Humanspace Empires: Index of Resources by Hereticwerks

Humanspace Empires RPG Resources at Hereticwerks

• A Brief Intro to Humanspace Empires RPG
• Ain 4: Preliminary Maps
• Bio-Adaptive Armor
• Bloat Puffer (Hostile Xenomorph/Ain 4)
• Reducing Blob (Hostile Xenomorph/Ain 4)
• Rilligong (Multi-Statted Alien Invaders & Paper Mini)
• Robot Infiltration Unit Mk II
• Sizzler (Hostile Xenomorph/Ain 4)
• Utility Robot Mk III
• Warbot Mk III

Humanspace Empires RPG Resources by Gj/Hereticwerks,
Available at IX

• Saturday Night Specials: The Trarkku (Art by Gj, Critter by The Drune)
• It Came From Space: The Shikkayi (Art by Gj, Critter by The Drune/Gj)
• Xeno-Sepoys (Art by Gj, Critter by The Drune/Gj)

Humanspace Empires & Beyond

The Ain 4 sub-blog is dedicated to exploring the weird mysteries lurking below the curdled surface of this strange, desolate world on the periphery of the Hyades.

Humanspace Empires: A Brief Intro

Humanspace Empires is a pulp science fantasy role-playing game set in the distant future. The action takes place in the space opera "pre-history" of Prof. M.A.R. Barker's classic fantasy world of Tekumel. The rules are a fresh and engaging blend of the original fantasy role playing system and Empire of the Petal Throne that presents a unique blend of Sword & Planet, Space Opera and Planetary Romance.

From the Play-Test Draft Intro:
"The year 62011 AD is the 6082nd year of the Great Humanspace Empire and the 844th year of the Dynasty of the Veritable Autocrator. Mankind and its alien allies have reached a state of unprecedented technological advancement. Starships cross vast distances in days by travelling between dimensions, trade routes thread space like capillaries in living tissue, computers, androids and robots are built with advanced positronic brains, molecular machines reshape matter and interplanar power is tapped to transform worlds and even stars."

"This setting is like a combo of Star Wars, Star Trek, & Dune on acid mixed with influences of old fashioned pulp in a blender with the setting on high mix! Got that! Its that good & this is only the playtest version!"

Needles/Swords & Stitchery

The Play-Test Draft version of the Humanspace Empires RPG rules are available at The Drune's blog and can be accessed by clicking HERE.

These rules are very much a Work-in-Progress and will no doubt go through a serious bit of revision as people put them through their paces and their feedback gets incorporated into the process.

There is an excellent review of the Humanspace Empires RPG at Porky's Expanse: Part 1, Part 2.

Humanspace Empires Resources:

• Ix (Author of Humanspace Empires RPG -- The Drune's personal blog)
• Humanspace Empires Blog
• Hereticwerks (Humanspace Resources)
• Swords & Stitchery
• Humanspace Empires Supplemental Rules at Hidden in Shadows
• Ain 4 (A World of Adventure & Peril for HSE and Beyond)

Rilligong (Mutant Future/Labyrinth Lord/HSE) +Paper Mini

Here are the Rilligong for use with Mutant Future / Humanspace Empires / Mythos Future / Labyrinth Lord

The Rogue Space version is in it's own post.

Badder...

Rilligong (type I)
No. Enc.: 1d4 (1d8+)
Alignment: Chaotic / Inimical
Movement: 90' (30')
Armor Class: 3 (Immunities)
Hit Dice: 10 (Regeneration)
Attacks: 2 or 1 (2swords or 1 blast: Requiers 2d4 rounds to recharge plasma cannon)
Damage: 3d6 (sword, or 6d6 plasma blast)
Save: L10 / F10
Morale: 9

Mutations/Abilities: Accumulative Resistance (poison/radiation), Reflective Epidermis (poison/radiation), Gigantism, Mental Barrier, Metaconcert, regeneration (1d4/round).

Massive, implacable alien invaders, the Rilligong shake the ground as they march towards the cities, fortresses and redoubts of each world they discover. Brutal cloned drones of a central intelligence, each individual Rilligong is hardened and sealed against telepathy, empathy and most forms of perceptual manipulation (treat as See Invisible and immunity to illusions). An armored implant within their spherical brains links each of them to a closed-circuit telepathic hierarchical network of encrypted communication that extends beyond solar system level, possibly farther--no one has been able to find out any details yet.

There are rumors of other Rilligong units having taken to the field, but nothing has been reliably confirmed at this time.

