elysium nebula player guide

8/11/2019 Elysium Nebula Player Guide

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Elysium Nebula Player Guide

Elysium NebulaPlayer Guide

Version: Tuesday, 3. Oktober 06

available athttp://www.sebman.mine.nu/projekte/Elysium-Nebula_Player-Guide.pdf.zip


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Welcome to Elysium Nebula, a sci-fantasyrole-playing game to test the limits of your

imagination both as players and as gamesmasters. Tis setting has been exclusively de-signed for role-playing purposes so the historyhas not already been carved out by the heroesof films and books before you its up to youand fellow players to shape the future of Ely-sium Nebula. And yet still Elysium Nebula isfirmly rooted in the archetypes of science ficti-on and fantasy so players should immediatelyrelate to the species and character types thathabit this make-believe realm. It is a science-fiction setting with an emphasis on fiction over

science; anything is possible!

HOW DO I PLAY?

Elysium Nebula is a d20 System role-playinggame. Te core rule set has been designed byWizards of the Coast. Specifically Elysium Ne-bula was constructed on the System ReferenceDocuments (under the terms of the Open Ga-ming License) of Wizards d20 Future and d20Modern lines.

In fact it is advisable (though not necessary)that anyone playing the Elysium Nebula role-playing game also own copies of these twobooks as they include more details than arecovered in the SRD and further clarify the rulesso that the players are better equipped to adju-dicate in-game events.

Otherwise the pertinent components of therules are reproduced in the Elysium Nebulaguides and the SRDs are available online onthe Wizards of the Coast website.

WHAT IS SCI-FANTASY?

Elysium Nebula is science fantasy. Tat is tosay it is set in the far future. Humanity has ex-panded into a new solar system and encoun-tered alien species and new technologies. Butalso it is a fantastical setting. As noted aboveElysium Nebula is based on the d20 System, isa flexible and original class-based role-playingrule set first designed for exploring the latestrendition of the classic Dungeons & Dragonsrole-playing game. In tribute to the game that

lies at the roots of d20 Future, Elysium Nebulais a role-playing setting that borrows heavily

from elements of classical Dungeons & Dra-gons with hopefully enough new twists to keepnew players and veterans alike interested.

In this vision of the future when humanity dis-covers the verdant solar system called the Ely-sium Nebula it discovers that elves, dwarvesand lizardkin populate these ancient worlds.Elysium Nebula is a fusion setting, blendingelements of classic fantasy with contemporaryspace operas. It is a realm in which magic andscience exist side by side not exclusively but

in support of one another. Humanity is divi-ded into a number of conflicting factions, theelves who once dominated the inner worldshave dwindled in number due to unceasingwars with the dangerous alien creatures calledthe Illithids and inter-system travel is closelymonitored by the reclusive and stern Dwarvenrace who control the major system jumpgates the only means of faster than light travel.

Over the course of these pages you will disco-ver more details of this hybrid setting but not

all will be revealed. Te Elysium Nebula stillhas many secrets to hide for GMs and playersto explore together!

WHAT IS IN THIS BOOK?

Tis book (Volume 1) is the first of four volu-mes in the Elysium Nebula campaign setting,and there may be more chapters added as thesetting expands. It provides background ma-terial for the major races as well as providinga historical backdrop in the form of a majortimeline of significant events. It also provides

the rules for playing the different races anddiscusses some of the political differencesbetween the major human and alien groups.Tis is the most important book for gettingstarted with a game of Elysium Nebula as itprovides the basic framework for playing.

Volume 2,, is the Elysium Nebula World Gui-de, with all the information a player will needto travel the many planets and star stations ofthe Elysium Nebula. Te histories of each pla-net in the United Republic could fill several

Introduction to the Elysium Nebula


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tomes, so not surprisingly this guide is incom-plete and leaves room for further detail andexpansion but at the very least each world issummarized and discussed in a way that willallow players and GMs to come to terms withthis brave new universe.

Volume 3 is the Elysium Nebula Arms andEquipment Guide, a must-have for playerscreating characters to fight through alien

sorcerers, fearsome robots and insane me-galomaniac villains. Also includes starships,character enhancements in the form of gene-tic, cybernetic and nano-augmetic technolo-gy, as well as rules for magically or psionicallyenchanted equipment.

Volume 4is the Elysium Nebula Menace Ma-nual. A hefty list of NPCs of both the friend andfoe variety. Tey range from the standard Uni-ted Republic Combat Marine to the deadly ali-en Kruthik to the deadly and witch-like Drowto the sinister Yuanti and their snakelike mi-

nions. No GM should be without it!

ELYSIUM NEBULA,THE CAMPAIGN SETTING

More concretely now, Elysium Nebula is acampaign setting in which the action (in mostgames) will take place within the solar systemcalled the Elysium Nebula though there is noreason why it should not spill over on to Sol Sys-tem, the Alpha Centauri System or other closestar systems. Elysium Nebula itself is a system

with a pair of binary stars called Solaris andAcheron, each orbited by many planets whichin turn have many moons. Te United Republicof Elysium a human political state countsover 23 astral bodies under its dominion. Tat isnot counting the planets controlled by aliens orother human power groups. Te system is evenmore expansive than this with a number of ha-bited asteroids, space-stations and halo-worlds.

From the perspective of diversity of sentientcreatures Elysium Nebula is a very rich setting.Tanks to its mixed roots of science fiction andfantasy it has a mixed bag of heroes and vil-lains to populate your stories with.

Te Elysium Nebula has four dominant races.Te humans who are a dominant wide-spreadand industrious race. Te elves, who are thenative beings of the inner worlds, natural-ly magical beings with similar physiology tohuman beings. Te dwarves, who hail fromthe icy outer worlds of Elysium Nebula. Tey

now control vast funds of wealth thanks tomonopolizing jumpgate technology whichpermits spaceships to travel through a foldin space-time thus covering great distance invery little time. Finally the lizardfolk, whomlike the elves are native to the inner worlds,though their evolutionary rise to sentiencehas been guided from afar by the elves and asthey have been around for less time had onlydeveloped to a rudimentary tribal state whenhuman colonists arrived. Now they serve as asecond-class race to the humans.



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Elysium Nebula features other more mena-cing aliens, such as the Illithids and theirOgre minions who attack from another sys-tem. Te snake-creatures, relatives of theLizardfolk, called the Yuan-i whom it issaid have a sinister agenda of puppeteeringhuman government through snakebloodedhuman vassals. Te ever-hungry alien race

called the Kruthik who have no sentienceas we understand it and travel from starsystem to star system through a means ofpsionic teleportation to feed on living crea-tures. Tere are evil elves, turned to demonworship after a bloody war with the Il lithids.Tese elves are called the Drow, and thanksto them Elysium Nebula is now also popula-

ted by demons and undead creatures. Final-ly, slumbering within the asteroids of Elysi-um Nebula are the most ancient creatures ofall the Elysian Dragons.

Ten there is the option of playing a hybridbeing. Elves and Ogres both, for better orworse, are able to interbreed with humans


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thanks to the latent eldritch powers thatcourse through their veins. Half-elves areconflicted heroes, never feeling completelycomfortable with their acceptance into hu-man society. Half-ogres are mistrusted by hu-mans, and this push away sometimes leadsthem to lives of banditry or piracy. Both de-mons and dragons have an even greater ma-

gical heritage and thanks to shape-shiftingpowers are also able to couple with humans,elves and other such races. Heroes with tra-ces of dragon-blood or demon-blood in theirancestry may be able to manifest strangepowers they may be even unaware of theirmagical heritage. Finally the Yuan-ti are ableto genetically alter humans and pattern their

minds so as to serve the alien snake peopleTese tainted subjects are called Snakeblooded and represent a growing threat to the stability of human government.

Amidst this myriad of worlds and aliens arestories waiting to be told. Welcome to the Elysium Nebula! n

Magic and Technology are more orless common in the Elysium Nebula.While in some areas magic and psio-nic Powers are averyday abilities theyare unheard of in other regions and

vice versa.


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-14,000,000 BC: With an apocalyptic bangthis universe spirals outwards into existenceand there is a rare opportunity for astral bo-

dies to get trapped in gravitic orbits aroundone another to form complex systems ofstars and planets. Te first awkward organicforms of life make their way up the evoluti-onary chain.

-6,000,000 BC: In the amassed hydrogenclouds of the Elysium Nebula a planetarybody is formed which colonizing humanswill (many, many years from now) call Elys-ia Prime.

-4,500,000 BC: Te planet called Earth can beclearly defined as a solar object in the Sol

System.-3,000,000 BC: Te Dragons of the ElysiumNebula first appear.

-1,000,000 BC: Elves evolve on Elysia Primeas a distinct species from primitive ape-likemammals.

-750,000 BC: Humans evolve on Earth as adistinct species from apes.

-600,000 BC: Elvish primitives develop the firsttrue eldritch powers. Tis magic allows theElves to advance more rapidly as even mun-dane tasks can be performed more quickly.

-400,000 BC: Dwarves (Duruki) evolve from

the squat Yeti of the frozen outer world Dru-mai.

-300,000 BC: Elvish psions form into true com-munities and start to build cities organicallyby growing trees into houses and muting thenatural world around them into structures.

-98,475 BC: Elvish science and magic allow forthe first trip beyond the home world of Elys-ia. Te elves reach one of the nine moons ofElysia.

