When I return to the world of Ironsworn/Starforged, my first question is, “Why?” The first reason is that it is my favorite solo tabletop system I’ve played thus far. I’ve had fun with almost everything I’ve played, but for the purposes of developing a story with structure and still surprising me along the way, nothing beats this. I’d also like to drop an unsponsored promo for Sean Tompkin’s current Kickstarter for Sundered Isles, the next installment in the Ironsworn series that will provide pirate/sea-faring content as well as Cursed Dice and Crew mechanics.
The second reason I am returning to Starforged is that I wanted to revisit my science fiction catch-all megaverse again. The seed for this idea came after thinking about how my version of the Dune Universe (The Trade Enclave) had not yet come up in any of my stories. The setting I decided on was an orbital space station where the borders of Enclave, Old Imperium (Star Wars), and the United Planetary Alliance (Star Trek) meet. As with most border cities, a lot of activity and espionage is happening here.
Borges Station is one of the places where Imperium refugees have been brought. These refugees have been using secret star map paths to cross from their war-torn region of space into the UPA (read the story of one refugee escape starting here). The UPA is trying to avoid a war with the Imperium and their ruthless leader, Empress Maharanee. Months ago, there were stories of a deep space station in the Regulak sector being taken over by some Imperium refugee cult that had even managed to convince some UPA citizens to join up with them (read that story beginning here.)
Shortly after that, there was an encounter with some of these radicals who made their way to the Solana Cluster, where they drew the wrath of the Argala Cartel. This incident resulted in the destruction of UPSS (United Planetary Starship) Kingfisher (Read that story beginning here.)
Commander Miranda Kae is an officer in the UPA who has been stationed at Borges Station in the Vermillion System. Her primary role is supervising the processing of over a thousand Imperium refugees brought there after being intercepted. Over the last two and a half years, Kae has grown close to many of these refugees and empathizes with their plight. She finds her role as a bureaucrat tied down by regulation to come up against the very human needs of these people.
An accident during the Vrekan Wars led to Kae losing the use of her eyes. They have been replaced with Enhanced Visual Prosthetics (EVPs) that allow her to see across the full spectrum of light with a mental command and zoom in on the fine detail of things in her immediate surroundings. The UPA has provided her with a diplomat-class ship, the Concordia, outfitted with baseline weapons but with a Medbay and some powerful Shields. It’s not intended for war but to defend itself in the case of an assault while on diplomatic missions.
At Borges Station, Kae has many colleagues and friends. One is Bojs’kiyah, an Urkiax Imperium refugee who served as a Resistance lieutenant back home. She is happy to help Kae work with the refugees towards possible resettlement on Cradus 11, the lush, nearly uninhabited planet the space station orbits. Kae’s other close bond is with Lt. Commander Kieran Ennis, the chief engineer on the station. He grew up like Kae, on the fringes of UPA space, and will do everything he can to push Borges to its limits when Kae needs it.
A third bond arrived last month, Captain Muhammed Ehab of the UPSS Cassandra. He’s come to Borges to hold trade negotiations with the Corporate House of the Trade Enclave. The UPA hopes to establish a greater peace agreement in the long term as they hear frightening rumors of a radicalized terrorist organization coming to power within the Enclave. Kae served under Ehab before being promoted to her current role; she respects him but is also very intimidated. Ehab is a by-the-book captain.
Oracle: Search Humanity
Kae is searching the refugee quarters of Borges for Bojs’kiyah because she will learn about what the UPA has decided will happen to these people from Captain Ehab today. She wants to know if Bojs’kiyah intends to accompany her to the meeting on the Cassandra, which is docked at the station.
Can Kae find Bojs’kiyah? Odds: 50/50. Result – [Ask the Oracle: No]
Oracle: Break Safety
Kae cannot find her comrade but gets an alert from station security that one of the station sections blocked off from the refugees has been breached within the last two hours. The commander locates the open service tunnel and is confused about how it could have been opened. The refugees had their weapons confiscated when they were brought in and only have small tools that shouldn’t be able to override doors like these.
Gather Information – [Strong Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 4 | 2]
This door was opened with tremendous force that didn’t result in any scorching or damage to the door. Like someone with immense strength got a good grip and pushed the doors apart.
[Kae takes the vow: I vow to resecure the refugee quarters on the station – Troublesome]
Kae decides to go ahead and reseal the doors so that if whoever did this tries to double back, they will be trapped, and she can find out who they are.
Secure an Advantage w/Shadow – [Weak Hit: 6 + 1 + 0 = 7 vs 1 | 7]
The doors are sealed well enough, and she continues searching for the escapee.
Kae stumbles across an older man in tattered robes, trying to type into a security panel and only getting error messages in return.
Fulfill Your Vow – [Strong Hit: 6 + 6 + 0 = 10 vs 4 | 1]
This is the culprit. He looks distraught, and Kae speaks to him in a calm, comforting voice. His name is Abram, and he insists, “I can hear them out there in the dark. They are talking; they are coming here. I need to get my sword. Soon. Before they arrive.”
Kae assures him the station’s sensors would detect any pending threat, so Abram should feel very safe here on Borges.
