Breaker: Ari Gaylen concept art by John "Geng" Gendall    There are many coping mechanisms for dealing with the conditions in the mines. Ari volunteers for the most dangerous work with fatalistic excitement. Cocksure and with the reckless abandon of someone who has nothing left to lose she derives a strange joy out of Tracted life. Whether dynamite blasting or being lowered into fissures, her work load is varied and exciting.    Ari Gaylen is young, spry, dexterous, and confident. She keeps her hair cropped because its been singed off in more than one blast over the years. She sees her scars as badges of honor though she has been lucky enough to escape any crippling injuries. Despite making the most of her work she has no love for FerrumSky and would happily commit her adventurous spirit to never having to work in the mines again. Ari Gaylen (The Daredevil) Core: Actions: 3 Move: 3 Wounds: 3 Combat: Shoot: 5 Melee: 5 Strength: 5 Agility: 4 Brain: Intelle...

Adesi Haddonis concept art by Geng Gendall. Designers Note: If you're savvy and have been following the blog you will notice that this exact same art was used for Marius Bickler - the Former Prod. In all honesty, I shoehorned the Marius Bickler story line onto this art and it worked until I got the sculpt he didn't have that grizzled feel. He seemed more like a young man. One of the original character concepts I had somehow seemed more appropriate for this subtly Abercrombie-esque masked man. Adesi Haddonis always thought that being good looking was a benefit, until he got to the Ferrum Sky mines. A recent immigrant from another world, also known as a Drop, Adesi arrived with a toned body, well nourished, and lacking scars or other marks of a hard life. His unusual state drew interest and speculation from both fellow miners and the Prods.  It was clear that he came from a privileged background, but the tale of his transition from that life to one of hardship and depriva...

Updated sketch of Kellerman, the Progen Technician by Sam Alcarez. A few weeks ago I went into some detail about Gen-Mods - genetically modified workers used in the mines. Today's tangent is talk about Progens (progenitor workers) and Drops (recent arrivals). Within the labor colonies throughout the Incorporated Worlds there is a distinction made between what are referred to as Progens and Drops. Progenitor workers were part of the earliest waves of colonists or are direct descendants of those colonists. They carry a sense of entitlement because they were there first and are afforded a slightly superior standard of living by their corporate contract holders to match that entitlement. Drops on the other hand are off-worlders brought fresh to the colonies who are expected to work for less. Not surprisingly, most Breakers are Drops. This is a division deliberately manipulated by the corporations by ensuring that Progens are intermixed into crews, usually as crew leaders, to m...

Black Squadron Security Security Officers or Prods oversee the daily toil of the Tracted on behalf of the Corp they work for. Ensuring quotas are met and the work is done gives them their purpose. They exist to ensure that Contracted do not slack off, inflict calamity upon themselves, sabotage their work, or attempt to organize. They serve as the de facto police, supervisors, and in a bloody minded and militant way as the middle management of the dark and twisted life that causes so many to risk their necks before enduring another day under the boot of the Prods. Many corporations prefer to keep their Security Force in-house, but private Security Firms are big business as well. Often there are layers to the corporate security structure, with in-house security being better armed, better paid, and invested in the continued profitability of the corporation they work for. The private Security Firms are employed because they are a much cheaper option. Private Security Officers...

Breakers      Breakers are fugitives that have chosen to ignore the contracts that they consigned themselves to in a desperate attempt to live a free life. They see themselves as escaped slaves using the corporations’ misleading promises and harsh treatment to justify their actions. The corporations paint a much different picture, one where Contracted are good, lawful citizens and the breakers are simple criminals.      Corporations have become a law unto themselves. Lawbreakers therefore are disloyal, the lowest of the low because they broke contract. There are many ways to break contract, running away is just the most obvious. Most contracts include provisions and clauses enough to shift planetary gravity if they were still on paper. To the corporations a contract is the basis of all civilization. It’s not a corporations fault if they neglect to mention that most contract laborers shipped in from nearby worlds are given the most dangerous jobs, ch...

Breaker with Pneumatic Drill. Concept art by Oliver Zavala “…Around 2218AD Mankind spread to the stars. They called it “A New Age of Exploration” . The Global Conglomerate of Earth had begun the scientific exploration of space in earnest. Resources on Earth were facing complete depletion and massive polluted zones had forced overcrowding. Food shortages, deplorable living conditions, and the violent suppression of worker’s rights had been sparking riots for decades. Earth was in its twilight and the corporate heads could no longer maintain their wealth and supremacy. Humanity needed room to expand and new resources to consume, and the corporations needed new markets to exploit. The first concerted colonization of space was set to begin. Skip ahead to 2277AD . That’s when we saw “ The Great Colonization” . The colonization of space over the next fifty years created genuine excitement planet-wide. It was common for fit and hopeful youths to volunteer for the colony ships and b...