-50,000 BC: Te Duruki build their first rockcities deep underground. Tey stop living in

igloos and wearing Yeti cloaks with the dis-covery of fire.

-17,500 BC: Te Elves colonize Vassago, moon

of Elysia. Tey use their magic to start theslow but sure process of making it habitable.

-5000 BC: Humans become sedentary forthe first time and start to build settlementsaround the igris and Euphrates rivers inMesopotamia.

-3000 BC: Elves learn to excel at erraforming.Groups of Elvish Shamans travel to the vari-ous worlds of the Elysium Nebula to beginthe slow process of altering the structure ofthe worlds through an arcane craft calledGeomancy.

-1200 BC: Te Duruki of Drumai dig so manytunnels into the natural caverns of theirhome world that they are able to enter thetunnels on one side of Drumai and reachthe other side of the world without evercoming to the surface. Te undergroundcity-states wage war repeatedly on oneanother and the Duruki become hard andresilient folk.

-600 BC: Roman Republic founded. Te se-nate of Rome puts humans (in terms ofgubernatorial sophistication) ahead ofboth Duruki and Elves who are adhering

to rule-of-strong and basic monarchies re-spectively. Tis Empire does not last but thecoordination and organization of humangovernment in this age is still present in theUnited Republic of Elysium today.

-0 BC or -21186 BE (Before Elysium): A sig-nificant religious figure (Jesus) emerges andhe fights (in part) the power of Rome. Hiscrucifixion alters the course of human his-tory forever. Tough the religion born of hispassing has since disappeared in the Elysi-

Historical Overview

The Elysium Nebula Player GuideTis is a timeline of major events that haveshaped the Elysium Nebula, marked according

to the dates in the Elysian Calendar. Te Elysi-um Nebula campaign setting is merely set inthe future of the real world timeline, but since itis set almost 20,000 years in the future nothing

is as we know it anymore. Eldritch powers (psi-onics and magic) are studied as sciences in this

future and are part of every day mundane life.Elves, dwarves, ogre kin and other alien raceswalk the streets alongside humans. Tingshave changed a lot since the 20th century.


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um Nebula the newer human religionsall carry the echoes of this most influentialindividual.

-20980 BE: Te Shamans that rode out to en-chant and terraform the worlds of the Ely-sium Nebula to make them habitable returnabout 3.2 thousand years later with theirtask complete. Te major Elvish kingdomsarrange the construction of massive arksgrown from living trees that can be psioni-cally displaced into deep space with living

Elvish cargo. Te elves begin the long pre-paration to move into new worlds.

-19600 BE: Te Elves of the Elysium Nebulacover the vast gulf of space for the first timewith the intent to colonize a new world cu-riously humanity is accomplishing similarthing by non-magical means on their homeworld. For the first time humans are takingships across the oceans and seizing landsthat are not their own.

-19275 BE: Among humans there is the GreatWar, also dubbed the War to End all Wars.

When it becomes apparent this war is mere-ly to be one among many it is renamedWorld War I.

-19217 BE: Humans place their first man onthe moon.

-19000 BE: Elves develop an awareness of theinevitable consequences of terraformingworlds and making them habitable. Otherlife-forms (the lizardkin) begin to show pro-mises of sentience. Elves (heedless as alwaysof danger) gently accelerate the evolution of

the lizardkin magically.-18580 BE: Humans construct the first major

city in the Moon. Te Moon eventually de-clares its independence from the nations ofEarth that colonized it and the moon-statesbecome the first extra-terrestrial human na-tions.

-18380 BE: Te lizard races achieve true sen-tience, able to learn from the elves. Despitebeing fairly technologically advanced theelves are extremely reliant on magic andhave never engaged in any kind of con-

Timekeeping

THE ELYSIAN CYCLE

While all the planets rotate around their

respective sun or suns, the two suns; So-

laris and Acheron; are also rotating around

each other. When relative to this particu-

lar galactic spiral arm the two suns have

swapped positions with one another, this is

called a Half-Cycle. When they have gone

back to their original positions it is called a

Full Cycle or more commonly, just a Cycle.

THE ELYSIAN ANNUM OR YEAR

Each Cycle is approximately 100 earth

years. An annum is 1/100 of a cycle. Han-

dily the annum the standard measure of

time in the Elysium Nebula is pretty close to

an Earth year (a week or two longer ac-

tually). People tend to give their ages in an-

nums while others use the older term year

or from which annum actually stems.

The new calendar - with its slightly longer

year - was established 12 years after the

Illithid wars when the United Republic de-

cided to usher in a new era of peace and

civilization in this Solar System. Since then

375 years have passed, or 3 and three

quarter Cycles.

Because of the various life-sustaining tech-

nologies now available there are some menand women who remember the establish-

ment of the United Republic of Elysium as

the governing body of all human planets

and the ushering in of the new calendar.

Male humans can now live up to 300 or 400

years; women can reach their fourth or fifth

cycle if they stay healthy.

The most venerable Duruki are able to re-

ach 10 cycles or a millenia, but not much

more than that. Elves, the most long-lived

of species, can live for several thousand

years. Some dragons are eons old.

The humans settled Orobas, the first world

reached in the Elysium Nebula 75 cycles

from the current year. From that day 7,500

years ago humanity has since spread out all

over the Nebula conquering, building upon

and dominating every world.

Elvish science fused with Elvish magic allows for the first trip beyond the homeworld of Elys-ia. The elves reach one of the nine moons of Elysia. Pictured above: The Elyanw Thoron (TheElysian Eagle), the first Elvish Ship to go interplanetary.


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flict with one another. Tey lead a nomadicexistence among the stars and the elvesabandon formal government in favour ofa sort of cooperative anarchy. Tis systemonly works because of the elvish naturalinclination towards helping one another. In

some cases the elves abandon worlds to thelizardkin to allow them the space to exist oftheir own accord. Tis tends to occur whenthe lizardkin behave violently towards theelves. Rather than fight the elves simply lea-ve the lizardkin to their world.

-17121 BE: Te Duruki (a little slow on theuptake because they have no Moon on theirhome world which can be used as a first stepinto space) finally make their first landingon an alien world. Unfortunately due to anaccident on the return the space-ship never

makes it home. Te Duruki end up reconsi-dering space travel.

-17000 BE: Te humans encounter Gargoyleswhile colonizing Europa, one of Jupitersmoons. Tis triggers the Gargoyle Wars andrepresents humanitys first contact with analien species. Tis event answers humanityslong standing question of whether they arealone in the universe.

-15290 BE: Elves make contact with the Du-ruki. rade opens up and the Duruki arehelped to travel successfully to the nearest

home world. With Elvish help and with theadvanced state of Duruki theoretical physicsthe Duruki begin the process that will even-tually allow them to develop the ElysiumNebulas first functioning jump-gates.

-13360 BE: An incredible day in human phar-maceutical history. Te development of thedrug Aesir. Humans develop the first mea-ningful psionic powers.

-12000 BE: Humans have colonized all thehabitable bodies within the Sol System. Ajourney to a new solar system is too daun-ting a task for the humans. Te humans be-

gin to realize that the system cannot sustaintheir need for natural resources. An internalstruggle between the major power groupsbegins.

-11305 BE: Within a single horrifying nightthe alien Illithids strike down and capturethe capital elvish city in Elysia Prime. TeIllithids and their Ogre troopers completelystomp the helpless elves who have no choicebut to flee for their lives. For the first time intheir existence the elves are faced with a realneed to fight.

-11269 BE: Te Duruki manage to build jumpgates in a few systems beyond the bounda-ries of the Elysium Nebula. Tis allows theDuruki to initialize the colonization of a vastnumber of far flung outer worlds. Tey alsodevelop the technology to terraform worlds

though this machine-based mechanicalprocess takes longer than the elvish psionicprocess.

-11198 BE: Te Duruki outer worlds are in-terrupted during the terra-forming. Teirabrupt expansion has put them into spacewith the deadly alien Kruthik. Te warsare so bloody and violent that the dwarveseventually decide to retreat from the far-flung worlds beyond the Nebula and shutdown the deep-space jumpgates. An occasi-onal effort has been made to return to these

deep systems always with the same resultof triggering an incursion of Kruthik. Terepercussions of the dwarves excursion isthat the deadly Kruthik have been introdu-ced into the Elysium Nebula.

-11002 BE: Eleven-Oh-Oh-wo - a date thatwill forever remain in history. Te mostpowerful nation of old erra is hit with 100kilo-tons of atomic material. Humanity en-gages in what starts out as World War V butends up being the bloodiest war in historyand will result in the destruction of all life on

Earth. Humanity will be sent back by aboutfour thousand years. By the time the er-ran Civil War begins on Earth, the Elves aredying at the hands of the Illithids (despitebeing able to recruit lizardfolk and occasi-onally Dragon aid) and the Duruki are batt-ling the Kruthik in all the outer corners ofthe galaxy.

-8500 BE: What follows these three majorconflicts is roughly two and a half thousandyears of struggle and intermittent war. Tisis not a pleasant time to be alive in anycorner of the universe. o the elves this is a

time of oppression and fighting for survival.o the Duruki it is a time of receding backinto the home worlds and locking out theenemy that outnumbers them a thousand toone. o the humans it is an endless battle forwhat little fuel and resources can be reclai-med from the worlds around them. Te waris perpetual and endless and most of themajor conflicting groups no longer under-stand what the fighting is really all about.

