet a monthly schedule. Since with the low power drain of Star Sails and the vast storage EAM fuel cells it is child’s play for such a freighter to fly for years this presents no refueling problems. So, the logistics of the route are certainly not a issue.

Now how much return do the Phoenicians get? Well, the total monthly Wealth of New Phoenicia is 90, while the total monthly Wealth of Alumenecar is 20. That’s well over twice the Wealth on the part of the Trader, so +2 Return there. Then we look at Advancement. The greatest difference is in Psychology where Alumenecar has 300 and New Phoenicia has 550, not quite x2 but good enough. That’s +1 Return.

Then distance. The one-way distance isn’t even 4 Great Leagues, let alone 10, so there’s no increase to Return there.

However, the Freighter is running on the fuel efficient Star Sails (gained with a level 5 in Physics/Mathematics) which draw almost no power when in use, so this severely decreases overhead (though it does mean the freighter is only a third as fast as it would be on level 5 force-field drive) so that’s another +1 Return.

So New Phoenicia gains a Return of 4 Wealth for every 1 unit of Trade Goods delivered. And Alumenecar gains 1 point towards its Civil Order Upkeep. Since five units of Trade Goods are delivered, that’s 5 Industry spent and 15 Wealth gained for New Phoenicia and 5 points of Civil Order Upkeep gained for Alumenecar. So every month the Phoenicians gain 20 Wealth, for a total of 240 Wealth yearly, and Alumenecar gains 60 points of Civil Order Upkeep, which explains both why New Phoenicia is filthy rich and Alumenecar so content. . . And why pirates from the Hub occasionally risk the wrath of the Phoenician fleet for a quick buck.


Now let’s look at another route. Limnos Isle is an unlikely trading power; one of their main routes is the lengthy run all the way up to Phiades and Metriakla. That’s 24 Great Leagues round trip, a good six month journey even for those ships aided by magic (Movement level 3). Each Limnan ship can carry only 500 cargo points, so it takes 10 of them to move a single unit of Trade Goods. These convoys are dispatched once every month, meaning at any one time there are some 60 Limnan sky-galleys on the route, coming and going.

Limnos has a Wealth of 30 compared to the 80 of Metriakla, so no gain to Return there, but Metriakla has a zero in Mental while Limnos has 320 in that category so that’s +2 Return. The route is also 12 Great Leagues one way, so that’s another +1 Return.

So every month Limnos spends 1 industry and sends 1 Trade Good to Phiades, gaining 3 Wealth in turn for 36 Wealth a year, while Metriakla also gains 1 to Civil Order Upkeep a month, for 12 a year – a nice dint out of the rather hefty 70 points needed every year to keep the populace content.

However the Limnan ships can’t go the entire journey on their own. They have to stop over at first Itriasca, and then take a short break on Phiades itself, then shunt back to Itriasca and then home. This brings an extra 1 Wealth (10 ships in a convoy are 1 Batch) a month to Metriakla, and an extra 2 Wealth a month (one from the inbound convoys, one from the outbound convoy) to Itriasca, specifically the Na-Speza Metropolis.

. . .Which explains why Na-Speza makes sure it remains a favourable open port, and pays such attention to keeping the local climate favourable for traders. . .



Black Marketeering

A great deal of profit can be made by the shipment of commonly recognized illegal goods, such as harmful drugs, banned weapons, restricted entertainment and suchlike. What determines whether goods are Black Market or not depends on the society into which they are being smuggled, but all societies have something they consider prohibited.

There are a number of advantages to Black Marketeering: Such shipments are usually of greater value, needing smaller sizes and thus taking up only 1,000 Cargo Points per Trade Unit (though still costing 1 Industry to produce). The Return is also always at least +1, rising to +2 for goods delivered to Dissatisfied populations, and +3 for goods delivered to Angry or Rebellious populations. Unlike normal trade, Black Market deliveries do not have to follow regular schedules – there’s always a demand no matter when the goods arrive. Such deliveries also do not require any consent or agreement from the Customer. The Trader can deliver as much as they can move as often as they can move it.

On top of all other considerations this means a fantastic Return, but it does have a down side. Unlike normal Trade, Black Marketeering has no benefit to the Customer. In fact in cancels out points of Civil Order Upkeep on a one-for one basis, actually harming the society. This means that a Power will always try to stamp out the Black Market, or at least limit its operation if it is at all able. This isn’t necessarily easy. Black Market goods can be hidden amongst normal legitimate shipments, or smuggled in by bribing corrupt officials or simply by sneaking around customs entirely. There is also the paradox that the harder a Power tries to stamp out the Black Market the more Return the smugglers gain for their deliveries. It the total Base Cost of units deployed in active security operations around and on a world (whether those operations are directly aimed at preventing smuggling or not) exceeds the population rating (per million) then Return on the Black Market is +1. If it exceeds double the population rating, then this rises to +2.

There is however a point of saturation; when a society is so awash in illicit goods that further deliveries bring no more profit. This comes when the number of Black Market goods delivered in a year exceeds twice the population rating (per million people) of a Power. This fight for limited consumers can lead to quite vicious crime wars between rival Black Marketeers as they attempt to destroy each others shipments, bases of operations and networks of distribution.

All this is changed.