Editing SWN: Hand of Jehuty

[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/ Recruitment] | [https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/swn-rocket-peace.875399/ OOC] | [https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/swn-rocket-peace.875423/ IC]

=Characters=
[[Stars Without Number Revised Sheet]]
==Agents==
*''Atlictoatl''
**'''Earis ir'Delan [[JEHUTY Profile: ADDER | (ADDER)]]''', L3 Arcane Expert/Restricted Telepath, HP 13/13 | System Strain 0 | AC 13 | Initiative +1 | Effort 5/5
**'''Mal-chin Doubt Eater 23 [[JEHUTY Profile: RHINO | (RHINO)]]''', L3 Arcane Warrior, HP 25/25 | System Strain 0 | AC 17 | Initiative +1 | Warrior Ability 1/1, Ammo 20/20
*''Caiphon''
**'''Marys Sante [[JEHUTY Profile: MONUMENT | (MONUMENT)]]''', L2 War Mage, HP 7/7 | System Shock 0 | AC 14 | Initiative +1 | Spell Casts: L1: 4/4
**'''Stygian Blue [[JEHUTY Profile: BLUE | (STIG)]]''', L2 Prismatic AI, HP 6/6 or 11/11 | System Shock 0 | AC 13 | Initiative +0 or +1 | Processing 2/2
*''Cannonball''
**'''Kalli Duclair [[JEHUTY Profile: NIMBUS | (NIMBUS)]]''', L2 Transhuman Expert, HP 12/15 | System Shock 1 | AC 15 | Initiative +2 | Expert Ability 1/1
**'''Peace Wrapped in Starlight [[JEHUTY Profile: CLARION | (CLARION)]]''', L2 Sunblade, HP 6/6 | System Shock 0 | AC 19(!) | Initiative +1, Alert | Effort 3/3
*''MonsterMash''
**'''Rufus Wyndot [[JEHUTY Profile: MANTIS | (MANTIS)]]''', L3 Expert, HP 15/15 | System Shock 0 | AC 16 | Initiative +1 | Expert Ability 1/1
**'''Benno Karden [[JEHUTY Profile: BULLET | (BULLET)]]''', L2 Warrior, HP 11/11 | System Shock 0 | AC 14 | Initiative -1, Alert-2 | Warrior Ability 1/1
*''Niihue''
**'''Javier Morales [[JEHUTY Profile: SPIRIT | (ORACLE SPIRIT)]]''', L3 Psychic/Warrior, HP 15/15 | System Shock 0 | AC 14 | Initiative +1, Intuitive Response | Effort 5/5
**'''Mei Kirishima [[JEHUTY Profile: ANGEL | (ANGEL)]]''', L3 Expert, HP 11/11 | System Shock 0 | AC 14 | Initiative +0 | Expert Ability 1/1
*''Stinkyfool''
**'''Darius [[JEHUTY Profile: FLOAT | (FLOAT)]]''', L2 Warrior, HP 11/11 | System Shock 0 | AC 13 | Initiative +0, Alert | Warrior Ability 1/1
**'''Jasper [[JEHUTY Profile: FLUX | (FLUX)]]''', L2 Psychic, HP 10/10 | System Shock 0 | AC 13 | Initiative +0 | Effort 4/4
===Party Skill Ranks===
''(#) is the number of ranks, #S means the PC has Specialist focus''
*Administer
*Cast Magic - Monument (1)
*Connect - Adder (1 + Connected), Mantis (1 + Connected), Float (0)
*Exert - Rhino (0), Spirit (0), Monument (0), Clarion (0), Float (0), Bullet (0)
*Fix - Nimbus (1 + Tinker), Stygian Blue (1), Mantis (1), Rhino (0), Monument (0), Clarion (0), Flux (0)
*Heal - Angel (1 + Healer), Monument (0 + Healer), Stygian Blue (0), Flux has psychic healing
*Know - Angel (1S), Rhino (1S), Nimbus (0), Stygian Blue (0), Mantis (0)
*Know Magic - Monument (0)
*Lead - Stygian Blue (2S + Authority), Rhino (0)
*Notice - Clarion (1 + Alert), Bullet (1 + Alert), Angel (1), Mantis (1), Adder (0), Float (0 + Alert), Monument (0)
*Perform
*Pilot - Monument (0), Flux (0)
*Program - Nimbus (2 + Hacker), Flux (1 + Hacker), Adder (0), Stygian Blue (0), Bullet (0)
*Punch - Bullet (0)
*Shoot - Clarion (Sunblade 2), Bullet (2 + Gunslinger), Float (1 + Gunslinger), Rhino (0), Adder (0), Nimbus (0), Angel (0), Monument (0)
*Sneak - Float (1S), Spirit (1), Rhino (0), Adder (0), Angel (0), Clarion (0), Stygian Blue (0), Flux (0), Bullet (0)
*Stab - Rhino (2 + Savage Fray), Spirit (0)
*Survive - Angel (1 + Wanderer), Spirit (0), Clarion (0), Mantis (0 + Wanderer 2)
*Talk - Nimbus (1 + Diplomat), Stygian Blue (1 + Diplomat), Adder (1), Float (0)
*Trade
*Work