-8498 BE: Te elves turn to daemonology tofend off the Illithids. An elvish cult (who-

Timekeeping (continued)

THE ELYSIAN MONTHS

The months have stayed the same, remar-

kably, since the days of Terra. 12 months

known by their original names, though

each has now been divided into exactly 32

days. 32 because that is how many (384)

days there are in the Annum, designed to

be 1/10 of a cycle. (Actually 348.3, every

third year is a leap year in which April has

33 days. Also known as Unlucky 33.)

THE ELYSIAN DAY

Also, the planets terraformed by the elves

had their rotation altered to use the stan-

dard Elysian 26 hour day. Humans have

since adapted to this alien standard. Du-

ruki worlds and most moons dont adhere

to any kind of day standard. The 26 hour

day is the timekeeping convention howe-

ver across the Republic and has since

been adopted by the ICHA as well (who

resiliently adhered to the older 24 hour

Terran day until after the Embargo conflict

when trade soared and Ichan merchants

had trouble adapting to the longer days

when plying their trade in URE worlds).

STANDARD ELYSIAN DATE FORMAT

Full date and times are given in the format:

Cycle.Annum.Month.Day-Hour:Minute:

Seconds

So as Nest Hill is filling out his Captains

Log the exact date is:

C3.A75.M08.D27-25h:44m:12s

Or spoken: August 27, 375

at nearly midnight.


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Elysium Nebula 9


se members are called the Drow) emergemastering the power to summon demonicbeings of raw eldritch energy. Tese magicalcreatures turned the tide of the war againstthe Illithids who retreat into the dark regionsof space from whence they came. Te elvesbegin the slow process of rebuilding.

-7500 BE: Trough sheer resilience the Duru-

ki fend off the vast hordes of aliens that hadstruck the outer worlds. Tey become thesuperior alien-fighters in the galaxy. Teytoo begin the slow process of rebuildingtheir home worlds.

-7408 BE: Te Phoeban nation of humansclaim victory over Luna and erra by cap-turing the Lunar battle barge containing thePresident of the Lunar Republic. Tis is ahollow victory however. Te erran Civil Warhas cost all of humanity. Luna makes somediplomatic concessions to Phoebe and Pho-

ebe is given mining rights on old erra. Terebuilding begins but with so little left andso much misery left after the war the processis slower here than in Elysium.

-7309 BE: Te Phoeban Empire finances ex-plorer Vernus roy makes a six-year voyagedeep into space following anomalous red-shift radiation he believes may indicate ali-

en-craft. Following the radiation leads himto a Duruki explorer craft and conversationwith the Duruki reveals of the existence ofa marvelous place full of lush green naturalworlds perfect for human habitation.

-7303 BE: Vernus returns to the Sol Systemwith stories of the Elysium Nebula. He con-vinces a vast number of humans to brave afar journey into the Alpha Centauri system,to use the Duruki Jumpgate there to makethe journey to Elysium Nebula. Phoebansand Lunars work cooperatively to build

Within a single horrifying night the alienIllithids strike down and capture the capital elvish city in Elysia Prime. The Illithidscompletely stomp the helpless elves whohave no choice but to flee for their lives.For the first time in their existence theelves are faced with a real need to fight.Pictured above: The Day after from thefamous Elvish Painter E Ancalim which

can be found in the Elysian Museum ofAncient Art in Correllan.


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a massive ark within which millions of hu-mans are frozen in stasis shells to be reawo-ken at the far end of the world. Te first voy-age to Elysium takes 74 years to complete.

-7228 BE: Te Drow lose control of the demonsthey summoned during the Elvish-IllithidWars. Te slow process of corruption is overand the drow are no longer the masters butnow servants of the demons. Tey leave theelvish worlds to settle in to various planeto-

ids that skirt the Oort cloud of the ElysiumNebula. Te demons plans are loftier andmore vile it seems than merely the conque-ring of worlds. Te Drow seize command ofall of the major elvish space faring vesselsand take them deep into a far reach of Elysi-an space now called the Drow Planes.

-7226 BE: When the humans arrive the El-ves have reclaimed their home world butnot many of their outlying worlds. hehumans (used to war as they are) have notrouble wresting control of a world called

Orobas from the primitive lizard peoplethat live there.

-7201 BE: Te humans of Sol System are surpri-sed when they hear news of the survivors ofthe Elysian Expedition. Te Elysian humanshave built up a city successfully in the newlyconquered world of Orobas and as per theplan had spent the next twenty years buildinga fusion plant to power a massive achyoncommunication array. Te Elysian humans

and the Phoeban and Lunars were finally incontact with one another and the filming thatthe humans of Elysia did of the green fertileworld they lived in persuaded the Phoebanand Lunar empires that their entire peopleshould migrate to Elysium. Tere was nothingleft for humanity in Sol System. Phoebe offersthe entirety of the Sol System to Mars (a muchweaker empire) and Luna and Phoebe makeplans to displace their entire population toElysium (leave no man behind). While Lunahas the technology to manufacture the ships

The Phoeban financed explorer VernusTroy makes a six-year voyage deepinto space following anomalousred-shift radiation he believes mayindicate alien-craft.


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Elysium Nebula 11


(and retains the rights to own them after thefact) Phoebe focuses its manufacturing onweapons for they suspect when they arrive inElysium it will be necessary to maintain con-trol of the worlds by force from both aliensand rival human groups.

-7185 BE: Te Duruki start to make a tidy pro-fit on the passage of humans going throughthe Alpha Centauri jump gates. Alpha Cen-tauri becomes a major system for the Duru-

ki and many Duruki make themselves newhomes at the Centauri jumpgate.

-5005 BE: Tis is a period of trade and coope-ration between the three principle humano-id races with humans acquiring land fromthe Elves in exchange for weapons trainingand tactical information so that they maybetter protect themselves in the future. Hu-mans retain a stranglehold on their mostdeadly military knowledge however whilelearning advanced psionics from the elves.

-4617 to -12 BE: Te Illithid Wars. For the se-

cond time (the first time since the humansarrived) the Illithids attack the ElysiumNebula. Tey are able to take control of theworlds of the elves and send them fleeing tothe Duruki fringe-worlds. Te humans pro-vide a minimal aid until the elves are forcedto flee and then reveal their true strength bytaking and holding all the principle Elysi-an worlds. Te Illithid attacks consisting ofboth Ogres and new highly trained combat

robots are thwarted by the sheer power ofhuman BattleMech and anks. Supportfrom Lunar Fleet spaceships mean that hu-man victory was assured. Te human con-quest takes many years to reach fruition allthe while the humans put up significant in-frastructure to ensure that each planet theytake will be held against all odds.

ANNUM 0: Te URE is officially founded at thevery center of the Elysium Nebula in ElysiaPrime (the one-time home world of the

An Illithid Hunter-Droid UCF Class.These dangerous Droids can still befound on remote former Illithid-BaseCamps. Although beeing in servicefor more than 300 Years these deadlymachines are still a serious threat toany unwanted visitor.

The infamous Meat-Grinder. Illithidused this highly specialized Bot forBunker-Infiltration. Once it burrowed itsway into fortified Stronghold it woulduse its Drilling-Aparatur to wreck ha-voc on every living creature inside.


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12 Elysium Nebula

elves). Te capital city of New Phoebe is theseat of the new Urean government. A go-vernment that wishes to rule over all huma-nity, united as one.

3: Independent Coalition declares itself andthe fleet independent of United Republicrule and forms a separate government.

15:Te elves send a council down to requesttheir worlds back from the humans (whomthey accuse of having usurped the worldsduring the conflict). Te humans offer theelves a chance at citizenship but say that el-vish government is too fragile. Tey will con-tinue to build on and rule over the worldsof the Elysium Nebula. Some elves react indisgust and return to the Duruki worlds and

other accept that they have no choice. Tetime of elvendom is passed.

87: In Sol System the Reclaimers Guild beco-mes the dominant power, based on Mars.

Many reclaimers become wealthy by ar-tifact diving. Tis diving involves braving ajourney (with radsuit) to the remains of Olderra and bring back such items as sculp-tures, bits of monuments and other Olderra paraphernalia. Tese are then tradedwith the Elysian humans for technology andresources. Many guild members wish to im-migrate to Elysium but few are allowed topass the rigorous immigration rules.

115: Duruki Forgotten Wars. As Duruki att-empt to reopen old Jump Gates they find

As Duruki attempt to reopen old JumpGates they find they are briefly innun-dated with Kruthik. After a fierce butshort war the Duruki decide to closeall Non-Elysian jumpgates except for

Alpha Centauri.


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Elysium Nebula 13


they are briefly inundated with Kruthik.Te Duruki regret these mistakes and referto these as the forgotten wars preferring toclose all Non-Elysian jumpgates except for

Alpha Centauri.134: Te lizard-folk voting rights are passed al-

lowing lizardfolk to count as half-a-humanfor legal voting terms. Tis is met with mixedreactions but is the standard for lizard-folkliving in human cities even today. Elves andDuruki are able to acquire full voting rightsif they pass a human socio-cultural compa-tibility exam.

