Chapter 6.4: The Ashlan Border

The Ashlan border gives a campaign a named region beyond the Empire's settled interior. Crews can work from Adelon's markets into former Commonwealth space, where successor governments share routes with salvagers and pirate fleets. This chapter provides the setting, ready ship profiles, and an adventure frame drawn from The Crimson Hoard.

The story supplies established people and events. At the table, its pressures can begin from the same position and resolve through the crew's decisions.

The Former Ashlan Commonwealth

Reference Manual Chapter 10 owns the Commonwealth's collapse and the history of Imperial recovery. For play, the border is an inhabited region whose successor governments share routes with independent settlements. Between them lie debris fields, sealed archives, and ships whose ownership chains ended with governments that no longer exist. Salvagers recover working equipment and personal records from the same wreck, while archaeologists follow Commonwealth surveys to older sites.

The cause of the Commonwealth's collapse remains unsettled. A campaign can place evidence inside separate archives whose accounts disagree. One government may have preserved a true record while building its legitimacy on a false one. A station intelligence may remember the first coup and lack every event after it.

The Human Diaspora

Reference Manual Chapter 10 owns the diaspora's origin and the concealed Earth perimeter. At the table, diaspora identifies shared ancestry, not a unified government or fleet. Humans live inside the region's mixed settlements and successor states, use ordinary passenger routes, and own or command ships under the same conditions as their neighbors. Individual communities preserve different languages, records, and accounts of Earth.

Earth's classified coordinates create a conflict of duties inside the recovery. Diaspora communities have an ancestral claim to the truth and to participation in decisions that exclude them. Earth remains unaware of both its descendants and the civilizations around it, and uncontrolled contact may cause harm that cannot be recalled. During the concealed-intervention era, reaching Earth or disclosing its location requires an explicit Mandate.

Named Civilian Actors

Use these actors to keep regional politics attached to people with resources and limits. Neither polity speaks for the region, and the association speaks for no diaspora community beyond its members.

• The Crova Republic survives in the Husker sector. It wants restored trade without replacing local standards with Imperial dependency. Its machine shops reproduce parts for older civilian hulls, and its convoy office can provide charts, repair tenders, and a small escort when the republic accepts the risk.
• The Dalan Compact holds three linked systems and a disputed Commonwealth registry archive. It wants evidence that can settle boundaries without reopening the civil war. Its public claims office, two patrol cutters, and network of local beacons make it useful, but its authority ends at member systems that still consent to the compact.
• The Hearthline Association of Port Ansel is a human-led ancestry and passenger cooperative inside a mixed independent settlement. It wants copies of recovered abduction records and a formal voice in every Imperial review of Earth policy. It maintains interpreters, family archives, emergency berths, and two courier vessels. It can receive people and records; it cannot command other diaspora communities.

Adelon

Adelon is an Imperial border world built for contact. Its open markets receive foreign crews, traders, diplomats, and people seeking residence inside the Empire. Visitor terminals translate local Aelith traffic into text, image, and voice. Repair yards fabricate parts against foreign technical standards, and brokers maintain routes into successor space.

Use Adelon as the crew's reliable base. Mission can deliver a Mandate there. Foreign contacts can meet the crew without entering the Imperial interior. Cargo, archives, and rumors all pass through the same market districts. The Reference Manual's Chapter 10 owns the full travel-facing description.

Imperial Presence in the Region

The renewed recovery described in Reference Manual Chapter 10 supplies commissions throughout this region. Old agreements, ownership records, and navigational surveys cannot be trusted without investigation after the long wartime interruption. Crews restore beacons, reopen routes, confirm the condition of isolated settlements, escort relief traffic, recover records, negotiate access, and break predatory operations. Imperial support carries no claim to the former Commonwealth's territory. Each commission should leave local people with greater capacity to continue after the crew departs.

The Empire treats Ang'Narr piracy as active harm. A crew may defend traffic, disable attacking ships, rescue captives, and recover stolen cargo under the Charter. An operation against the haven itself requires a wider Mandate. Ang'Narr holds a resident population as well as raiding crews, and a failed assault can scatter its fleet into smaller groups across former Commonwealth space. A Mandate should identify the structure sustaining the harm, the people who need protection during the operation, and what authority will remain with the haven's residents afterward.

