[Note: The author admits that thie supplement is not complete, but would
like suggestions.  If this sparks your interest, send him email.  -B.J.]

                             ALIEN: The Invasion

By Henrik Andren (henrika@ludd.luth.se)


Chapter One: Introduction

The log of SS Callisto

     "Captain, we are entering stellar system 22Xb-QPZ22", the young ensign
said to captain Jokkut.
     "Thank you ensign," he replied, mostly by standard reaction. He was
seated besides his console, over viewing his crew. Twelve men on the
bridge, but an uncountable number of engineers, gunners, scientists,
entertainers, cryo field operators and even priests were under his
command. But for the priests he couldn't know; 'the Cult' always seemed
to have some kind of second thoughts by their actions. Well, he leaned
back in his armchair and again fell back to his drowsy slumber. He
never slept, his personal force instructors had since long taught him
how to rest in hyperzone and therefore was always awake, even thought
he could still sink back in deep thoughts momentarily. Soon their
mission would be ended, and they could return to the fleetbase of
Cygnius #5.
     "I sense you want something.", said the young Mrrshan by his side.
     How tired he was of the priest telling him his thought. But he blamed
it on the fact that he was quite young and wasn't quite familiar with
starship etiquette.
     "Yes, I want to come home, to see my family again.", he answered,
"Don't you?"
     "No, my mission is my life.", the priest answered back.
     The captain sighed to himself and continued his train of thoughts,
ignoring the probing mind of the young scholar. Suddenly the intercom
sprang to life.
     "This is engineering section HD-0 02; we might have a slight problem
here," a metallic voice came from the speaker.
     The captain sprang to attention and snapped the interlink. He could see
how the priest strained his ears to hear the conversation.
     "Explain.", he said shortly, ignoring the spying youngster.
     "It seems like the hyperspace aggregates are unstable via the
quadruploid interface and the hyper signature detector/calibrator,
and..."
     The captain interrupted him. Meklars, he thought, always technical
details. "And the point is?" he asked.
     "Something is entering the engines and loading them with some kind of
unknown particles." was the reply, and the captain could hear how
worried his engineer was.
     "Communications, send out emergency call 2B." he shouted to the
Jugginto by the communication panel. The whole bridge turned to him.
     "The hyperspace aggregates are overloading; we may have to abandon
ship," he explained. "Quick now, sensors, scan for non-hostile planets.
Communications, send a distress call, magnitude 4. Navigation, set
course for the planet. Security, calm the crewmen." He said the orders
in a quick but not stressing pace, meaning it was an emergency, but
everyone should keep calm.
     "Priest, call your mentor and say that I request his help." he said as
he turned to the priest beside him.
     "You can't request anything from a master of the Cult." he said
outraged. Before he stopped, the doors to the bridge opened, and in
stepped Cha'dracul'na, the high master of the Cult present on the ship.
     "He did right by requesting my assistance. Some of us have already
foreseen this event, and I am most willing to help." He hissed to the
young Mrrshan, "Step aside."
     He floated into the room, seated in a levitating chair and gently slid
in position by the captain. He was a Cygnan as the captain, but they
had had their differences for a long time.
     Suddenly the intercom bleeped again. The captain talked for a moment,
then he said.
     "It seems that there is an emergency, I want everyone here to volunteer
to sacrifice themselves." One of the scanner operators stepped up and
walked away.
     "Excellent, we will be remembered."
     The young Mrrshan looked worried, but stayed seated.
     "You may go if you wish." the Grand master said. "Or do you think I am
not capable of helping the captain on my own."
     "Of course not." he answered and quickly walked after the others.
     "Communications, call abandon ship. Man the escape pods. Engineering,
do you read me." the captain continued.
     "Loud and clear captain." the Meklar, loyal to his post, answered.
     "How many of your crew stayed?" the captain asked.
     "197 out of 230." he said "But 44 more have signed on."
     "Excellent, try to hold of the explosion as long as you can."
     "We may be able to buy us 199,724552 cassions captain."
     "Do your best." the captain said.
     "I always do that." was the bitter remark, but the captain knew that.
     "Captain, our signal is blocked by hyperspace fields." the communicator
said.
     "What! Send a radio message." the captain said, "And get me in touch
with Lechroon."
     "At once, sir."
     "Give him the following message: You are now in charge of the colony on
this planet, your orders are: Try to survive; make no contact with
inhabitants, try to contact us."
     "Message sent."
     "Excellent. How is the evacuation going?" he asked his security
officer.
     "Out of 180, 0 capsules launched." was the reply.
     "Too few." the captain muttered "Many will die today."
     He leaned back and watched the evacuation on the monitor. Then he
leaned over to the grand master of force and asked.
     "Why did you stay, it is nothing you can do."
     The grand master smiled wryly.
     "I have kept everyone calm, and those bones of mine would not survive
down there." was his hissing reply.
     "Well, let us settle our differences here and now then." the captain
said. "We may have had our struggles, but we have also beaten the
Hivemind lots of times."
     "We have our memories, youngster." the 30 0 years old man answered.
     And then the Cassiopeian spaceship 'Callisto' exploded in a ball of
flame; only a few survivors ever managed to land on earth.
     This is a document from the automatic log that was sent out of the ship
until the bitter end. One of the most well known media for the earthen
Cassiopeians.