229: Te New Elysian Democracy declares arevolution and fights off the URE on a fewworlds. Tese revolutions are still occurring

today. Tey would like to see a more frag-mented system as once existed on Earth andSol System than the unified Republic thatexists today. Some revolutions are fought

with success while others are repressed bythe highly effective URE marines.

301: Te Embargo Conflict. Te ICHA raisesfreight rates universally across the ElysiumNebula since they have a monopoly andthey can. Te URE successfully brings ratesdown to an ordinary level by engaging inopen war. Between this and the New Elys-ian Democracy it becomes apparent to theDuruki and the Elves that for humans in-fighting is common place.

375:Present Day n

The Duruki officially open AlphaCentauri allowing for humans to traderelics with the Reclaimers Guild backon Mars and Terra. For the first time in5000 years the humans in both systems

reconnect. Pictured above: A typicalPhoeben Emigration Camp - where Hu-mans from Sol wait for their Immigrati-on Permit to the Elysium Nebula.


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14 Elysium Nebula

HUMAN HISTORY

Humans, being the species we as humanplayers most easily identify with, are at thecentre of the Elysium Nebula storyline. Hu-mans are descended from a tree-dwellingape species on the long-since uninhabitab-le planet Earth in Sol System (most oftenreferred to as Old erra in current lingo).Human history has been marked by some

terrible events that have left an unmistakablemark on the human psyche. Humans are a mi-litant, proud race who are unafraid to fall backon force when living conditions are strained.

Of these major wars the most scarring was anuclear conflict called the Human Civil War,

which left Old erra a molten wasteland. Terebuilding of Sol System after this terrible con-flict was slow and resources were too few forhumanity to ever truly recover there.

Te real chance at change and progress afterthe Human Civil War occurred in the year13,883 of the old calendar (the same we usetoday so almost 12000 years from now) whenan explorer native to Saturns moon Phoebereturned to the Phoeban Empire with reportsof a place called the Elysium Nebula of which

Playable Character Races

Te following section contains the standardraces playable by characters in Elysium Nebu-la. All of the races included here are Level Ad-

justment +0 which means they are balancedfor party play amongst one another. A level 4human is roughly as powerful as a level 4 ro-bot or a level 4 elf. Be aware that since all raceshave particular traits not all characters will bebalanced because of this. A Kobold StrongHero will inevitable be weaker than a Half-Ogre Strong Hero but a Half-Ogre Smart Herowont be as canny as a Kobold Smart Hero.

Note that there may be game play reasonswhy a particular set of characters wont play

well with one another an elf and drowfor instance may be an antitheses to onanother or perhaps an ogre-hybrid mer-cenary and a lawman. Of course thosekinds of frictions might be wanted incertain parties. he full list of LA +0player character races is:

Human Dwarf Elf (Ancient) Elf (Drow)

Kobold Lizardkin Ogre Hybrid (Half-Ogre) Ogre Hybrid (Ogreblood) Robot Snakeblood

SPECIAL NOTE:Humans are NOT Base Race

In d20 Modern all classes gain a number skillpoints per level equal to their intelligence mo-difier plus an odd number and characters have2 initial starting feats. In Dungeons & Dragonshowever all classes gain a number of skill pointsequal to their intelligence modifier plus an evennumber and all characters have 1 initial startingfeat. In actual fact these two systems are iden-tical the only thing that has changed the baserace. In D&D human beings have a special rulethat they get 1 additional skill point per level and1 additional feat. Te net result is that humans

have their Int + odd number and 2 initial feats.

In d20 Modern the only race available is hu-man, so these basic defaults are worked inas standard into all the characters and basicclasses. Because Elysium Nebula features awide range of non-human player characteroptions this game setting use the conventionsset out in the D&D game. Unless otherwise no-ted all the classes provided in the d20 Moderncore book provide 1 less skill point per levelunless the character is human. Furthermore

all characters have 1 starting feat unless theyare human in which case they get 2.

All the classes presented in Elysium Nebulawill use the D&D standard and not the d20Modern one for skill points.

Humans

Humans are considered the mostversatile Race in the Elysium Nebula.


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he had received second hand reports about.He had spoken to squat humanoids who calledthemselves the Duruki. Vernus himself alwaysreferred to them as Dwarves in his journals.Te Dwarves hailed from a nebulous systemcalled Elysium which they described as being

filled with rich verdant worlds.

It was obvious to the humans of the time that ifhumanity was to survive it would need to findnew resources. It would need planets rich in mi-neral and biological wealth. Te two largest poli-tical divisions of the time, the Empires of Phoebeand Luna, united after many years at each othersthroat and built cooperatively a massive ark wi-thin which millions of humans were cryogenical-ly frozen to be reawoken in Elysium. Without anymeans of faster-than-light travel, even with the

best engines human science had to offer and thehelping hand of the Duruki jumpgate, the firstvoyage to Elysium took 74 years to complete.

Te system that these humans awoke on, calledthe Elysium Nebula on account of its vast re-gions of space fog, was discovered to be largerthan Sol System, featuring an unusually highpercentage of habitable worlds within a stati-stically anomalous distance of each other. Tetruth, as humans would later find out, was thatthe ancient race called the Elves had terrafor-

med most of the worlds in this solar system, tomake it sustainable for elvish and thereforehuman life. A convenient circumstance forthese humans grown up on the moon or on themoons of gas giants. Most had never seen a bluesky or an ocean outside of a video capture.

Since the time of the first landing humans havesince arrived in the Elysium Nebula in the bil-lions. Tey went from being a newly emergentrace in an otherwise alien system to being thedominant species. Tis was helped by the hu-mans high military sophistication and the fact

that the deadly Illithids attacked the ElysiumNebula with more vigour than they had pre-viously done against the elves. Human mili-tary strategic interests involved the taking andholding of several elven capital cities to helpdefend the elves against invaders. After theIllithid Wars it was evident that the ElysiumNebula belonged to humanity.

Te bulk of the human worlds united underthe banner of the United Republic of Elysiumand a new dating scheme was established to

indicate that the history of humanity had rea-ched a new stage. Since that day 375 years havepassed, the United Republic is the establishedorder in the Nebula but things are a coming alittle loose. Te revolutionary political entitycalled the New Elysian Democracy fights for

independence from the United Republic andwith this political instability the time is ripe forthe evil Illithids to attempt another invasion.

POLITICAL DIVISIONS

Tere are currently four major human states inthe Elysium Nebula. Tis means, that humanplayer characters will carry an Identity Card fromone of the 4 major powers and revealing thisIdentity Card may have political ramifications.

Te United Republic of ElysiumAlso Called: Te Republic or theUnited Republic, the URE, Urea

Elysia Prime; once the home world of the El-ves; is now the capital world of the vast inter-planetary state that is the dominant humanpower in the Elysian System. Te planet wastaken during the Illithid Wars because of itstactical significance within the Solaris Sys-tem, and it was declared the Capital World ofthe URE (United Republic of Elysium). URErepresents the oldest and most ancient ofthe 4 powers. Te URE is known for its size,bureaucracy and old-world politics. A full23 worlds are controlled by this government(though one is contested by NED insurgents).

Te URE flag features a gold dragons headset in the foreground of a black and blue stri-ped banner. Tere are 8 bands of blue in theURE Flag, one for each of the major militaryvictories made during the Ill ithid wars. Tereare also 8 ruling Senators who govern fromNew Phoebe, capital city of Elysia Prime. Tegold dragon of the United Republic, is to mostmembers of the URE the most significant partof the image. Te dragon is emblazoned onshoulder pads of combat marines, on star-ships, and on buildings. EDK Hunters (secret

service agents) carry a badge with this icon opower on it to signify their authority.

People who hail from the many worlds of theUnited Republic share little in common asidefrom their Ident Cards. Te worlds themselve

are often so culturally different from one another. A monodominant cleric from Orobas, aValefarian whose expertise is in technologythat reanimates the dead, and a merchant whoflies the Gulliver rade Run between Nememiah and Vohumunah are likely to have nothingin common. Within the United Republic people identify themselves according to their citynation and planet of origin. But to membersof other human power groups humans fromthe United Republic are called Ureans (pronounced Yurians), a word derived from the

sounds the letters of the URE acronym makewhen they are squished together.

Te Independent Coalitionfor Human Advancement

Also Called: Te Coalition or theIndependent Coalition, ICHATe second most influential state is the Coalition or the ICHA, to use the most commonacronym for the states full title. Like humanfrom the URE are called Ureans, so are humanfrom the ICHA called Ichans (pronounced witha hard ch and a long i like I-kans). While Ureancontrol extends over the planets of the Elysium Nebula the Coalition control the space

between planets which Ichans will argue is amuch larger domain. It is hard to say when theCoalition really become a political entity theoriginal terms Research Stations for HumanAdvancement certainly predates the founding of the URE but at the time the Coalitionwas a scientific research organization. Whais certain is that the ICHA only became politically active after the United Republic did. Infact it was a reaction to the United Republicdeclaration that it was a new Elysian Statefor all Humanity to belong to.


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o truly understand the ICHA one has to knowsome basic history. During the Illithid Warsthere was a rigid division between the groundtroops and likewise the ground based missilesilos, facilities, tank factories and so on and

the human fleet. Te biggest space station everbuilt by man (then called Te Pearl) was themanufacturing plant for these human fleets.Te Grand Admiral of the human fleet, a mannamed Ivan Petrov, commandeered billions oftons of raw material from the Elysian Worldswith which to build a vast fleet of starships todefeat the Illithids. When the Illithids weredefeated these starships became suddenlypurposeless. Ivan had been somewhat overenthusiastic with his fleet constructions andnow billions upon billions of capital ships floa-ted about nearly empty in the dark expanses of

Elysian Space.