Ang'Narr

Ang'Narr is a hollowed planetoid established during the Commonwealth civil war by Silas the Crimson and the captains who followed him. Its upper works resemble a fortress built from dark hyperalloys, with spires and battlements above the docks cut into the rock. Internal agriculture and life-support systems allow the haven to survive without a patron state.

Authority belongs to the current pirate king and lasts as long as crews accept the claim. Titles, visible wealth, and stories of violence carry political weight. A captain who loses a ship may lose followers before losing office. A captain who takes a famous prize can acquire allies who were enemies the week before.

Ang'Narr names a place and a faction. It supplies no species package. Build an Ang'Narr character from their actual species and add a role or history Trait such as Ang'Narr Gunner, Haven Broker, or Crew of the Current King.

The fleet relies on modified civilian hulls. Interceptors and patrol craft make up most of its numbers. Frigates carry the weapons and endurance needed to hold a target under pursuit. Mismatched components make the fleet adaptable and give Engineering Complications concrete places to land.

Laxor Prime and the Laxhit

Laxor Prime lies away from the major trade routes. Dense jungle covers much of its surface and masks a powered-down ship from casual orbital observation. The planet holds extensive ruins left by the Laxhit, a species that died out before industrialization. Their numeral system has only recently been deciphered.

The Laxhit language, the reasons earlier colonies failed, and the interior of the ruins remain open. Before using the planet, decide what one site was built to do and which visible feature gives the crew its first evidence. Keep the answer local. One observatory or civic archive can support a commission while leaving the wider species available for later development.

Jungle cover supports concealment until activity accumulates. A landing site can begin with Masked Beneath the Canopy. High-volume communication, repeated shuttle flights, or heavy fabrication can weaken or remove that Trait.

Region Traits

Use these Traits when a scene needs the region to act on play.

Pressure Frame: The Coordinates of Earth

Use this frame when a recovered route, an intercepted vessel, or a leak makes Earth's secrecy the active problem. The crew begins with authority to preserve the perimeter and protect travelers. It does not begin with authority to erase records, compel permanent silence, or decide the eventual terms of contact.

Stakeholders and Information Rights

• People on Earth have the right to shape their own future, but cannot participate in a decision whose existence is concealed from them.
• Diaspora claimants have rights in their ancestral records and a direct claim to representation in policy that excludes them. No one community speaks for all descendants, and ancestry alone does not authorize uncontrolled contact.
• Perimeter and intervention staff hold the current protective Mandate. They must provide its evidence, limits, and recorded harms to authorized review; operational secrecy does not authorize concealing the policy's cost.
• Regional governments and civilian carriers have rights in their own vessels, people, and route-safety records. Possessing coordinates gives no ownership of Earth.

Give affected parties every record that can be separated safely from the route itself. Any redaction should identify what was withheld, under whose authority, for how long, and where it can be challenged. The impossibility of informing Earth without initiating contact is part of the conflict, not evidence that Earth has no information rights.

Evidence Triggers

Bring the issue into play when one or more of these becomes true:

• a second copy of the route exists beyond Imperial control;
• a civilian vessel has enough data and range to reach the perimeter;
• an interception has exposed the perimeter to credible witnesses;
• recovered records materially weaken the basis for continued secrecy; or
• secrecy itself causes a new, attributable injury to Earth or the diaspora.

Restitution and Interim Outcomes

Restitution can include returning non-operational ancestral records, repairing an intercepted vessel, funding independent diaspora archives, supporting several communities to appoint their own reviewers, or recording family and property claims for the eventual contact process. These acts do not purchase consent and do not settle the legitimacy of the perimeter.

Legitimate interim outcomes include a time-limited renewal of secrecy with a named review date; protected custody of a recovered route with independent access logs; diaspora participation in a Mandate review without disclosure of operational coordinates; or a petition for a contact Mandate while the crew continues reversible perimeter protection. No single commission must settle the policy permanently. It must leave the decision more accountable than it found it.