Compel w/Heart – [Strong Hit: 1 + 3 + 0 = 6 vs 5 | 4]
Kae has convinced the old man to return to the refugee quarters by promising to look into his fears about a pending attack. There’s something strange about this person; she can’t quite conceive how he would have opened those doors on his own, and he insists he did this all himself.
Make a Connection – [Weak Hit: 3 + 3 + 0 = 6 vs 9 | 2]
Abram is very amenable to Kae, but he insists again that she do a sector scan right now. They don’t have time to lose. Kae says she will contact security and have them begin one as soon as she drops Abram off.
[Abrams’s role to Kae will be giving +1 to detecting what is unseen]
Oracle: Ancient Transport
Kae is sidetracked when her office blips her comm badge, letting her know the envoy from House Linnaeus will arrive at any moment.
Kae reaches the grand observation deck in time to see the arrival of the Trade Enclave ship. She’d never seen one in person before and was curious about what it looked like coming out of the jump. The vessel was a colossal structure, resembling a sleek, elongated obelisk adorned with ornate patterns and arcane sigils etched into its hull.
Standing sentinel atop the ship was a crystalline spire, shimmering with luminescence that seemed to pulse with the rhythms of the cosmos. This crystalline beacon served as a focal point for the vessel’s mystical energies, channeling the arcane forces that powered its propulsion systems.
The hull of the Enclave starship was a marvel of engineering, crafted from an otherworldly alloy that shimmered with an ethereal sheen. Runes and glyphs, glowing with an inner light, traced intricate patterns across its surface, their meanings known only to the most adept Thought-shaman in Enclave-space. Arrayed along the sides of the ship were clusters of crystalline protrusions. These crystalline nodes pulsed with a soft, pulsating glow, their hues shifting and changing following the subtle currents of the astral plane.
As the ship moved through space, it left behind a trail of shimmering dust, the residue of the massive amount of Essence consumed by the Flight Syndicate pilot. The substance warped them from humans into something bearing almost no resemblance. In Kae’s courses at the Academy, a professor of Speculative Evolution posited that eons of life among the stars will inevitably change humans. While no eyes outside the public representatives of the Syndicate had ever seen a pilot in person, Kae couldn’t help but wish she could enter the ship and meet the fantastic being.
Moments later, she greeted the envoy from House Linnaeus at the spaceport. They were led by Ambassador Ainsley Linnaeus, an ostentatiously dressed androgynous person who looked quite upset. Kae extended her hand only to get a strange look from the ambassador. Linnaeus complains about the artificial gravity systems on UPA stations & ships, how they always give them a horrible headache, and they need to rest for a few hours. Kae calls a couple of ensigns to escort the envoy to their quarters and promises to send a medical officer to the ambassador’s room with some relief for that headache.
It’s going to be a long day.
Oracle: Unstable Discovery
Kae gets a comm alert from the command center of Borges that they have detected an anomaly on the system’s edge. She takes a lift there, and they show her an unknown energy signature that has popped up out of nowhere.
Secure an Advantage – [Miss: 2 + 2 + 0 = 4 vs 8 | 4]
Kae looks over the scans and runs a quick analysis via the station’s advanced A.I. It looks like it’s just some highly radioactive debris, probably that very volatile star in the next system. There had been some chatter about powerful discharges occurring over the next few years.
Cut to the system’s edges, four sleek writing cybernetic objects are zooming through space. They communicate in an intelligible techno-language to each other. They are making their way to Borges Station.
Oracle: Betray Community
Kae receives word that Captain Ehab wants to discuss the UPA’s plans for resettling the Imperium refugees. After brief pleasantries onboard the Cassandra docked here at Borges, the captain gets down to brass tacks.
The UPA has no interest in settling the refugees on Cradus 11. They believe it will spark a war with the Imperium to permanently take them in. Instead, they will continue to be held in refugee status onboard Borges. Kae argues her case.
Oracle: Does Ehab say he will take her words to leadership. Odds: Unlikely – [Ask the Oracle: No]
Kae holds back her anger, becoming exceptionally quiet. Ehab tries to smooth things over but gives up halfway through. He reminds her they will be convening with the envoy from the Trade Enclave at 09:00 hours tomorrow. She is dismissed.
The command bridge alerts Kae again. Those energy signatures are getting closer. They aren’t sure how to respond. Kae tells them to put the station on Blue Alert and intensify scanning on the energy. She’s getting worried and remembers Abram from the refugee decks. Maybe he was onto something.
Secure an Advantage w/Heart – [Strong Hit: 6 + 3 + 0 = 9 vs 8 | 5]
Kae asks around and ends up at Abram’s quarters. They are decorated with religious relics she is unfamiliar with by bearing the script of the Imperium. Abram greets her, looking even more paranoid than he did before.
You can hear that energy moving towards the station? Yes, he can. What are they saying?
Oracle: Defeat Life
Abram tells her it is alive and numerous and wants to consume and transform everything in its path.
We see the probes reaching the station and tentacles pull back, revealing horrific-looking tools and extensions.
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