Ivan, not one to miss an opportunity, transfor-med his fleet into a collection of space-faringuniversities and research facilities. Te greathuman minds of the age traveled to these Re-search Stations for Human Advancement inthe hopes of making the world a better place.Te first major development on these stationswas the grav-plate a device which generated afield of artificial gravity. Without the difficultiesof 0g humans began to call these stations their

home, bringing their families from whateverplanets they hailed from to live permanentlyin these new stations.

When the United Republic declared itself a

single political entity spanning all the ma-jor planets in Elysium the space stations forHuman Advancement declared themselvespolitically distinct, claiming the title of an In-dependent Coalition. By the year 3 of the Re-public Calendar the new political group hada name and a gubernatorial system, the ICHAwas born. Since that time, due to expandingpopulations the ICHA has expanded buildingnewer bigger stations that are marvels of engi-neering housing many billions of people.

Still today Ichan universities are the most renown

and the greatest human thinkers and craftsmanare said to be Ichan. Te flag of ICHA is a simplered sheet with grey circles. Te largest two cir-cles represent the suns of Elysium, Solaris andAcheron. Te circle closest the sun representsthe URE Capital of Muscovisk and the little tinycircle represents Kazan Station. Te remainingseven circles each represent a major space sta-tion of the ICHA. At the centre of the gray circlerepresenting Solaris is a red cog to represent theCoalitions industrious nature. Te letters I andC are stylistically worked into the Cog.

Te New Elysian DemocracyAlso Called: Te neodemocracy,the rebellion (by Ureans), the NEDWhile ICHA and URE represent very old powers,NED (New Elysian Democracy) is a new fledg-ling nation resulting from a recent civil war. Teyhave considerably less power and money - con-trol a mere 4 worlds and contest a fifth. Tey be-lieve in individual governments for planets with

a unified theme and a more traditional electoralsystem in the individual worlds. Tere is no ru-ling senate for the NED, each NED planet has ademocratically elected president.

One of the major changes pushed forth by theNeodems is the notion of full rights for aliens.One of the curious things about the United Re-public of Elysium is that alien races can becomecitizen Ureans, but their votes in elections are aspecial weaker variety of vote. At the end ofmajor elections alien votes are tallied and hal-

The ICHAN embargo conflict has brought private transportation and smuggling to a new level. Since mayor ICHAN Transport Companies haverised their fees, privateer transportation is on the rise.


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ved. Each aliens opinion counts half as muchas full humans. Te rationale is that the UnitedRepublic is founded on human values and thataliens may not share those same intrinsic be-liefs that the government was built on.

Aliens in this sense includes: elves, dwarves, li-zardkin and any other full alien. Elves and Duru-ki however are able to acquire full voting rights ifthey pass a human socio-cultural compatibilityexam. Human hybrids are accorded full humanrights. Additionally, non-humans cannot holdpositions of office above a certain level.

With the NED everyone who is a citizen hasfull voting privileges. Not surprisingly it hasattracted a large number of half-ogres, lizard-kin and other aliens for this very reason. o

Yurians the large quantity of half-ogres andlizardkin is just more evidence that the NEDare doing something very wrong. Officiallythe URE refuses to acknowledge the politicalbodies of the NED preferring to think of theplanets as Urean worlds which need to be rec-laimed from insurgents.Te New Elysian Democracys flag contains ahuman head; a symbol of a free-thinking hu-man nation. Te colours of the flag; yellow-brown and green; symbolize earth and grass -the simple components of a human sustaining

world. Along the side of the flag are Beyondercharacters which spell out the Beyonder wordESSIK which translated means Freedom.

People from the NED are sometimes calledNeodems, Nedans (pronounced Needans) orjust simply called rebels.

Te Reclaimers GuildAlso Called: Te GuildFinally there is the Reclaimers Guild. Tey areoutworlders that live primarily far away fromthe Elysium Nebula in the twisted remains ofthe Sol System. Teir they dig for ancient ar-cheological ruins, braving the twisted Earthlandscape for remnants of human past. Tey

dont control any worlds in the Elysium sys-tem but their presence can be felt. Te Guildwas originally in charge of Martian researchstations but has now spread to become the do-minant galactic party in the Sol System.

Because trade with Sol System is still very im-portant, and because wealthy humans are al-ways eager to go back to their solar system oforigin, the Guild presence is often felt withinthe Elysium Nebula. Reclaimers vary in theirfeelings towards the Elysians. Many feel supe-rior to those born in Elysium. Tey believe theyhave a more sophisticated old way of livingand are better tied to the roots of humanity.Others envy the verdant fields and blue skies ofmany of the Elysian worlds. Many Reclaimerstry to migrate to the URE or NED or ICHA when

they come over, but due to various barriers ofentry many have great difficulty immigrating.

Te flag of the Reclaimers Guild is an invertedsymbol of Visuddha; which in Hindi mythos isone of the Chakras - an energy vortex that ismanifest in mankind. Te visuddha, located inthe region of the neck and shoulders and isthe centre of communication and creativity.Its colours are deep indigo and dark greenwith origins in the history of the symbol.Te flag was designed to promote a practi-

ce of intelligence and creativity across SolSystem.

HUMAN RACIAL TRAITS

Medium: As Medium creatures, humans haveno special bonuses or penalties due to their size.Speed: Human base land speed is 30 feet.Racial Feats: 1 extra feat at 1st level.Racial Skills: 4 extra skill points at 1st level and1 extra skill point at each additional level.Blunt: Human beings are naturally lacking in

eldritch energy and are unable to manifestmagical or psionic powers without the aid ofchemically addictive substance called Aesir.

Racial alentsTese talents can be taken by human cha-racters who are able to select a class talent.Humans treat the human talents as class ta-lents irrespective of the basic class they areprogressing in. Tey can select human talentseven if they are multi-classing and receive ta-lents from multiple basic classes.

What the NED is missing in equipmentis made up by imaginativeness of theNED-Rebels.


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Eldritch LineagePrerequisites: First levelBenefit: Te human must take this talent at first

level in order to take this talent at all. A humanwith the Eldritch Lineage talent has parents onboth sides of the family that are chemically de-pendant on Aesir. When the character was aninfant in his mothers womb, the Aesir chemi-cals muted his development. Humans of an El-dritch Lineage are altered during gestation. Ahuman with Eldritch Lineage does not need touse the substance known as Aesir to manifesteldritch powers. He effectively ignores the ef-fects of the Blunt racial quality. Such a humannormally behaves in curious ways and mayhave an expanded forehead. A character with

the Eldritch Lineage talent gets a +2 bonus onWisdom but a -2 penalty on Charisma.

Human AptitudePrerequisites: NoneBenefit: Te human has a knack for acquiringnew feats. Te human can select up to 3 feats - hedoes not gain these feats immediately. Insteadthese feats count as class bonus feats regardlessof which basic, advanced or prestige class hetakes. Any time the Human is allowed a class bo-nus feat, he can choose one of these three.

Extra FeatPrerequisites: NoneBenefit: Humans acquire more feats than

other races. In addition to having a bonus star-ting feat, a human can swap one of his talentsfor a bonus feat. Tis feat must be selectedfrom the class bonus feat of the basic class thatgranted this talent. Tis talent cannot be takenmultiple times.

Adaptive LearningPrerequisites: Human Aptitude or Extra FeatBenefit: Trough cross-training a human ismore able to change his focus than other ra-ces. It allows the human to increase any one ofhis ability scores by 2 points. In return he must

decrease two of his ability scores by 1 point.Te human can also swap one of his feats forany other. He must meet the prerequisites forhis new feat. If he drops a feat that is a prere-quisite for another feat he own, he no longercan use that feat. Te human can rearrangeup to 5 skill points per level - removing themfrom any skills he wants and placing them inanother skill. Tese new skills do not have tobe class skills of his current class but must beclass skills of any class that the human has ac-quired up to date. n

Human History is full of armed con-flicts. Although internal conficts are notunkown to other Races, Humans seemto excel in this area.


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THE WORLDS OF THE DWARVES

Te dwarves, or Duruki in their own tongue, ha-

bit the nine most distant planets in the ElysiumNebula. wo of them follow a wide and twistingfigure 8 orbit around Solaris and Acheron, thetwo suns of the Elysium Nebula system. wo ofthem were wide looping planetoids before theywere fixed in place by Duruki science far to thegalactic Zenith and Nadir (positions above andbelow the galactic plane). Te remaining 5 fol-low such mad far reaching ellipses around bothworlds that for these planets both suns look likenothing more than an exceptionally bright star.Tese distant icy worlds look uninhabitable

from afar. Tey are frosty, dry-ice riddled tund-ra worlds that no human would be able to sur-vive on without proper environmental suiting.Yet if you look in the right places youll find abuzz of industrious dwarven activity for theseare the worlds of the Duruki.

Duruki like elves, men and other simian de-scended creatures are fleshy bipedal beings andcome in various skin tones. Tey are universallyabout three quarters the height of a typical hu-man but are wider in stature. Unlike Elves that

grow no facial hair Dwarves grow thick beards.Both males and females are likely to developwhat a human would call male-pattern bald-ness, and in accordance with human beautystandards some dwarf women have taken towearing wigs in the presence of humans.