==Officials==
'''Wizened Ivy,''' Director of JEHUTY
*Considers the interests of the agency as a whole.
*Mountain Sunblade wounded in action. Hopes to elevate a field agent into the office.

'''Punished Spider,''' Ministry of Correction, played by Niihue
*Responds to threats to the agency itself and those it protects: the peace-loving people of the sector, in principle.
*Mountain-raised pious believer in the cause. Completely bald, facial tattoos over burn scar.

'''Crazy Vulture,''' Bureau of Clarity, played by Atlictoatl
*Identifies dangerous tech in the wrong hands, assembles field teams, and removes it.
*Broken Blade accountant. War refugee who lost their family to stray ordinance.

'''Wild Duck,''' Vision Section, played by MonsterMash
*Researches new technology, psi, magic, and other tools, and equips the agency with them.
*Broken Blade technician. Convinced that there's a still-hidden power at work in the sector.

'''Propitious Beetle,''' Foundation Division, played by Caiphon
*Maintains support staff: medics, accountants, janitors, and the NGO side of things.
*Early Blade field operative. Badly wounded on a field mission and presumed lost, but returned, with deeper passion than ever to continue the work. Walks with a limp. Kindly old grampa who won't back down when you refuse your holiday gifts.

'''Angel Obscured,''' Department of Peace, played by stinkyfool
*Ensures that the agency is embodying, synthesizing, and acting on the values of both Mountain and Blade.
*Near-death experience led to deep personality change. Seems high but isn't.

==Agency==
'''Homeworld:''' Stoke

'''Connections''' 1, '''Infiltration''' 1, '''Mobility''' 3, '''Muscle''' 3, '''Resources''' 1, '''Security''' 1, '''Tech''' 1
*Black Codex 1
**All agents gain Fix-0, Know-0, or Program-0 relating to maltech. '''+1 Tech'''
***A vault deep in the cliffside containing paper printouts, technical labs, and closed computer networks fully detached from the outside and each other.
*Front Business 1
**The agency has a front business that explains modest wealth. '''+1 Resources'''
***Blade Broken Peace Services continues to operate as a private peace company, taking contracts and laundering credits.
*Hidden Strings 1
**The agency has unofficial friends in numerous government departments, and can often get minor regulations bent. '''+1 Connections'''
***A cabal within Stoke's government not devoted to the Exarchate still deeply respects the Mountain and believes in their mission.
*Infiltrators
**Each time you take the Scout Element action, you can also make it for free against one Infiltrated agency. '''+1 Infiltration'''
***JEHUTY agents have been inserted into the Other Side of the Mountain at a low level, giving support for other infiltration ops.
*Starships 2
**The agency has a free trader and the crew and facilities to keep it functional.
**The agency has a frigate and three free traders under its control. '''+3 Muscle'''
***Stoke's shipyards have produced a sizable navy; they can spare the "training flotilla" consisting of frigate ''Sharur'' and free traders ''Antu, Haya,'' and ''Ishum.''
*Tradition 1
**The agency is dedicated, united, and has a history of accomplishment. '''+1 Security'''
***The inherited traditions of the Mountain, together with Blade Broken's altruistic mission, motivate JEHUTY personnel more than money.
*Transport 2
**Grav flyers and covert drops are available on the agency’s home planet.
**Fast smuggler runs of up to 50 tons to any world within 2 hexes of an agency station. '''+3 Mobility'''
***On top of the agency's owned grav flyers and other vehicles, they maintain relationships with humanitarian-inclined smugglers used to delivering relief under cover.

=Mechanics=
==Agency Turn==
I'll just link the handout explaining these rules here.