Ship Profiles

These profiles use Chapters 5.1 and 5.2. Crew quality supplies the Attribute and Specialization used when an NPC vessel acts. Player characters aboard a vessel direct its actions normally.

Arcus-Class Light Shuttle

Kess Heavy Aerospace of the Crova Republic built the Arcus as a courier and general-purpose light craft. Production ended more than half a century ago. Arcus hulls remain common in the Ashlan border because their frames accept extensive modification and local machine shops can still reproduce most parts.

The Maven from The Crimson Hoard is a customized Arcus.

Scale 2; Warp Translation. Communications 8, Computers 8, Engines 10, Sensors 8, Structure 9, Weapons 9. Engineering 2, Infiltration 2; other ship Specializations 1. Resistance 1; Shields 12. Proficient crew. Weapon: heavy projector (Medium, Severity 5, Charge, Disabling or Destructive). Traits: Obsolete but Customizable, Feedback-Coupled Power Cells. Talent: Emissions Discipline.

When the ship suffers an Engines Breach, Feedback-Coupled Power Cells can disable Reserve Power or carry the damage into a second power system. Repairing the secondary damage does not replace a destroyed primary cell.

Imperial Diplomatic Vessel

An Imperial Diplomatic Vessel carries delegations, academic expeditions, and first-contact teams. Guest spaces can support several species at once, and its archive and interpretation systems prepare the crew for work beyond established routes. The Indomitable is one vessel of this type.

Scale 4; Jump Translation. Communications 10, Computers 9, Engines 10, Sensors 9, Structure 10, Weapons 9. Diplomacy 4; Medicine, Science, Engineering, and Security 2; Infiltration 1. Resistance 2; Shields 16. Talented crew. Weapon: precision projector (Long, Severity 4, Disabling or Destructive). Traits: Imperial Diplomatic Vessel, Guest Environments for Several Species. Facilities: Guest Habitat, Field Laboratory, Expanded Shuttle Deck. Talents: Open Table, Interpretive Lattice.

Ang'Narr Interceptor

An interceptor is a light civilian or racing hull rebuilt around pursuit. Most depend on a carrier or haven for interstellar movement. This is a custom adversary profile whose concentrated Engines and Weapons ratings do not use the Chapter 6.1 quick-vessel totals.

Scale 1; conventional propulsion. Communications 8, Computers 8, Engines 10, Sensors 8, Structure 8, Weapons 10. Security 3, Infiltration 2; other ship Specializations 1. Resistance 1; Shields 12. Talented crew. Weapon: precision projector (Long, Severity 4, Disabling or Destructive). Traits: Converted Racing Hull, Minimal Endurance. Talent: Deep Sensor Aperture.

Ang'Narr Frigate

The fleet's frigates are converted patrol, freight, and escort hulls. No two carry the same internal layout. Their common feature is enough endurance to keep interceptors supplied while the group searches a system. This custom adversary profile carries one more Specialization point than the Chapter 6.1 quick-vessel array.

Scale 3; Warp Translation. Communications 8, Computers 8, Engines 10, Sensors 9, Structure 9, Weapons 10. Security 3, Engineering 2, Infiltration 2; other ship Specializations 1. Resistance 2; Shields 15. Proficient crew. Weapons: heavy projector (Medium, Severity 5, Charge, Disabling or Destructive) and remote ordnance (Extreme, Severity 6, Area, Destructive, Limited). Traits: Converted Civilian Frigate, Mismatched Systems. Talent: Defensive Fields.

Adventure Frame: The Crimson Hoard

This frame can use the original cast or a new crew occupying the same positions.

Raz as an Exceptional Character

Raz is a specific exception to the standard Starborn premise. A table using her as a main character agrees on her sheet directly; her history creates no general character option and does not change the ordinary requirement that a new Starborn character has passed the Rites. She was born into the Ashlan human diaspora and has no personal memory of Earth. Her childhood with the Red Claw Gang and adult life aboard the Maven belong entirely to the border region.

The cleanest standard campaign begins aboard an Imperial Diplomatic Vessel bound for a Laxhit archaeological survey, one of the commissions returning to systems left outside the restored corridors. The crew detects an Arcus shuttle adrift with one living occupant, a dormant cysuit, and a Synthetic partner in suspension. The rescued traveler carries an artifact pointing toward the survey destination. An Ang'Narr fleet arrives before the crew can complete the translation.