Chapter Two: Setting

Hyperspace

     Cygnan scientists made a gigantic leap forward in space exploration by
the time they discovered hyperspace. It is a space parallel to ours,
but with fewer dimensions. The biggest breakthrough was when the
scientists learned that time didn't exist there. That meant that any
ship travelling in hyperspace would go anywhere in no time at all in
realspace. Soon hyperspace aggregates could be completely moved into
hyperspace, and there travel to the desired point in no time at all,
and there they will turn off the aggregates and appear in realspace.
But hyperspace travel is not without its difficulties. Ships have
disappeared when entering, never to appear again, or in a completely
different location, sometimes as debris. Other strange things have also
happened in hyperspace, which is far from completely mapped.

Hyperspace communication

     It is also possible to communicate faster than light by moving
particles into hyperspace, and let them move faster than light to the
desired point. Therefore having instantaneously communication over huge
distances in space. But such communicators are huge and power
consuming, usually not even applied to smaller spaceship.

The earth's hyperspace field

     The earth's magnetic field bends hyperspace particles emitted from the
sun around it, efficiently jamming all hyperspace communication.
Hyperspace aggregates will also be attacked by the particles and so far
they have all exploded, stopping all kind of hyperspace travel close to
earth. It is earth's placing in the stellar system, it's configuration
of it's magnetic field and the particles from the sun that makes this
hyperspace cloak possible. None of the other races have ever considered
that such a thing existed.

The Cassiopeians

     The Cygnan's breakthrough in space travel gave them a headstart in
space colonisation. They already had some colonies when they came upon
the other races. As the Cygnans were a peaceful race they soon allied
with the Mrrshan, Meklar, Jugginto and Zanirion, to form the
Cassiopeian community. They usually call themselves Kithrian, which
means 'Community'.

The Cult

     As science was more and more widespread, religions was pushed back. To
prevent the loss their followers they had to do something. The answer
was the Cult, a bureaucracy of religions working as one force. This
only slowed down the downfall. As religion became less needed, the Cult
soon controlled, directly or indirectly, all religious groups within
it. Then the turning point came. The Cult still had great funds, and
they soon started to study the Force in which they grew in strength and
knowledge. By the time the Cygnans went out in space, the Cult had
grown strong. It still had the power over all religion. It was the Cult
that tried the most to make the Cassiopeian unity work, and much of the
peace and prosperity of the agreement is the doing of the Cult.