[https://i.imgur.com/5BNaJyT.png What is an Agency?]
[https://i.imgur.com/aoBQCGt.png Agency Actions]
[https://i.imgur.com/HVTBtOx.png Agency Elements 1]
[https://i.imgur.com/wKDnHSK.png Agency Elements 2]
==Character Creation==
*As per book with these changes.
*Roll 3D6 6 times down the line to generate an array of stats in order. When creating a new PC, do this two times and pick the array you prefer.
*Characters start at Level 2. They have a free skill-0 in Fix, Know, or Program from the Black Codex element.
*Instead of creating your own character, you can have the DM randomly generate a character for you. By default this is limited to Warrior, Expert, and Psychic to keep it easy, but just ask if you'd like an Adventurer, a Prismatic True AI, or a magic class.
*In addition to the True AI class (as a Prismatic) and various origin foci, these classes from Codex of the Black Sun are available: Arcane Expert, Arcane Warrior, Free Nexus, Rectifier, Sunblade, War Mage, and Yama King.
*These origin foci are available:
**'''Cyborg.''' You begin play with 30,000 credits of cyberware. You have bonus System Strain that only counts for absorbing cyberware penalties; this is equal to half your level, rounded up. Once in play, new cyberware only costs half as much as usual for you due to your tuned physiology.
**'''Drone Keeper.''' You have a cybernetic drone control link that doesn't cost you System Strain. You can freely jury-rig together drones or drone fittings worth 2,500 credits given 24 hours, assuming you're not completely isolated from any semi-plausible source of scrap or salvage and have at least a portable toolkit with you. This jury-rig limit rises to 5,000 credits at level 3, 10,000 at level 7, and 25,000 at level 10. Changing your allocated jury-rig budget, such as from one drone to a different drone, takes 24 hours. (This focus can also be used for a Hanseongin varietal called Falconers.)
**'''Hanseongin Harpies,''' who are given wings to act as travelers, messengers, and explorers. Harpies can fly under normal gravity conditions with their Move Action and never take more than 1d4 falling damage while conscious. They have integral low-light and thermal vision, as per Panspectral Optics cyberware.
**'''Hanseongin Basilisks,''' who are given weapons to hunt dangerous predators, but often become sectarian warriors or glory-seeking brawlers. They tend to be strongly devoted to a cause. Basilisks have integral weapons and armor as per Body Arsenal Array and Dermal Armor cyberware.
**'''Hanseongin Eels,''' who are given bioelectricity to recover data from lost ruins on Hanseong's shrouded surface. Eels have a fine electrical mesh on their hands as per Eelskin Capacitor Mesh cyberware, and often wear gloves. They have an integral computer that acts as a black slab (SWN page 72.)
**'''Transhuman.''' You have a soulstone that records your experiences and can be transferred between specially-prepared bodies, or shells. Create your PC as per page 253. Ignore paragraphs 2 and 3 about polities and 6 about equipment. Pick the Nat shell. Your soulstone must be brought back to the inception tank at HQ to be restored into a new shell, when a shell becomes available. (This will be challenging and likely require a mission to secure one.)
==Advancement==
Both of your PCs accumulate XP at the same rate: when one gains XP, the other gains the same amount. XP is generally granted to characters for:
*Surviving the mission
*Completing the mission objective
*Completing a bonus objective or target of opportunity
*Achieving or significantly advancing their Goal
==Houserules==
*The laser pistol and laser rifle have these additional rules:
**This weapon can be fired in stun mode. Switch to stun mode as an On Turn action. Stun rays are visibly distinct from death rays. Stun damage can drop a target to zero hit points, but not kill them. They awaken 10 minutes later with 1 hit point.
**This weapon can be fired in silenced mode. Switch to silenced mode as an On Turn action. Silenced rays are smaller and make almost no sound. When silenced, the laser pistol's base damage becomes 1d4 and the laser rifle's becomes 1d8, and their range is halved.
*These are some potential uses of spare parts:
**For 1 unit of spare parts and a few minutes of work, a character with Fix-0 can apply a suppressor to a projectile weapon. This reduces its noise and muzzle flash, but halves its range. The suppressor lasts for one scene or expedition before needing to be replaced.
**For 1 unit of spare parts and a few minutes of work, tie up a helpless target's hands and feet with cords.
*This is some additional equipment:
**Flash Grenade: as grenade (SWN 66), but deals 1d4 stun damage. Targets who take damage are stunned for 1d4+1 rounds; stunned characters have a -2 AC penalty and can take only one Move Action per round.
**Smoke Grenade: as grenade, but no damage. Obscures in a 5-meter radius for 5 rounds, providing half cover (-2 to hit) and an additional -2 to laser weapons due to beam disruption. Characters caught in the cloud must Physical save or take -1 to attack rolls.
*Interrogation:
**Interrogate with Cha/Lead. Questions should be simple and direct. Each question gets a roll against difficulty 6-10 depending on the sensitivity of the information. Each time a roll is failed, difficulty goes up by +1, cumulative. Other PCs can assist the interrogation roll as normal by taking some Skill action to help (good cop bad cop? insinuating some advantage or making especially tight bonds? deception?), giving +1 to the main actor's roll if successful - be specific about what you're doing to help if so.
===Dungeon-Crawling Procedure===
*Each dungeon turn is 10 minutes. In the space of 1 turn, you can:
**Enter a new, unexplored area with caution
**Retrace your steps by up to 2 areas
**Engage in a combat and subsequent clean-up
**Do anything else that takes roughly 10 minutes
*This pace of movement assumes you are '''sneaking''', moving slowly and quietly.
**When sneaking, the party gets a Dex/Sneak versus Wis/Notice check to avoid being seen when they encounter enemies.
**This is done as Dex/Sneak by the PC with the highest Sneak skill, -1 for each PC untrained in Sneak. One other PC gets a teamwork roll to help negate this penalty.
*You can instead '''dash''', moving quickly through the dungeon.
**You can enter up to 2 new areas per turn
**You can retrace your steps by up to 4 areas
**You are automatically detected by any enemies you encounter
===New Agency Elements===
*'''Infiltrators'''
**Each time you take the Scout Element action, you can also make it for free against one Infiltrated agency. '''+1 Infiltration'''
**As 1, but each time you take the Discern Plans action as well. '''+3 Infiltration'''
**When you Discern a Plan, you may give it -4 to its roll this turn. '''+5 Infiltration'''

