Autumn's Rainswept Tower

They say the sky in the Umbral Rim is lovely beyond compare. They say that the gods smile upon those worlds, glittering in the gloom like innumerable gemstones. The stars, cruel gods, smile upon the bloodshed and misery etched across each planet’s surface.

A band of travellers, strangers to the Umbral Rim, will experience those wonders and horrors for themselves. They will rub shoulders with gladiators, sorcerers, priests, and slaves. Beauties shall dance for them. Mighty leaders shall seek their counsel… or their heads. The eyes of the Rim and beyond gaze upon the lonely blue-green planet Karangbesi and those who walk its surface. The secrets of a grand weapon of ancient kings rest upon that world, amid its oceans, jungles, and blasted wastes. Destiny turns. The time for such secrets is nearly over. And those travellers are there to decide: what power will hold Karangbesi and its weapon in the end? 

This game takes place within the Psi Wars setting for the GURPS roleplaying game. Psi Wars belongs to Mailanka of the blog Mailanka’s Musings, and GURPS belongs to Steve Jackson Games. Further information about the setting may be found at the aforementioned blog and on the Psi Wars wiki. My interpretation of the setting and mechanics will no doubt differ from official canon and should not be taken as authoritative. It is based on my own ideas of what the setting looks like and how those in it behave.

Our heroes all share a few things in common. Each one has some reason to flee from the Core region and the Valorian Empire, and has thus set out for the Umbral Rim. Each one finds themself stuck on the planet Samsara, the gateway to the Umbral Rim, by an Imperial blockade on all traffic heading rimward. 

For days, they have waited for a chance to leave. Yet, the way onwards is still barred. Something must change the situation to give them an opportunity to escape, or they will have to take matters into their own hands.

The cast in question:

Aeila Kain: The Exiled Knight

Aeila is a giant of a woman, a hulk of muscle and metal with a beautiful face and a pair of dull, sightless eyes. Though bearing the name and might of her father’s house, Aeila heavily favors her Sabine mother. Her hair is pale, her eyes blind, and her soul alive with psionic potential. She possesses both ESP and, strangely, a kind of vampirism. This did not make her a popular child. 

Her actions did not make her a popular adult either. Bloodlust and alcoholism may be forgiven in a scion of Kain, and her base lust for beautiful women can be overlooked. Even her speculative musings about slavery could be ignored. However, seducing her own older brother’s bride-to-be was a step beyond the pale. Though not formally disowned due to the purity of her genetics, she has been exiled from the worlds controlled by the Alliance. Without much other choice, she has traveled to the Umbral Rim with the singular goal of showing every Maradonian lord and Akashic priest how wrong they are. She will become the greatest of nobles, mistress of slaves and warlord of stars, until they all kneel before her might!

Aeila is accompanied by a heavily personalized Shieldmaiden robot who carries her Caliban-pattern armor when she is not wearing it. 

Cero: The Repatriate Necromancer

Cero is a Ranathim of the Core, descended from refugees of the Slaver War. His parents taught him the language of their people, but he remains illiterate. They also taught him stories and about how to act properly, giving him the required familiarity with the culture. However, until now he has never been to the Umbral Rim.

Cero is small for a male Ranathim, slender and androgynously gorgeous. At the same time, though, he is also oddly pale and weird events happen around him constantly. At a young age, he discovered a talent for manipulating the dead. At some point, he even came upon a forgotten Tyrannic laboratory, deep within the underhive of the planet, where half by chance he created the Gaunt entity known as Luckpicker.

Luckpicker: The Psionic Abomination

Luckpicker is technically a Gaunt, in much the same way that one could call a Death Worm or a Flesh Bloom a Gaunt. It is a hulking creature, a twisted collection of arms, legs, and wriggling fingers. Its main forelimbs are tipped with wicked carbide-sheathed claws, and its mouth is a ragged cluster of carbide-sheathed fangs. Underneath its monstrous appearance, however, is a mind of slightly above average intelligence for a Gaunt (and thus, equivalent to the average human). 

Luckpicker possesses an extraordinarily strong will and is naturally adept at Probability Manipulation, capable of the odd trick of enhancing its allies’ fortunes by eating away their bad luck.

Lyra: The Defiant Rebel

Lyra is a wanted woman, an officer of a failed rebellion who is now on the run from imperial authorities. A half-Asrathi, she has many of her father’s traits and has adopted Blaster Ballet as her fighting style. She is a brilliant tactician as well as a great beauty, and oozes confidence and charm. She might be somewhat overconfident. However, she has a wide variety of useful skills ranging from the military to the social to the illicit (the result of growing up in poverty). 

Lyra does not believe in the supernatural. Psionic powers are tricks used to manipulate the gullible. When others insist upon their veracity, she tends to dismiss them entirely.

Lee Yama-o: The False Aristocrat

Lee claims to be a scion of House Yama-o. To those knowledgeable about Stratagem or the Maradonian aristocracy, this is an obvious lie. Of course, that raises several questions: Who is the confident, haughty, and sharply dressed person? Where did they come from? And how did they acquire their Kainian cybernetic eye and arm and the Force Blade they carry?

Lee is rather plain, but with a charming wit and keen insight into the people around them. It is easy to trust Lee. They present a minor smattering of psychokinetic abilities, including surrounding their hand in flames and pulling objects towards their palm. Though Lee has some training in combat skills, with a focus on Judo and the basics of Force Sword combat that remind an experienced observer of the fundamentals of the Simple Form, they are far more adept at handling threats with words than violence.