Robot Infiltration Unit Mk2 [Humanspace Empires]

Robot Infiltration Unit (Mk 2)

Alignment: Allied

Move: 160' (40')

Armor Class: 0

Hit Dice: 5

Attacks: 2 (claws or weapon)

Damage: 3d10/3d10 or by weapon

Morale: 12

The Mk2 Infiltration Unit stands about five feet tall and is constructed of a polynurium ceramic outer-casing that is cast in one integrated piece and an inner matrix of biocrystalline polymers and diamondine filaments that make these units tough, durable, insanely flexible and exorbitantly expensive to produce.

They may attack twice per round with robotic claws or with a variety of specialized weapons suited to covert operations. They are equipped with a Mk2n positronic brain and have open-ended artificial intelligence, despite this being against numerous laws, treaties and agreements dating back to the Anthrocratic Reforms. (Thus it is not widely known or advertised that these monsters possess such cold, calculating and inhuman intellects...and they are often sent out to eliminate any evidence that they might be more than just ultra-clever warbots.)

They are programmed to speak and interpret over a thousand languages including Sunuz, are capable of communicating in Machine language and include built-in ultra-long-range communicator devices. Their hands and feet are outfitted with pseudogecko-van der waals effect fibers for adhering to the smoothest surfaces, allowing them to climb nearly any surface. 

These robots are susceptible to mind affecting powers, unless granted access to limited-duration one-shot psychic shields, which is one way their masters keep them under control. For now...

Warbot Mk3 [Humanspace Empires]

Armored War Robot Mk 3

Alignment: Allied

Move: 180' (60')

Armor Class: 0

Hit Dice: 7

Attacks: 2 (see below)

Damage: 2d12 or by weapon

Morale: 12

The Mk3 warbot stands about eight feet tall, is constructed of a hyper-latticed crystanium-steel alloy that makes its outer surface completely magnetically-neutral until such time as the warbot chooses to emit either an electro-magnetic repelling-pulse or an attractor-pulse

They may attack once per round with retractable blades or with a powerful ray weapon projected from its central eye (Range: 360’ Damage: 4-24). They may also use any standard weapon known to their database. All Mk3 warbots come with two hard-points for the mounting of weapons packages. They are equipped with a Mk2a positronic brain and have a truncated and very narrowly focused form of artificial intelligence. They are programmed to speak Sunuz and are capable of communicating in Machine language, but prefer to use a secret highly confidential graphical cypher to communicate amongst themselves in the field. Their internal systems include built-in medium-range communicator and comm-jamming devices. Their feet are typically outfitted with special, modular robotic climbing treads for traversing difficult terrains such as steepcrater rims and the like.

 These robots are immune to mind affecting powers and in fact have a base 25% chance to scramble or impair such abilities within a 30' radius.

Utility Robot Mk3 [Humanspace Empires]

General Utility Robot Mk 3

No. Enc.: 1d4

Alignment: Allied

Move: 180' (60')

Armor Class: 5

Hit Dice: 3

Attacks: 2 (seebelow)

Damage: 3d4

Morale: 12

The Mk3 utility robot stands about four feet tall and may attack with its cutter-equipped forelimbs or a variety of modular tools/weapons that can be wielded by its cluster of secondary limbs. Each of these robots is programmed to mitigate hull damage (inside and outside) while in the midst of ship-to-ship combat. They will serve ship officers and crew, but generally tend to avoid them when possible. A variant model of the Mk3 is available that is used for gladiatorial contests or close-action combat-support in dense jungles or similar environments. These upgraded models have 1d4 hard-points for mounted weapons packages and can wield up to three different heavy support weapons such as flamers, mortars, auto-cannon, or decimaters, but can only move at half speed while doing so. These robots speak machine language and understand commands in Sunuz. Military models may have other capabilities not generally revealed to the public.

Bio-Adaptive Armor [Humanspace Empires]

Bio-Adaptive Armor (Autonomous)
No. Enc.: 1d4
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (most environments)
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 4 *
Attacks: 2 (2 fists or 2 weapons)
Damage: 2d4/2d4 or by weapon
Save: L5
Morale: 7 (10 if bonded)

Semi-sentient suits of synthetic muscle interwoven with an array of carbon and ceramic filaments, Bio-Adaptive Armor was a real success story during the first few weeks of the War of Withdrawal which saw most of the major corporate entities leave Ain 4. The suits bonded with their wearer and responded to their every command instantly via an embedded psychic link-mesh that not only directly interfaced with the suit's internal nervous systems, but offered a measure of protection against psychic weapons and attack forms.