HISTORY OF DWARVENDOM

Of the nine dwarf worlds, the closest of the 9is the only with a molten core. Te gasses gi-ven off by the volcanoes allowed the formati-on of an atmosphere which in turn gave rise to

life. On this world, which is the dwarf capitalof Drumai, a species of heavily furred apesevolved, hunting seal and fish just beneaththe ice. A close genetic relative of this prede-cessor of the modern dwarf (the feral DrumaiYeti Drumaius Yetius Maximus) is still alivetoday and protected by Duruki wildlife laws asthe Drumai Yeti is the genetic link between theDuruki and their ancestor species, the now ex-tinct Drumaius Yetius Dwarfus. Human scho-lars of Dwarf genetic origins happily refer tothis ancestor as the Neanderthal Dwarf.

For many thousands of years the NeanderthalDwarf did nothing more than hunt seal andfish until the Neanderthal Dwarf produced anintellectual genetic off-shoot around 400,000BC. Most intriguing however to humans is thatin the locations where the first true Duruki

would appear there is also fossil evidence (inthe form of footprints) that Dragons had beenpresent. Crackpot theorists point out that si-milar markings can be found on Elysia Primedating back to when the Elves first gained truesentience and may well be found on Old er-ra (too much fallout from nuclear war makessuch research now impossible on erra).Tese theorists posit that the physiologicalsimilarities between Dwarves, Elves and Menexist because the ancient Draconian race hadbred them for some specific purpose. It is

Duruki

In Recnet years some Duruki have lear-ned to use Eldritch Powers and havebecome able spell-casters.


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20 Elysium Nebula

thought by the scientific community at large(who scoff at the crackpots) that Dragons fre-quented Drumai in these early years becausethe Yetius Maximus was an excellent source ofenergy for the hungry space-farers.

For a long time the first Duruki lived in igloosbut it did not take long before early spelun-kers discovered that Drumais molten coreprovided sufficient geothermal heat for morecomfortable living conditions. Te Durukibecame great excavators hollowing out theirhome world with vast labyrinthine tunnels.What follows this (starting around 1200BC bythe human calendar) was a period called theBarbarian Ages in which rule of the strong wasthe only rule and various Duruki city-stateswaged a ceaseless war on one another with

axe and hammer. Tose ancient times holda special place in Duruki race memory, andthe folklore of the heroes of the time pervadeDuruki society even today in much the sameway as humans have the legends of Arthur and

his knights from Old erra and the legendsof Odysseus and the Greek mythologiesfrom before then. All Duruki can recountthe trials of Grungni Stonehammer andthe attoo Clan of Bargwald or to recitesuch fables as the classic tale of Fragnor

and the Mountain Yeti and the saga of Ulli,

last of the Spearbiter Clan.

Around the year 150 BC when the Barbari-an Ages began to draw to a close, the Durukifirst began to study and understand the el-

dritch energies. Te Duruki are not naturallypsychic enough to be able to manipulate theseenergies without advanced training, but theDuruki quickly learned the science of the el-dritch powers. Tey were able to find areas ofDrumai that were rich in these energies andlearned that certain symbols or icons could

contain or house these energies. Tese were

the first Duruki runic eldritch manipulations.

Te Duruki were the last of the three domi-nant races to successfully travel to another

planet. Tis is probably largely thanks to thefact that Drumai is a moonless planet. In factit is suggested by the scientist that when NeilArmstrong made the first voyage to Old errasmoon, Duruki theoretical physics was leaguesahead of their human counterparts but withno nearby astral bodies to visit the Duruki werehappy to sit still on their home world. It was

only a thousand years after humanity had alrea-dy colonized and begun living on the moon thatDuruki really began to venture forth into space,and even then it was only because Elven explo-rers had discovered Drumai and had sharedsome of their technology with the Duruki.

Since then the Duruki have become the un-disputed masters of the void of space. Teyzealously guard the technology which powersthe Duruki Jumpgates, allowing the Duruki tocover many millions of light years as if it werea much shorter distance by warping real-space (or folding it) between two predefinedpoints. Te jump gates are the only reasonab-le means of intersystem travel and only theDuruki possess the secret science that makesthis possible.

DWARVES TODAY

Duruki are the wealthiest of the alien (nonhu-man) races. Tey charge a very high toll for allvessels that use their jumpgates and as theyare the fastest and most convenient way of get-ting from point A to point B, Duruki naturallyreceive considerable income from this. Durukitend to be closely guarded about their feelingsand though they are naturally curious abouthuman customs, they have not adopted many

of the ideas that humans find so civilized.

Duruki do not vote on a government, insteadthey are ruled over by an Ancestor Council.Ancestors represent the oldest Duruki on agiven world as Duruki have great faith in thewisdom that comes with age. It should alsobe noted that elder Duruki like elves, thoughphysically weakened, dont degrade mentallyas humans do. All Duruki have a instinctual,possibly biological, reverence for their eldersand they find human maltreatment of eldersin very poor taste.

Te Duruki of the past only used Eldritch Pow-ers to enchant items, through powerful arca-ne runes, however under tutelage of the elvesmany Duruki have learned to harness arcanepowers themselves in recent years. Since theelves have lost their homelands and many liveamong the dwarves they have grown tighteras people and a lot of elvish knowledge on thesubject of spell-casting has been passed on tothe dwarves. Duruki sorcerers now rival hu-man ones in power and ability.

Typical Duruki Jumpgate Guard


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Elysium Nebula 21


Unlike humans, Duruki do not need to takethe Aesir drug to tap into this hidden re-

serve of energy, instead they need merelythe proper training and inclination. Durukispell casters are still quite rare though, be-cause the Duruki people even today prizephysical science over metaphysical or ma-gical studies.

DWARVEN RACIAL TRAITS

Ability Score Modifiers:+2 Constitution, 2 Charisma.Medium: As Medium creatures, dwarves haveno special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Speed: Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet.However, dwarves can move at this speedeven when wearing medium or heavy armoror when carrying a medium or heavy load (un-like other creatures, whose speed is reduced insuch situations).Darkvision: Dwarves can see in the dark up to60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, butit is otherwise like normal sight, and dwarvescan function just fine with no light at all.Cold Resistance: Dwarves are used to extre-mely cold temperatures. Tey have a natural

Cold Resistance of 5 and a +4 bonus on Forti-tude saves to resist cold-related effects.

Stability: A dwarf gains a +4 bonus on abilitychecks made to resist being bull rushed ortripped when standing on the ground (but notwhen climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise notstanding firmly on the ground).Racial Skills: +2 racial bonuson all Craft checks.Racial Saving Trow Bonus:+2 racial bonus on saving throws against poi-son. +2 racial bonus on saving throws againstspells and spell-like effects.Racial Attack Bonus: +1 racial bonus on attackand damage rolls against Ogres.

Racial alentsTese talents can be taken by Duruki cha-racters who are able to select a class talent.Duruki treat the Duruki talents as class talentsirrespective of the basic class they are progres-sing in. Tey can select Duruki talents evenif they are multi-classing and receive talentsfrom multiple basic classes.

Absorb RecoilPrerequisites: None.

Benefit: Te Duruki can use a Medium-sized(non-light) weapon in his off-hand withou

taking additional penalties. Effectively Duruki treat all medium weapons as light weapons.

Concrete VertebraePrerequisites: None.Benefit: Te Duruki can drop from incrediblheights and slam onto his sturdy feet withousuffering grievous injury. Te Duruki halvethe effects of falling - allowing him to treaeach twenty feet distance fallen as a ten-foodistance.

CraftsmanPrerequisites: Builder featBenefit: Te Duruki applies his +2 bonufrom his builder feat not just to the two crafskills chosen but to all craft skills.

Dwarvish ResiliencePrerequisite: Endurance featBenefit: Te dwarf heals at twice his normarate. Tis effect stacks with Stamina and similar effects. Remember that x2 twice is x3not x4. n

Duruki Stargates are so complex that no other species was able to built one by themselfs. Even the Gates on Muscovisk/Novobrisk and ElysiaPrime/Phoenix are built and mantained by Duruki.


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Elves (ancient)

The Elven Race

Te elves (ancient elves or original elves to

differentiate them from the evil Drow) arethe eldest of the humanoid races in ElysiumNebula. Tey evolved on Elysia Prime, thecapital of the human empire called the Uni-ted Republic where they are now often tre-ated as second class citizens. Te elves aredescended from an Elysian primate calledthe Krell which is now extinct. Te Krell wasa tall thin primate that would swoop fromtree to tree and had a very fast metabolism.

Te elves carry many of the same traitsas the Krell. Tey are thinner, taller

and more graceful than humans.Teir rapid metabolism ensuresthat even if they overeat elves will

never get obese, or at least not inthe same manner as humans. Elvesthat do not exercise will be weaker,but wont develop much additionalfatty tissue. Like humans and dwar-ves, the other ape-derived species,

elves come in a variety of skin tonesand can sport varied hair colours.Unlike dwarves and humans, elven

males do not grow beards. In someelvish ethnic groups certain malescan grow moustaches or long side-burns, but never full human be-

ards. Elves have a considerablymore fragile bone structurethan humans (some humanscientists have likened the

fast metabolism and light bones of the elvesto being birdlike) and consequently are in-jured more easily, however they tend to bemore dexterous and agile than humans.

Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of theElves is that they are a naturally magical race.For reasons that are not altogether clear to con-temporary studiers of the eldritch sciences, El-ves attract webs of eldritch energy about them.Even elvish children quickly and from a youngage learn to manipulate the eldritch powersaround them. Te rare elf unable to call uponthese powers (so-called blunts) were in ear-lier times protected and doted on by Elvish fa-mily units for their lack of ability. Blunts havea tendency of being hard-working and eager to

show their worth to compensate for what thefeel is an unfortunate curse. It is, in part, theelves natural gift for magic that allowed them

to discover the worlds around them when hu-mans and dwarves were stilling fighting withswords.

Te other reason Elves so quickly took to spacetravel was their natural disposition towardspeace and study. Elves are biologically predis-posed to avoiding violence. Teir world hadfew natural predators and the naturally com-munal elves shared research and knowledgein ancient times. Tere was almost no sense ofownership among these elves. But times have

changed, and the humans and their successagainst the illithids have made the elves of to-day a little more worldly in the human senseof the word. Some of the elves may find thisa pity, but other younger elves believe thatwithout a change in behaviour the elven racewill soon be extinct.

HISTORY OF ELVENDOM

Elves went from being hunter-gatherers to asedentary race living in communities in about

300,000 BC about 295,000 years before humansdid. In fact before the first major human civili-zation at Mesopotamia was getting under way,elvish magic and science were at such an ad-vanced state that most of the elvish settlementaround the planet were aware of each other.Elvish telepaths were able to whisper to eachother across continents, and the world wasbecoming smaller as elvish enchanters wereable to cast spells of flight and levitation on theelvish longboats. With the elves already flyingit was not long before Elven science had alrea-dy established that the moons of Elysia Prime

were not so different from Elysia Prime itself.Elvish magic ensured that the Elves who wouldjourney to the moon of Vassago would be suf-ficiently enchanted so as to survive. After all itwas not so different from journeying underwa-ter, an exploration which many elvish villageshad already attempted with the aid of magic.By 17,500 BC elves had reached Vassago.

In the village of Atathuei, not too distant fromthe current location of Correllan, a villageshaman Maya Athran posited that through

Elves are so few in number and soscattered and leaderless that they are nolonger a power in the new order of things.


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the eldritch craft called Geomancy the inhos-pitable moon, Vassago, could be transformedinto a verdant life-tolerating place like ElysiaPrime. A second journey was arranged to Vas-sago. Her plan would take thousands of yearsto reach fruition. Encased in a life-preservingbubble she wove her spell across Vassago, cau-sing the core of the moon to bubble and boil issuing forth volcanic eruptions and aidingthe first seedlings of life to take hold. By 17,000BC it became evident that Maya would be suc-cessful. Te terraforming was underway and

eventually, some day in the far future, Vassagowould hold life.

Spurred by this success other Elvish Shamans,with encouragers among the elvish communi-ties, made trips across the stars to further andfurther reaches of outer space. Wherever theytraveled they found harsh inhospitable worlds,unwelcoming to life. So the ancient elves, forno reason other than a passion for the naturalworld, delicately played with the functioningof physics and chemistry around these worlds

and worked their powerful magic into the coreof those planets. Tey modeled the worlds af-ter Elysia Prime, with 26 hour days, with com-fortable elf-friendly gravity and later as theworlds began to show true signs of developinglife with flora and fauna brought with them fortheir very own world.

However, even with the aid of magic, terrafor-ming is a tedious process. None of the originalshamans who began that slow process wouldever live to see the finished works. But the great

grand-children and great-great-grandchildrenwere able to witness their success. First withthe full terraforming of Vassago stared by theShaman Maya herself. It was over 3 thousandyears later, but the success pleased the elves.Te wild nature of their homeland had bridgedthe gulf between worlds and they were happy.he descendants of the shamans who wovethe original terraforming geomantic spellswould travel t o these new worlds settle themin honour of their forefather. hese migra-tions into outer space took place between

Elven Architectural Influences

can still be found everywherein the Elysium Nebula.


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24 Elysium Nebula

1550 and 1650 of the old human Gregorian

calendar. Humans were still four hundredyears away from putti ng the first man intospace. In the year 2186 of the old humanGregorian calendar Elves discover that onVohumunah a species of liza rdfolk havedeveloped rudimentary dialogue of clicksand whistles. It was their belief that theselizard creatures had a chance at advancedthought and sentience and so the elves usedtheir magic to accelerate the evolution ofthese primitive creatures providing the cre-atures with a full vocal range and enhancingtheir brain power. he elves, as was typical

at the time, have no moral issues with this.It is only a time-passing experimentationto them. Many feel it is a just endeavor asall species would want a chance at true in-telligence. hese lizardkin would in timebecome truly sentient thanks to the elvisheffort.

Te major turning point for the elvish racewas when an alien race called the Illithidsattacked the entirety of the Elysian System.Te elves had never developed any means of

defending themselves and were completely

ill-equipped to fight with a superior combatready force. Many billions of elves were wi-ped out across the Elysian system. Eventuallythe elves were able to thwart the Illithids butat a terrible price. In order to fight them offan entire sect of elves representing a goodforty percent of the remaining populationbegan to summon furious beings of raw el-dritch energy. Physical manifestations ofanger, rage and vengeance. Magical agentsof destructions. Tese were the first demonsever to be summoned in the Elysium Nebula,and the cult of demonologists who save el-

vendom would eventually become the sub-servient minions of the demons they sum-moned such was the power they bestowedupon them. Tose elves, known as the Drow,abandoned the remaining Elves and took tothe outer ranges of Elysium to live in the darkexpanses of planetoids that can be found inthe systems Oort cloud.

When the humans arrived in the ElysiumNebula the elves did their best to welcomethem, though after the attack from the Illi-

For Centuries the Giant psycho-magic-technological Terraforming Machineshave been working on nearly every

planetary object in the elysium nebula.


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Elysium Nebula 25


thids they had grown more weary of outsi-ders. When the Illithids attacked the secondtime it was only thanks to the military pro-wess of the humans that the elves survived,however over the course of the war as stra-tegic locations swapped hands between hu-

man and illithid forces humanity seized con-trol of ever major world within the ElysiumNebula. After the war Elves requested theirplanets back and demanded they be self-go-verned but the humans insisted they werethat elvish government had proved too frailin the past. Elves are permitted to becomecitizens of the URE and the ICHA but are notallowed to take high positions of power. Ineffect the elves have become second-classcitizens in their own worlds. his is a tryingtime for the elves once the dominant race

in Elysium and now fled to either the Durukiworlds are accepting their position amongthe humans. hey still possess the greatesttechnology and magic of Elysium, but theyare so few in number and so scattered andleaderless that they are no longer a power inthe new order of things.

ELVEN RACIAL TRAITS

Ability Score Modifiers:+2 Dexterity, 2 Constitution.

Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have nospecial bonuses or penalties due to their size.Speed: Elf base land speed is 30 feet.Immunities: Immunity to magic sleep effects,and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against en-chantment spells or effects.Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as faras a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight,and similar conditions of poor illumination.She retains the ability to distinguish color anddetail under these conditions.Arcane Skills: Elves automatically gain theArcane Skills feat as described in Urban Ar-

cana. (Te character gains the following classskills, as described under the Mage advancedclass: Concentration, Craft (chemical), andSpellcraft. Further, the character gains UseMagic Device as a class skill, as described un-der the Occultist advanced class.)An elvish Psion can choose to swap this for Ur-ban Arcanas Psionic Skills as well.Magecraft: Elves are naturally gifted in magicand arcana obscurum. Elvish spellcaster havea +1 bonus on Difficulty Class to resist for allspells they cast. In addition all Elves can mani-

fest 1 Level 0 spell per day from any spellcasterlist. Tis is in addition to any other spells thecharacter may be able to cast. Tese modifiersapply to elvish psions as well.Racial Skills: +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search,and Spot checks. An elf who merely passes

within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door isentitled to a Search check to notice it as if shewere actively looking for it.

RACIAL TALENTS

Tese talents can be taken by elvish characterswho are able to select a class talent. Elves treatthe elven talents as class talents irrespectiveof the basic class they are progressing in. Teycan select elven talents even if they are mul-ti-classing and receive talents from multiple

basic classes.

Arcane PowerPrerequisites: Divine Heritage,Magical Heritage or Wild alent.Benefit: In addition to choosing 3 0-level ori-sons or cantrips or single 0-level psionicpower the elven caster/manifester can alsoselect a single Level 1 spell or power to castonce per day. Like the level-0 spells/powersthis level 1 spell is in addition to other castingand does not count towards spells per day nor

does it cost power points.

Improved Arcane PowerPrerequisites: Arcane PowerBenefit: Te elven caster or manifester can casthis chosen level 1 spell or power (from the Arca-ne Power talent) an additional 2 times per day.

Advanced Arcane PowerPrerequisites:Improved Arcane Power, Arcane PowerBenefit: Te elven caster/manifester may treathis casting/manifesting attribute as a 2 points

higher to determine bonus spells/pp and saveDCs. Tis talent stacks with Spell Focus (andrelated feats.)

