Playtest Alpha— unfinished and still changing.
Rulebook

Reference — Pregenerated Wanderers

Five ready-to-play Wanderers, one per people — the cast of the starter adventure (Chapter 36). Each is complete and playable as printed; the full worked creation logs (every roll and choice behind these numbers) live in the Quickplay/Characters/ folder and double as a teaching tour of Chapters 13–20. Hand one to each player and start.

Everyone begins each session at Momentum 3. Characteristics grant Advantage / Disadvantage, never numeric modifiers. Skill ranks: Untrained −3, Trained +0, Experienced +1, Professional +2, Expert +3. Base armor is 3 unless worn gear raises it.

Edda Halvorsen — Sleeper medic§

A trauma physician who went into cryo near the start of the voyage and woke an unmeasured age later into the Shore. Her medicine is older than some of the worlds she practices it on — and unsettlingly often better.

  • Heritage: Sleeper · Role: field medic, scientist, the level head
  • Characteristics: Education Advantage; Social Standing Disadvantage; all others Neutral
  • Skills: Biology Professional (+2), Psychology Professional (+2), Chemistry Experienced (+1), Survival Experienced (+1), Research Trained (all others Untrained −3)
  • Boons: Thinks for Myself · Wakes Clear-Headed · Lost-Age Physician · Steady Hands
  • Banes: A Century Out of Step · Old Grief
  • Trauma: none — enters play unmarked. Armor 3 (unarmored).
  • Gear: doctor's bag — first-aid kit, med-scanner, field stims; thermal cloak; portable power cell; ~Cr1,700
  • In play: with Survival and Steady Hands she clears a Wounded or Shaken node in the field (Chapter 10); rolled under her Education Advantage, her Biology and Chemistry make her deadly on disease and poison. Socially adrift — keep her off the contact work.

Stills-the-Echo — Wanderborn engineer§

A tunnel-born master of machines who washed out of the merchant halls, made a real name as an engineer, then lost it to a scandal she didn't earn. Now she works the fringe to keep her partner and daughter fed.

  • Heritage: Wanderborn · Role: engineer, salvager, the fix-it hand
  • Characteristics: Education Advantage; Social Standing Disadvantage; all others Neutral
  • Skills: Engineering Professional (+2), Mechanical Experienced (+1), Electronics Experienced (+1), Physics/Survival/Sneaking/Driving/Network/Command/Recon/Ranged Weapons/Athletics/System Operations Trained (all others Untrained −3)
  • Boons: Reads the Tunnels · Field-Rigged Fix
  • Banes: Tarnished Reputation · Light-Blind · Low-Gravity Frame
  • Trauma: none — enters play unmarked. Armor 6 with the concealable vest (+1 Rad).
  • Gear: concealable flak vest (TL 7, +3, Concealable); "Bulwark" boarding scattergun (4D, Spread / Zero-G / Slow); echolocation rig; mechanical toolkit; ~Cr3,000
  • In play: Education Advantage carries every technical and academic test; Reads the Tunnels and her rig make her superb underground, while Light-Blind bites in glare and open sky. Keep the scattergun for boarding-range trouble.

Bram Hullward — Seeder soldier§

A short, weathered career grunt who led people through fire and never quite forgave the cause that sent them there. He's the one who gets everyone out alive — and can't tell you what for anymore.

  • Heritage: Seeder · Role: frontline combat, leadership, breaching
  • Characteristics: Strength Advantage; Endurance Advantage; Intellect Disadvantage; Education Disadvantage; others Neutral
  • Skills: Close Quarters Professional (+2), Tactics/Ranged Weapons/Command/Survival/Network Experienced (+1), Explosives/Bureaucracy Trained (all others Untrained −3)
  • Boons: Lead From the Front · Hold the Line
  • Banes: Lost My North Star · Blunt Instrument · Won't Leave Anyone Behind
  • Trauma: none — enters play unmarked. Armor 13 in the carapace.
  • Gear: "Long Quiet" marksman carbine (3D, Scope / Silent); surplus carapace plate (TL 12, +10, Rad 5); autopistol; frag grenades ×2; breaching charge; toolkit; comm earpiece; ~Cr-spent
  • In play: the front rank — put him between the crew and the gun. Hold the Line and his Endurance Advantage make him brutally hard to move; Lead From the Front keeps a green crew from scattering. Leave the hacking, paperwork, and clever talking to others.

Ace Trueflight-Ember — Companion (Hound) pilot§

Dog-stock courier turned away from every institution that wouldn't take a Companion, who learned to fly anyway. He has never once lost a parcel he swore to deliver.

  • Heritage: Companion — Hound · Role: pilot, scout, wheelman, the crew's eyes
  • Characteristics: Dexterity Advantage; Endurance Advantage; Education Disadvantage; Social Standing Disadvantage; others Neutral
  • Skills: Piloting Professional (+2), Network/Survival Experienced (+1), Sneaking/Driving/Deceive/Close Quarters/Psychology/Recon/Communications Trained (all others Untrained −3). Holds 5 unspent XP.
  • Boons: Reads a Room · Holds a Dangerous Secret · Nose for Trouble · Always Finds a Way Through
  • Banes: Mistaken for Property · Can't Sit Still
  • Trauma: none — enters play unmarked. Armor 10 in the flight vest.
  • Gear: snub scattergun (4D, Spread / Dangerous); smartweave flight vest (TL 12, +7, Rad 2, Self-mending); med-scanner; hand lamp; Cr2,000
  • In play: with Piloting at Professional under a Dexterity Advantage plus Always Finds a Way Through, he threads approaches that shouldn't be survivable. Nose for Trouble and Recon make him the scout he was never allowed to be; mind Mistaken for Property in any official room.

Jinx Quietclaw-Feral — Companion (Feral) fixer§

Cat-stock charmer who climbed out of the underworld into the spotlight and never stopped working an angle. A job a few years back left her a leg that never set right, and a doctor she'd take a bullet for.

  • Heritage: Companion — Feral · Role: face, negotiator, infiltrator, the one who knows somebody
  • Characteristics: Dexterity Advantage; Social Standing Advantage; Strength Disadvantage; Endurance Disadvantage; others Neutral
  • Skills: Charm Professional (+2), Deceive/Negotiate/Network/Sneaking Experienced (+1), Close Quarters/Athletics/Electronics Trained (all others Untrained −3)
  • Boons: Sees the Strings · Holds Leverage · Silver Tongue · Cat-Footed
  • Banes: Reckless Pride · Owes the Wrong People
  • Trauma: starts play Maimed — a leg that never set right. It does not wash out; clearing it takes a full recovery session (Chapter 10). Armor 5 in the concealed vest.
  • Gear: autopistol; combat knife (Subtle); concealable ballistic vest (+2); comm earpiece; wrist comp; encrypted data-key; ~Cr5,500 (a fixer likes liquidity)
  • In play: the crew's voice — Charm at Professional under a Social Standing Advantage, plus Silver Tongue, wins rooms a fight would lose. Mind her fragility (Strength and Endurance Disadvantages) and the leg: keep her out of melee and the long slog. Jinx is the deliberate example of a Maimed node carried into play.

These five are built to be a balanced starter party — a medic, an engineer, a soldier, a pilot, and a face — and they share the fiction of the starter adventure (Chapter 36) and the example of play (Chapter 4). Swap, reskin, or rebuild them freely; the worked logs in Quickplay/Characters/ show exactly how each was made if a player wants to follow the same path.