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The Silver Reach

Fact Value
Display The Silver Reach

A ribbon of frontier stars beyond the last patrol line. Freight moves by lantern-light convoys, and the dark between systems belongs to whoever claims it.

Sides

The Lantern Combine

Fact Value
Color #ffcc44
Character trader
Disposition neutral
Home -4, 2
Offers escort, bounty
Flies Arvonian
Jump charge Lantern spool-up
Values honest 40, generous 30, peaceful 20

Convoy families who keep the freight lanes lit. Fair dealers with long memories for a kept promise - and longer ones for a broken cargo contract.

The Red Veil

Fact Value
Color #cc2244
Character pirate
Disposition foe
Home 5, -4
Offers smuggle, bounty
Flies Torgoth
Jump charge Veil snatch
Values violent 40, fearsome 30, selfish 20

Corsairs of the outer dark. They take what the light forgets, and they respect exactly one thing: a captain more dangerous than they are.

Jobs

Convoy Escort

Fact Value
Done when dock station
Reward 260 credits
Tier 1

A lantern convoy needs a shepherd through the dark miles. See it safe to port and the Combine settles up.

Veil Bounty

Fact Value
Done when destroy 3 enemies
Reward 300 credits
Tier 1

The Veil has been working the lanes again. There is a standing price on their hulls - three will do for a start.

Quiet Cargo

Fact Value
Done when recover 2 contraband
Reward 480 credits
Tier 2

Sealed crates, no manifest, no questions. Bring them in quietly and be paid the same way.

Narrative

The Dimming: A Cold Lane

Fact Value
At start active
Done when reach -4, 2
Then reveal The Dimming: Ash on the Manifest
Scope shared

Three Combine convoys have gone dark in a month, and the Combine is quietly asking for outside help. Their harbormaster waits at the home lanterns at (-4, 2).

The Dimming: Ash on the Manifest

Fact Value
At start secret
Done when scan 2 derelicts
Then reveal The Dimming: The Long Answer
Scope shared
Reward 200 credits

The lost convoys did not vanish - something left the wrecks adrift off the lanes. Find them and read what is left in the hulls.

The Dimming: The Long Answer

Fact Value
At start secret
Done when destroy 5 veil
Scope shared
Reward 600 credits
Standing lantern honest 15, lantern generous 10

The manifests all point one way: the Red Veil is bleeding the lanes dry. The Combine will not say the word "war" - but they will pay well for captains who end this quietly.

Goals

Break the Veil

Fact Value
At start active
Done when destroy 15 veil
Scope shared
Win true
Citation The Red Veil is broken and the lanterns burn the length of the Reach. The convoy families will tell this captain's story for a generation.

End the Veil's grip on the Reach for good - fifteen of their hulls, however long it takes - and win the lanes their peace.

Effects

Lantern spool-up

Fact Value
Look charge
Size 0.6 -> 2.0
Count 10 -> 80
Speed 0.5 -> 3.0
On hull
Grows over 3.5 seconds
Color #ffcc44, white

Convoy drives take their time and make no secret of it - lantern-gold light running the plating until the whole hull is lit, then gone.

Veil snatch

Fact Value
Look charge
Size 12 -> 2
Count 20 -> 120
On hull
Offset 0, 0, 400 -> 0, 0, 0
Grows over 3 seconds
Color #cc2244, white

Corsair drives bite before they let go. A red bloom stands off the hull and closes onto it, and the ship is simply not there any more.

Regions

The Veilfall

Fact Value
Center 5, -4
Radius 3
Color #cc2244
Skybox sky-neb2-rvb
Music Artemis2
Enemy mix 40%
Station mix 5%
Mine chance 75%

Veil country. Red skies, salted lanes, and no honest ports for miles.

The Lantern Lanes

Fact Value
Center -4, 2
Radius 3
Color #ffcc44
Skybox sky-delight
Enemy mix 0%
Station mix 30%

The Combine's home lanes - calm, bright, and busy. The safest miles in the Reach.

Landmarks

The Pale Ark

Fact Value
Kind derelict
At 1, -2

A colony ship a century adrift, lanterns long cold. Every spacer in the Reach has a story about what still walks her corridors.

Lighthouse Station

Fact Value
Kind station
Side lantern
Art starbase_science
At -4, 2

The Combine's great beacon at the heart of the home lanes - half port, half promise.

Captains

Mara Dusk

Fact Value
Title the Lanternless
Side The Red Veil
Flies Torgoth
Roams 5, -4
Values fearsome 40, violent 30, resourceful 20
Rival when standing \< -20

The Veil's sharpest knife, said to have cut her own name out of the Combine's convoy rolls. She keeps accounts, and she always collects.

Lifeforms

Harbormaster Quill

Fact Value
Face terran
Roles lantern
Color #ffcc44
Scene Quill Hail

The Combine's unflappable harbormaster - the voice that has talked a thousand freighters through the dark, and does not intend to lose yours.

Brother Calen

Fact Value
Face male
Roles civilian
Color #6cf
Scene Calen Hail
Pickup -4, 2
Deliver to 5, -4
Reward 500 credits

A quiet pilgrim paying convoy rates for passage into Veil country, of all places. He does not say why, and he pays in advance.

Dialogue

Veil Hail

Fact Value
Speaker The Red Veil
When comms

One of:

  • Well now. Fresh freight, flying no colors we fear.
  • You are a long way from the lanterns, captain.
  • Back away slowly -> Parting
  • Warn them off -> Standoff (if fearsome > 20)
  • Offer a toll -> The Toll (if credits >= 200)

The Toll

Fact Value
Speaker The Red Veil

Smart. The Reach teaches quick or it buries slow. Leave the crates.

  • Pay it -> Parting (costs 200 credits) (earns veil selfish 5)

Standoff

Fact Value
Speaker The Red Veil

Big words for a convoy dog. Say them again with your guns lit.

  • Hold your course -> Parting (earns veil fearsome 10)
  • Stand down -> Parting (earns veil cowardly 5)

Parting

Fact Value
Speaker The Red Veil

Fly on, then. The dark is patient.

Mara Dusk

Fact Value
Speaker Mara Dusk
When comms

One of:

  • (if standing \< -20) You. The Reach is not wide enough for what you owe me.
  • (if standing >= 30) The Lanternless remembers her friends, captain. Speak.
  • Mara Dusk. You have heard the name. Choose your next words with care.

Mara Parting

Fact Value
Speaker Mara Dusk

We will meet again, captain. The dark keeps all appointments.

Quill Hail

Fact Value
Speaker Harbormaster Quill
When comms

One of:

  • Lighthouse control to wandering freight - state your heading, captain.
  • Quill here. The lanes are listening, so make it brief and make it honest.

Quill on Work

Fact Value
Speaker Harbormaster Quill

One of:

  • The Combine posts work at every lantern port. Fly honest and it pays.
  • Convoys need shepherds and the Veil needs thinning. Take your pick.

Quill Out

Fact Value
Speaker Harbormaster Quill

Lighthouse out. Keep your running lights on, captain.

Calen Hail

Fact Value
Speaker Brother Calen
When comms

One of:

  • Thank you for the berth, captain. I am no trouble; I keep to my prayers.
  • The Veilfall, yes. Everyone asks. Some debts are paid where they were made.

Calen's Reason

Fact Value
Speaker Brother Calen

A grave, captain. I go to tend a grave. The rest is between me and the dark.

Calen Settles

Fact Value
Speaker Brother Calen

Peace to your bridge, captain. I will be no bother.