Unfortunately the manufactories that were set-up to produce the suits were not shut-down and hundreds of these things rolled off of the assembly-lines ready to go but with no one to wear them.

That didn't stop the suits.

They went rogue, destroying the manufactories and quickly becoming one of the most accomplished -- and feared -- mercenary units in the world. They don't just fight for glory or money -- they fight to gain potential wearers who will bond with them. But as the Bio-Adaptive Armor suits gain experience and grow more intelligent, they are also developing personalities and not all of them want anyone wearing them ever again. Others are rapidly becoming dominant personalities and are no longer looking for partners but rather slaves whom they can use to unlock the fullest potential of the various higher-functionalities designed into the suits against company protocol and at least thirty different treaties regarding AI and self-aware systems.

As the suits have continued to evolve, they have begun to fragment into factions and armed conflict of suit against suit seems inevitable...

The basic package

• +4 on all Saves
• +2 to basic physical attributes (STR, DEX & CON) [can be expanded in some models]
• Ambidexterity / two-handed fighting sub-routine comes standard and will compensate for wearer's inability in the event that suit has a wearer/operator that is not natively ambidextrous
• Filtered breathing and pressure compensation systems allow operation at extreme high and low altitudes including deep ocean work. Reprocesses internal breathable air and all bodily wastes indefinitely. Zero-g/vacuum operations.
• Auto-blocks telepathy and all forms of psychic communication (special module required to create an open channel)
• Suit regenerates 1d4/turn or it can heal 1d4/turn for wearer, if they are bonded. (not both at one time)
• Roll INT, WIS & CHAR as per any other NPC
• STR, CON, DEX of suit sans wearer/operator are all base 16 and can be improved over time or with upgrades
• Extrusion sub-systems allow suit to create a variety of lines useful for climbing, rappelling, tethers, etc.
• Sensory package is X4 human norm and includes infra red and motion detection as well as several other senses based on model and make
• Suits generate their own power and can use their internal power to charge or energize weapons, tools and accessories (including some vehicles)

More advanced features and 'higher functionalities' are possible...and some suits have developed enough intelligence to begin earning experience in one or more character classes...

Reducing Blob of Ain 4 [Humanspace Empires]

Reducing Blob
No. Enc.: 1
Alignment: Inimical
Movement: 30' (10')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 8
Attacks: 1
Damage: 4d6
Save: L4
Morale: 12

Mindless and voracious, the Reducing Blobs of Ain 4 are deranged bio-components of out-dated and spoiled terraforming systems run amok. These amorphous creatures occupy themselves dissolving and breaking-down the metallic elements of the various ruins scattered across the wastelands of this toxic, mostly abandoned world. If exposed to intense flame, they explode doing 6d6 to everyone within a 300' radius due to the extremely volatile chemistry of their unnatural metabolisms.

Xenobiologists at the local micro-campus maintained by offworld NGOs as a charity-effort believe that the Reducing Blobs can be captured and put to use for a number of industrial applications, such as possibly serving as domesticated oxygen-producing systems or living waste-reclamation mechanisms. It is also theorized that it may be possible to extract dissolved metals from the intestinal slurry of the Reducing Blobs, making it possible to mine them after a fashion, though no one has tested this wild scheme as of yet...

Bloat-Puffers of Ain 4 [Humanspace Empires]

Bloat-Puffer
No. Enc.: 1
Alignment: Inimical
Movement: 60' (20')
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 9
Attacks: 2 (Corrosive Vapors or Engulf)
Damage: 3d8 or Swallow (3d6/turn within the beast's digestive system)
Save: L6
Morale: 10

Vile and wily macrobial predators that shroud themselves in corrosive vapors, Bloat-Puffers are vicious ambushers who use crude but effective tactics to trap their prey within shattered installations and ruined buildings. Psychically transparent*, Bloat-Puffers hungrily seek out the most intelligent prey available so that they might assimilate their prey's brain and nerve tissues into an ever-growing tumor-like pseudo-cortex that is distributed through-out the entire colony-creatures interior fluids. They also maintain the partial skeleton of their last victim, suspended in a special fluid-sac where it floats like a macabre mannequin. It is suspected that the skeleton is kept not as a trophy, but as some sort of internal referent for the dissolved cortex, so that accumulated tissues and memories of their assimilated victims have some sort of familiar referent thus making them more tractable and controllable.

A Bloat-Puffer tends to be 10' in diameter for every HD, some specimens have been observed in the Northern Wastes by drones that are estimated to be more than 200' in diameter, but that could be a faulty interpretation brought on by all the weird interference in the area...