The Silencers

The Azingari

The Hivemind

     The Hivemind was another race who discovered hyperspace travel so there
was only a matter of time before they would meet the Cassiopeians. The
first meeting did not end in quite as peaceful way as the Cygnans would
have wished. The Cassiopeian diplomats were nearly completely killed;
only some of the high guard and some other diplomats could escape.
Since then the Cassiopeian community has been at war with the Hivemind,
as they call it.
     The Hivemind is a species consisting of sentient insects, named
Seltorians. Their nickname comes from their ability to link their minds
together, to form hyper intelligent communities. Each Seltorian is
stupid. But higher ranked Seltorians can connect their _?_ and become
more intelligent. This means that the more Seltorians there are, the
more intelligent they will act. A Seltorian completely cut off from its
comrades would only rummage around, or go into a berzerker frenzy, they
have even been reported to die of loneliness. High commanders know what
their soldiers think, and can therefore use group tactics efficiently.
The link seems to weaken with length from source to linker, and with
the age of the linker. Their community is also split up in different
species, all tailor made for their work. Everyone is completely loyal
to their superiors, and would work until they dropped if commanded to
do so, which is not unusual. The greatest ones are the leaders; it is
they who focus and link all the thoughts from their loyals. They have
developed grotesque heads to literally hold their and others thoughts.
To be able to interact with human society, they have also developed
humanoid insectoids. They appear human, but usually act with little
regard of other things than the Hivemind, but as their leaders are very
intelligent, they know how to melt in with human society. The neighbour
next door, who usually walks around in the garden with a wide hat on
him, working for the community, could be a Hivemind spy.

Forces

     Somewhere in the development of hyperspace theory a Cygnan scientist
learned that the mind also worked in hyperspace, and affected it
somewhat like gravity did to realspace. With extensive research,
sponsored by the Cult, the religious caste of the Cygnan, soon his team
achieved great success. Then the Cult stepped in and took over the
whole research. Nobody protested because other scientists considered
the forces as research, only consuming powers. But the Cult was proven
correct, and soon they could start training their scholars in the use
of force. Many different schools and techniques have been developed.

Technology

     Of course the Cassiopeians technology is widely above our. But much has
been forgotten in the years that they have dwelled among us. The
science labs that existed on the ships and in bases are not present on
earth, tools and elements are not so easy to get hold of. This meant
that one of the quests of the Cassiopeians is to build, maintain and
find technology and labs.

The Disappearance

Bases


Chapter Three: Traits

Cygnan (Sig -nan)

     The Cygnan evolved on a water based planet. They have a humanoid body,
fully capable of living under water. They are the most numerous in the
Cassiopeian unity. They are a peaceful people, wishing to explore the
galaxy and unite all. Their homeworld has not seen many wars, but the
threat from the Hivemind has forced them to act forcefully. It was
their few wars that gave them the opportunity to invent and construct
hyperdrives.
     On earth the Cygnans have some underwater research stations where they
are not yet in any danger of discovery. They had one in the Bermuda
triangle, but as the shipping through the area increased they first
tried to scare them away with defence systems, but as the humans got
interested in the disappearances they had to move. The Cygnans are
talkative and interested in humans, which they have kidnapped on
occasions and examined, usually clearing their memories after and
sending them back. The silencers don't like this but the Cygnans are
allowed to continued as they need more information about us to be able
to hide among us. The Cygnan "kidnappers" co-operates with The
Silencers.
     Appearance: The Cygnans are not strongly built, as their homeworld has
low gravity, but are instead very agile. They have thick grey skin,
especially adapted to water and cold, because the ocean bottom always
is around four degrees Celsius. A complicated array of decompression
bladders allow them to rise and dive deep without sustaining
decompression injuries or diving illness. They also have a number of
gills on their chest, allowing them to breathe both water and air. The
gills have also been mutated to not take up dangerous substances and
give them an ability to constantly breathe in.
     Mutation: The Cygnan's gills and anatomy allow them to dive freely in
water; they can even swim at great speeds, far beyond any humans. They
also have good eyesight because of their large black eyes, and good
hearing, giving them a -2 difficulty on perception rolls. This however
is a drawback in loud or light areas, as they can get a difficulty of
up to +4 on perception rolls.
     Camouflage: The Cygnans take use of their medical skills, and research
on humans, to create living tissues. They resemble human skin and
anatomy and the Cygnans dress in them. This gives them a adequate
camouflage among humans. But they tend to dry up and die, having to be
replaced. This process is also more rapid if the Cygnan can't give them
their need in _?_. Wounds also tend to damage the masks, and therefore
subtract one from humanness for every wound the Cygnan gets. But the
masks heal as much as the Cygnan.
     Humanness: 6, subtract one for every month and one for every damage the
character has.
     Technology: Medicine, 4 others. The Cygnans have had a long experience
with medicine and the Cygnan doctors are well known throughout the
galaxy.
     Force: Sense, 1 others. The Cygnans have for a long time known how to
use their eyes with the force to increase their sight and other senses.