=Setting=
[https://sectorswithoutnumber.com/sector/TRhvyTcXqGTkRtSbVemd Sector Map]

'''A Brief History of Prismatic Spray Sector'''

Era 1 began with the spike drive and colonization from Earth; it was the Era of the Mandate.
Era 2 began with the Scream and great works of magic; it was the Era of the Weave.
Era 3 began with the Unweaving and the first metastorm; it was the Era of Division.
Era 4 began with the Prism and the end of the third metastorm; its history is unwritten.

We're 15 years into Era 4. The last years of Era 3 were marked by a sector-wide war between two rival powers, the hegemonic State of Grace (technical, spiritual) and the rising Amity Alliance (magical, rational.) When the Great Metastorm subsided and long-distance spike drills became feasible again, the War of Grace and Amity explosively escalated, and it soon saw the arrival of the Prism, a highly advanced traveling fleet of AI with a complex color-based culture. Grace attacked them first (perhaps due to Amity trickery,) and so the Prism intervened on Amity's side, defeating the State of Grace at the Battle of Auld Nine and fully blockading their homeworld, where the Prismatic Fleet remains anchored. The powers of the sector soon learned that the Prism did not see organic planetary governments as their peers and had no interest in playing ball with them.

*What does it all mean? You're in a sector with a long history that's recovered/ing from a war, magic and psi and other metaspace-phenomena are well-known, transhuman and posthuman cultures are budding, and people are conscious that a new era is starting. Y2K in space!

'''JEHUTY''' is one of the unexpected new syntheses emergent in Era 4. The agency is the fruitful merger between Blade Broken Peace Services, a "private peace company" founded in the last years of the War; and the Mountain, an esoteric order of wandering peacekeepers dating back to the Weave, if not before. The idealism and purpose of Blade Broken mixed well with the tradition and discipline of the Mountain, and 10 years ago the leaders of both (spurred on by a cross-faction adventuring party) made a concord to integrate with each other into a new agency: JEHUTY, named for an ancient Earth divinity of science-magic, wisdom, and judgment. The agency's mission is to disarm, decommission, and demobilize by any means necessary works of harmful technology (including psitech, arcanotech, and deadly catch-all maltech) leftover from the War of Grace and Amity.