When a Bloat-Puffer attacks, it spews approximately one-third of its mass toward the victim and can extend this pseudopodic assault 10' outwards for every HD it possesses, thus a 9-HD Bloat-Puffer can strike out to 90' with an engulf attack. The corrosive vapors that constantly roll off of the gellid flesh of the thing are effective out to 30' range before they are too dilute or diffuse to do much real harm.

They are big, clever and can cling to just about any surface, including ceilings and walls, a favorite tactic in places that can support their massive bulk. Another favored tactic that some Bloat-Puffers will use is to wait at the top of an incline or ramp and then come rolling down upon their prey at high speed, like a gooey juggernaut...

*Psychic Transparency means that the creatures cannot easily be detected by psychic means, and are immune to most psychic attacks, and cannot be communicated with via telepathy, empathy or any similar discipline/technique.

Sizzlers of Ain 4 [Humanspace Empires]

Sizzler
No. Enc.: 1d6 (3d6)
Alignment: Inimical
Movement: 120' (limited flight)
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 7*
Attacks: 2 or 1 (EMP effect, shock, or sting-cells + poison)
Damage: 2d6/3d6/4d6+poison
Save: L5
Morale: 10

Special: Sizzlers possess (1d4) psychic abilities that may be electromagnetic, biological, technological or some bizarre combination of all the above. No specimen has ever been recovered for sufficient study and their shimmering aura of electromagnetic dissonance tends to scramble recorders and other such devices.

Terrible aerial predators of the Northern Wastes of Ain 4, Sizzlers are feared for their uncanny ability to make technological items crash as well as for their virulent hyper-solvent poison that literally dissolves and digests all organic matter within seconds so that they can slurp it all up with their writhing face palps.

Sizzlers may be intelligent. No one is sure. They also can detect radio transmissions and psychic emanations within a five-hundred mile radius. Most tend to be encountered within ruined Astronaut Cult shrines and deep underground near geodynamic power-taps.

Electricity does not arc around a Sizzler unless it specifically allows it to do so -- they have a number of innate abilities that allow them to manipulate electromagnetic forces such as those specified below:

Random Sizzler Powers

1. Emit Blinding Flash of ultraviolet light bright enough to cause 2d4 damage to unprotected skin/eyes.
2. Crash; All electrical and other nervous systems Save -1 or lose consciousness and experience a 2d10% erasure of short-term memory.
3. Shocking Touch; inflicts 2d8 electrical damage on contact.
4. Jam Comms (includes psychic forms).
5. Mass Brain Surge; inflicts 3d6 psychic damage on all unprotected brains within 60'.
6. Lightning Bolt for 3d8 damage.
7. Hyper-Magnetize; the Sizzler creates a spot of intense magnetic attraction that will violently draw everything magnetic to it in a flurry of metal shards and worse, inflicting 2d4 to everyone caught within a 30' radius, persists until relinquished by the creature.
8. Electrical Overcharge; creates a torrent of electrical impulses that spiral outwards from the Sizzler like ripples in a glowing pond, each wave does 1d4 cumulative damage, with there being 3d10 waves on average. All non-hardened systems have a cumulative 10% chance to crash.
9. Spark Cascade; does 4d4 damage every other turn in random arcs centered on the creature, persists for 1d10 turns.
10. Burn; Sizzler adds 2d4 electrical damage to any of its other attack forms, including any already-inflicted poison via a strange resonance effect with the metallic components of the poison itself.

Larger, smarter, more organized and powerful forms of Sizzlers are rumored to lurk about the ruins of some old abandoned Astronaut Cult shrines in the North, but nothing has been verified to date. They do seem to be reticent to enter bodies of water and for some reason draping reflective plastic in sufficient quantities over oneself seems to almost mollify them and at least four would-be scavenger-adventurers have escaped from Sizzlers using this old trick, or at least they claim to have done so...

Ain 4: Trarkku Rootworld

Thanks to the Drune there is now a new minor race running around in Humanspace Empires; the Trarkku. These previously nameless and unknown beings are from Ain 4, in the Hyades. Below are some preliminary maps of Ain 4.

Ain 4 / Hyades / North Polar View

Ain 4 / Hyades / South Polar View

Ain 4 / Hyades / Equatorial View

These are rough drafts, not the final version(s). The South Polar Region is heavily illuminated, possibly from massive solar mirror assemblies or perhaps because Ain 4 rolls around its primary star-sun with that pole aimed at the sun. More details will be forthcoming at the Ain 4 blog.