This is Part Four of Sargon And Beyond: Operation Silk Roads. Part One of this 2372 campaign setting, which described the premise and presented a general map of the campaign region, is here. Part Two, which is the GM’s Briefing, is here. Part Three is GM Options.
In Part Four, we explore some Cosmozoans in the Space Beyond. All of these are optional, and as always, tweak anything as you need.
Players shouldn’t read any further, as the following is intended only for the eyes of your GM!
Cosmozoan Space
There is a part of the Space Beyond called Cosmozoan Space, where giant, space-dwelling creatures are common. There are more spatial and temporal anomalies than usual in this region, forming both navigational hazards as well as providing the kinds of exotic particles that sustain Cosmozoans. They are usually content to feed here, although some have strayed into other parts of the Space Beyond. A rare few have found their way past the Cordon Nebulae, which some have speculated (without proof) that they were created to contain Cosmozoans within the Space Beyond.
Here are four Cosmozoans that are frequently encountered in this region of space, but there are many other varieties beyond these. Feel free to create more. These four are created from Sets 1-4 of the Cosmozoan Cards elsewhere on the blog.
Thinstars
The Thinstars are huge two-dimensional fractal shapes in space. They are almost impossible to hurt with conventional weaponry. The Thinstars are motivated by the need to devour polaron particles, which are generated naturally in this part of space by multispatial rifts, which are a Scale 4 Class III anomaly that affects transporters, Shields, Conn, and Engines. These anomalies come and go in the region, forcing the Thinstars to migrate in search of polaron sources to satiate their hunger.
The Yagu
The Yagu are red nebulous creatures with a golden cloud centre, composed mainly of antiprotons. They are enormous, dwarfing most ships known to the Federation. They are curious, and will investigate everything, with the primary method being to engulf a ship or object within its gases. They may be curious enough to dissect captured things with antiproton beams. Not innately malicious, the Yagu have nonetheless caused much damage to ships and planets in the region.
Chronoloths
Also called Chronoliths by some, the Cronoloths are large asteroid-like silicon-based creatures that are extratemporal, meaning that they are able to perceive possible futures and act accordingly. They have a limited ability to travel backward in time, no more than three days. They may split open into halves, showing their geode-like interior structure. They may engulf objects and ships and carry them into the past as well, within the cavity of their geode structure. The Cronoloths emit dekyons due to their extratemporal nature. They do not consume energy normally, but ‘filter feed’ tachyons in the timestream. They are intelligent, and are non-interfering for the most part, preferring to observe civilizations from space. Yet they are sometimes mistaken for doomsday asteroids that appear to be on a collision course with a planet, which may cause a misunderstanding whereby the planet sends out vessels to destroy the Cronoloth. The Cronoloths will defend themselves. Communications with them is difficult but may be attempted.
The Vulphai
The Vulphai are an insidious cosmozoan species that swarm through this part of space. They are malicious according to sentient norms, but they may have species-specific psychological reasons for acting in such a manner. They consume omicron radiation, which is only generated normally through matter-antimatter reactions. They are capable of emitting antimatter bursts, and irradiate normal matter to create the omicron radiation, which they then consume. But even though they could bombard any matter to create their omicron radiation, they tend to hunt ships and devastate planets with civilizations, giving them their evil reputation. These ‘annihilators from the stars‘ have been incorporated into the myths of many species throughout this sector of space.
Adventure Tags: ADV005 , ADV014
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