There are some other agencies in the former State of Grace that you should be aware of.
*'''The Others''' (the Other Side of the Mountain, Montagnards): for at least some of you, former comrades. A sect of the Mountain (needless to say, they think of themselves as the Mountain and you as the sect) more interested in "peacekeeping" for profit through bounty hunting and maintaining honor among thieves. Based in the Lagrange system, near Cirfant.
**Armory 2, Tradition 2, ''(Connections Element), (Infiltration Element), (?), (?)''
*'''VIPER''' (Fifth Division, D5): the external intelligence bureau of Itamaraty's planetary government. Tired of being a Gracious client, the planet is asserting its independence and pursuing its own goals in the sector. The highly-trained, exceptionally-qualified agents of VIPER help them punch above their weight. Based on Itamaraty.
**Assassins 2, Legitimacy 2, ''(Security Element), (Tech Element), (?), (?)''
*'''INDIGO''' (Indigo Union Freely Assembled, the Rectifiers): a counter-hegemonic network of dissidents, magic users, psychics, and the posthuman-curious who see the Prismatic Fleet as a potential model for the transhuman leap. Not obedience: cooperation and mutual exchange. Many Rectifiers were neutral medics and healers during the War - they're sick of the fighting. Known to operate in Evergreen.
**Identity Shop 2, Pretech Lab 2, ''(Mobility Element), (Muscle Element), (?), (?)''

These are the worlds in or near the former State of Grace, with their cultural root for character detail and inspiration purposes.
*'''Grace'''. Highly developed and populous, ruled by an increasingly-despised representative world government, widespread spiritual ideology gave legitimacy to its rulers, blockaded by the Prism to end the War 15 years ago, temperate-to-warm, TL4+. [South Indian, especially Tamil and Sinhalese, but many different cultures.]
*'''Stoke'''. A million people in the underground canyon cities around the Old Machines, former Grace client seeking new independent purpose for its industry, people increasingly squeezed by debt crisis as embattled Grace-loyal ruling class bunkers down, cold, TL4+. [Ancient Mesopotamia+Classical Levant+Saarland industrial region.]
*'''Evergreen'''. Union of asteroid habitats and space stations around a pleasantly-glowing destroyed world, hosts many refugees, comfortable and forward-looking, TL4. [newly-decolonized West and East Africa, USA in 1960 as seen from abroad through rose-colored glasses.]
*'''Vuor'''. Bubble cities on a frozen surface, wracked by low-intensity civil conflict for generations and finally emerging into something new, developed precision war magic and tech to avoid the unspeakable crime of damaging the habitats, formerly provided Grace elite warriors, TL3. [Former Yugoslavia, Belarus, Ukraine.]
*'''Itamaraty'''. Stormy world with massive colorful clouds and rich wild botany, elaborate structures above and underground to protect from dangerous weather, governed by ubiquitous examination system testing intellectual and cultural skills (meteorological engineering is one thing but the dance portion is a killer,) colorful mask-wearing mandatory for survival in thick atmosphere, temperate, TL4. [historical Mesoamerica and modern Central America+classical Chinese examination system.]
*'''Sycamore'''. Isolated world recently reconnected to wider sector in Era 4 by shifting metaspace lanes, fears psychics due to long-ago crisis, deeply alien biosphere respected spiritually and kept separate from human-miscible ecosystems, rich in a natural resource that could replace Cirfant dioxis as the key to spike drive creation, now subject to a gold rush by offworld speculators and corps who call the unwelcoming world "Sycorax," temperate-to-cold, TL3. [Siberia, Manchuria, Hokkaido.]
*'''Cirfant'''. Gas giant orbited by stations, moons, and floating dioxis distilleries (the critical ingredient to spike drive creation,) governed by feuding swashbuckling noble houses, policed by their space pirate allies, worked by an oppressed underclass of gas miners, TL4. [French colonial cultures such as in Algeria and Indochina.]

These are some other important worlds in the sector.
*'''Moresnet'''. Recently reconnected to wider sector, everyday magical presence, anarchist, TL4. [Philippines+Indonesia.]
*'''Hanseong'''. Posthuman-inhabited floating islands above a cloud sea that get stranger the further out you go, TL4. [Very loosely Korea + Le Guin.]
*'''Aeaea'''. Handful of islands and floating structures above undersea culture of the posthuman Nereid hive mind, TL3. [Very loosely Greece.]
*'''Amity'''. Ascendant rival to fallen Grace, cultural imperialist, engineered biosphere, led by the Lieges of the Real magical-economic order, TL4+. [Very loosely Iceland+Norway.]

==Important Posts==
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23671980 game pitch]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23674363 basic setting]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23674465 what happened to evergreen]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23675007 agency elements]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23675712 what is the prism]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23677339 agency official creation + character inspiration pictures]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23677342 player character creation]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23678544 broken blade and the mountain, agency background, reference music]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23678708 homeworlds available]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23678894 deep dive into grace and stoke]
*[https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/interest-swn-2e-tactical-espionage-action.875030/post-23679862 deep dive into itamaraty and sycamore]