BluntPrerequisites: First levelBenefit: An elvish Blunt is one that cannotmanifest any eldritch powers. Such an elf doesnot gain the benefits of Magecraft or of ArcaneSkills. However Blunts are hardier than mostelves. An Elvish who takes the Blunt talent atfirst level does not take the standard -2 Consti-


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Elves (Drow)

HISTORY OF THE DROW

Around the time when human forebe ars

swung from trees, the native people of theElysium Nebula developed spacecraft andbegan their first forays into space. his racecalled the Elves, had evolved from a speciesof silky furred monkey-cats called Krell.Elves are superficially similar to humans

but psychologically quite different. Fora start elves are magical beings. hey,like many of the native creatures ofthe Elysium system (blink dogs, dis-

placer beasts and others) are born withan innate talent for sorcery.

What a human can only achieve withpsychotropic drugs an elf is born with.heir science reflects this natural talentand their armour and weapons reflectsthe effective fusion theyve developed

between science and magic. heir grenadesunleash psychic blasts that can have a va-riety of magical effects, their pistols are en-chanted to strike true and their spaceshipsare commanded by a direct psychic link tothe pilot. heir technology far supersedes

human technology and they are generallyfaster and more alert.

So why then is it that the worlds terraformedwhile men and women on Eart h had onlyjust developed irrigation systems are now

in the hands of humans and not the elves?Like the humans of the Elysium Nebula,

the elves too have had a civil war inthe past, but unlike the humans theelves have not yet since recovered.

hey have never rebuilt what they oncehad and they now live perilously close to

extinction, besieged on all sides by anci-ent enemies.

he elvish civil war, also called the Warof the Spider, occurred not long after theinsidious race known as the illithids atta-cked the elvish home worlds. he illithidsbrought with them war, and the elves (beinga naturally peaceful species) were ill-equip-ped to handle the illithids and their ensla-ved u nderl ings. he illi thids were beaten bythe elves and their dread ships turned back

to the void - but the scar that the combat leftwould not heal . he elves, in their despera-tion, relied on black magic to win. Certain

elves had attempted to create beings madeof pure magic-stuff. hey called these sum-moned creatures demons, and these elvescalled themselves the Drow.

he Drow who had fought in these warscontinued to perfect their demons in casethe enemy ever came back. he cult of thedemonologists began to rise to power andmany other elves grew nervous. Were theybreeding creatures to protect the elven raceor for darker reasons? Surely there were too

many demons? he demonologists bandedtogether at this time and summoned a mas-ter demon, the ultimate weapon they saidwould save elvenkind from all other threats.hey called her Lolth and she was summo-ned in the form of a giant spider.

Lolth, born of the potent magic of the elderrace was implicitly cunning, and bred forwar she was also disappoint ed w ith the sta-te of peace in Elysium. Slowly but assured-ly she began to use her awesome power to

steer the demonologists towards civil war.

he demonologists began to trust her un-questioningly, bound by the supreme willof their own creation, and they believed shecould help them to ascend to greater levelsof existence. he civil war was abrupt andunsatisfactory for the demons. he elvescould not conceive of any way to fight backagainst the Drow. And yet, overnight, theDrow disappeared from the elvish worlds much to the surprise of the beleagueredElven defenders.

THE DROW TODAY

It became apparent to Lolth that if shepursued this path the elvish race would beannihilated and with it the demons wouldfade from existence, for they are created bythe elves and bound to their life force. hemore elves were slain the more the demonsgrew weak. Protecting the original elves wasvital for if elven and drow numbers grewto few the demons would suffer. She com-


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Elysium Nebula 27


manded the Drow to leave the elven worldsand set up camp in the distant planetoids ofthe Oort cloud. here Lolth schemed andschemed, commandeering Drow engineersto design ever more potent weapons of war.She fractured the demon hordes into rival

War Legio ns each one consi sting of over athousand drow. hese demon Legions wagea tireless war on each other according to acomplex set of rules set forth by Lolth.

he rules ensure that no legion becomes toosmall a legion made small is subsumed bya larger one, the losers becoming slaves ofthe winners. It also ensures that the demonsthat lose become consumed by the winningdemons, ensuring the successful demonsare ever more powerful and dangerous. With

super-advanced technology and magic, andpowerful demons leading the troops it isquite possible the drow could threaten thehuman and Duruki empires combined.

But Lolth does not seek just wanton des-truction. Her plans are much more subtlefor now. he demons are seeking an ancientpower which would release them from theirlink to the elves but what that would entailis not known.

he drow themselves have skin that variesin range from purple to jet black. he Drowlive in perpetual darkness on planetoidstoo far from the suns to receive any light, sobeing the colour of night is a useful trait tosurvive. Likewise all Drow have finely tuneddarkvision. hese are alterations that havebeen self-inflicted by magical means andare know a species treats.

DROW RACIAL TRAITS

Ability Score Modif iers :

+2 Dexterity, 2 Constitution.Medium: As Medium creatures,drow have no special bonuses orpenalties due to their size.Speed: Drow base land speed is 30 feet.Immunities: Immunity to sleep spells andsimilar magical effects, and a +2 racial bo-nus on saving throws against enchantmentspells or effects.Darkvision:Drow can see in the dark up to 60 feet.Darkvision is black and white only, but it is

otherwise like normal sight, and drow canfunction just fine with no light at all.Light Sensitivity: Abrupt exposure to brightlight (such as sunlight or a daylight spell)blinds a drow for 1 round. In addition, drowtake a 1 circumstance penalty on all attackrolls, saves, and checks while operating inbright light.Racial Skills: +2 racial bonus on Listen,Search, and Spot chec ks. A drow who merelypasses within 5 feet of a secret or concealeddoor is entitled to a Search check to notice it

as if she were actively looking for it.Spell Resistance (Ex): A drow gains Spell Re-sistance equal to 5 + half her character level(rounding down).Elven Subtype: For all effects related to race,a drow is considered an elf.

RACIAL TALENTS

hese talents can be taken by drow cha-racters who are able to select a class talent.Drow treat the drow talents as class ta-

The daemonologists banded together

and summoned a master daemon, theultimate weapon they said wouldsave elvenkind from all other externalthreats. They called her Lolth and shewas summoned in the form of a giantspiderous monster.


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lents irrespective of the basic class they areprogressing in. hey can select drow talentseven if they are multi-classing and receivetalents from multiple basic classes. he sta-tistics of the demons below can be found inthe Elysium Nebula Menace Manual.

DaemonologyPrerequisites: NoneBenefit: his ability summons an extrapla-nar demon (usually an Outsider of the Evilsubtype). It costs an action point to activate.he demon is summoned as a move-equiva-lent action. It appears where the drow desi-gnates and acts immediately, on the drowsturn. It attacks the drows opponents to thebest of its ability.

If the summon demon can communicatewith the drow, it can be directed not to at-tack, to attack particular enemies, or to per-form other actions. A drow cannot summontwo demons at the same time. he summo-ned demon lasts for 1 round per 2 levels.Spending an additional Action Point can in-crease the duration. he talent conjures oneof the following demons: Blood Raven Plague Rat Venom Spider

Improved DaemonologyPrerequisites: DaemonologyBenefit: his ability is an extension of thedaemonology power and allows the Drow tosummon more kinds of demons and morepowerful demons. In addition to the threedemons above the Drow can also summonone of the following demons: Demonic Scorpion Fiendish Viper Warg

Advanced Daemonol ogyPrerequisites: Daemonology,Improved DaemonologyBenefit: his ability is an extension of thedaemonology power and allows the Drow tosummon more kinds of demons and morepowerful demons. In addition to the threedemons above the Drow can also summonone of the following demons: Carrion Bat Dretch (demon) Hell Hound n


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HALF ELVES

Half elves are the natural result of a union

between an elf and a human. Such unionsare not that common place, not least of allbecause there arent that many elves leftafter the near genocide that occurred at thehands of Illithids, but also because Elves, as awhole, prefer to stick to their own kind. hatsaid, Half-Elves are easily the most commonkind of half-breed in the Elysium Nebula.Most of these are able to pass as human bymerely concealing the pointed tips of theirears. Some of them are quite proud of theirelven heritage.

Half-elves, like elves, do not need to take theaddictive Aesir drug in order to use arcana.Not surprisingly therefore, in the UnitedRepublic, many half-elves are recruited bythe government or the military for arcanepurposes. Some of the half-elves who havebeen taught magic from their elvish parenteven find jobs teaching magic in prestigiousschools.

Half-elves are the least prejudiced against,

of all the half-breeds (they are the only onesthat get a full-vote, like a human does, inUrean elections) and have the easiest timefinding a niche where they will be accepted.

ELVISH MTIS

Elves are also able to bear Duruki children.hese dwarf-elves or simply Mtis (the Du-ruki word for them) are much rarer thanhalf-elves and have a much harder timebeing accepted. hey are nearly the heightof a man but have much of the bulk of a Du-

ruki. hey have pointed ears and slant eyesas well. Characters playing Mtis should beaware that neither Elvish nor Duruki parentsare likely to accept them very much. he Du-ruki (though helpful and friendly to tradersand refugees) are likely to be very formaland cold in the manner one is when dea-ling with an outsider. he Duruki have a lotof respect for all races, but tend not to showfamilial bonding unless in the presence ofanother Duruki. his different