Crew Positions

The frame needs these functions somewhere among main characters, Companions, or Supporting Characters:

• authority to act under the expedition's Mandate;
• Laxhit archaeological and linguistic expertise;
• knowledge of Ang'Narr and the treasure claim;
• foreign-hardware engineering and interstellar navigation;
• responsibility for the diplomatic vessel and everyone aboard it.

One character can carry more than one function. In the original story, Keelin holds the archaeological expertise, Jen commands the Indomitable, Raz knows the treasure claim and foreign hardware, and Spark bridges the technical systems.

Mandate and Directives

The expedition begins with authority to survey and preserve a Laxhit site, protect its personnel, and respond proportionally to interference. It carries no standing authority to seize privately held property or destroy Ang'Narr.

Useful Directives are:

• Preserve the Laxhit site and every record recovered from it.
• Keep the expedition vessel and its people out of Ang'Narr custody.
• Record competing claims before distributing any recovered property.
• Seek a wider Mandate before an action changes governance in the region.

Opening Sequence

The Rescue. Recover the disabled shuttle as an Extended Task. The first Breakthrough finds the surviving pilot. The second restores enough local power to wake the cysuit or its Synthetic partner. A Complication can reveal that the shuttle's power cells failed together.

The Artifact. The inscription combines Laxhit numerals with a manufacturing method developed long after the species died. Decipherment is an Extended Task with Progress 10, Difficulty 2, Resistance 1, and an Interval of one scene. The first Breakthrough identifies a deliberate anachronism. The second identifies a location, date, or astronomical alignment chosen before play.

The Pursuit. An Ang'Narr frigate group arrives with interceptors. The pirates want the artifact, the rescued traveler, and the diplomatic vessel as a prize. They begin with a demand for surrender and remain Persons under Chapter 2.2. Their willingness to bargain depends on whether their leaders can return with a gain visible to the haven. The Laxor system lies beyond the current patrol schedule, and the value of an Imperial Diplomatic Vessel makes the attack an exceptional gamble. The vessel can report the contact over the Aelith, but the nearest support ship remains separated by translation travel time. The crew must survive the encounter before that support can arrive.

The Translation Attempt. The hybrid translation in The Crimson Hoard is a story-specific jury-rig involving the jump vessel and the Arcus warp plant. It is not a general procedure or a capability granted by carrying multiple drives. If the gamemaster permits the attempt in this frame, they define its method and resolution by fiat, then state the intended arrival and failure stakes before work begins. Useful consequences include a shallow arrival, loss of main power, fire, or damage that forces atmospheric landing. Success does not make the arrangement repeatable.

Laxor Prime

On the surface, run two linked tracks:

• Expedition Progress 12: map the site, decipher access, and locate the artifact or hoard.
• Pirate Search 6: advances when emissions escape the canopy, time passes after a Setback, or the crew uses conspicuous orbital support.

At 3 Trouble, the pirates narrow the search to a continent. At 5, patrol craft enter the local airspace. At 6, an Ang'Narr force reaches the site or forces the crew to move before the excavation is complete.

The ruins should contain evidence about the Laxhit beyond the treasure clue. Make that evidence relevant to access: a numeral that is also a civic marker, a route encoded through seasonal movement, or a location whose purpose changes the apparent ownership of what was hidden there.

Claims on the Hoard

Write each claim before the hoard is opened.

• The finder may claim the private wealth promised by the clue.
• The archaeological expedition is responsible for the site and its records.
• Successor communities may claim Commonwealth property or artifacts removed during the war.
• Ang'Narr treats Silas's possessions as part of its political inheritance.

A recovered object can answer to several claims. Resolve the disagreement through evidence, Offers, and the authority the crew actually carries. The Mandate can protect the site while leaving final ownership for later review.

What the Hoard Contains

Choose or combine entries before the final site is reached.

The adventure ends when the crew decides what leaves the site, what stays under protection, and which unresolved claims travel back to Adelon with them.