Jugginto (Jog-into)

     The Jugginto is perhaps the strangest sentient race in the known
universe. They originally lived on a hothouse planet, and crawled down
in the caves and cracks under the crust. Down there their bodies used
the ability to modulate themselves to fit in the different
compartments. Under the earth they developed a great community by using
tools to widen their rocks. But they still like the randomness of
cliffs, which makes some of the Juggintos the best sculptors in known
universe.
     Appearance: The Jugginto are plastic creatures, capable of changing
their bodies in different shapes. This is used on their homeworld to
flow in between rocks and out the other way, and the ability to
manipulate things.
     Mutation: The Jugginto main ability is their skill copying the
appearances of other things. They can for example take the shape and
colour of a chest, cupboard or even human. This requires an Appearance
+ Performance roll, the number of successes deciding humanness, and
difficulty varies by the difficulty of the object. For example a safe
or other fixed furniture is around 4, a couch_?_ is around 2 and such a
complex thing as an animal or human around 8. No moving parts, like the
inertia in a clock or gun can't be copied. But of course the pendulums
movements can be copied. This transformation takes around a quarter of
an hour to metamorph fully, to do it faster means that the task becomes
more difficult.
     Camouflage: The Jugginto camouflages themselves by copying humans. They
have a special human which have been trained to look like, and this
form they can always take in a matter of minutes. But as the special
form is exhausting to hold this shape for long, therefore they lose one
point of humanness every hour, if they do not spend one willpower point
that hour. They may regain their shape after resting for half the time
they were human.
     Humanness: 4, subtract one for every hour; this process can be halted
for one hour by spending one willpower. They may regain the shape after
half the time they were in the shape.
     Technology: Materials, 2 others. The Juggintos have always been close
to the material around them and therefore are the best of the
Cassiopeians in this area.
     Force: Body, 3 others. The Juggintos control of their bodies are well
known, some of the best force users in body have studied under Jugginto
teachers. The fifth form of body mean that the Jugginto also can take
the form of gaseous substances, floating around in the air.

Meklar (Meck-lahr)

     The Meklar early discovered the use of machinery and by the meeting
with the Cygnans they have left their original living bodies and
instead use mechanical android bodies, with their brain implanted in
them. This is to be closer to the science that they love. Soon they
agreed on the community and were the first ones to join the Cygnans in
the Cassiopeian union. This was to acquire the advanced tech of the
Cygnans and soon they mastered it.
     Appearance: The Meklar's bodies are different for each Meklar, as they
usually engineer, construct and rebuild themselves. But usually they
are quite humanoid, with two to eight arms, usually equipped with
different tools and objects. When a Meklar dies his brain may be intact
and if he is put into a new body he will survive. But the shock this
gives him forces him to take their nature as demeanour and take another
nature. This to reflect the psychic change inclined by death.
     Mutation: The Meklar's greatest advantage is their mechanical bodies
which are usually fitted with huge amounts of cybernetics. This is why
they get an extra three dots in the cybernetic background from start.
The trouble is that they do not heal; instead they have to repair
themselves, more of this later.
     Camouflage: The Meklar camouflage themselves by creating humanoid
bodies, which with the right makeup look human. But their minds are
more difficult to camouflage, because they are usually pretty cold and
calculating. If they are damaged they also lose one humanness, which is
not given back if they are repaired. They have to remodel their
human-like body separately. Which is also described later.
     Humanness: 4, subtract one for every wound the character gets.
     Technology: Mechanics, 5 others. The Meklar have always mastered
mechanics, and also know the Cygnan tech by heart.
     Force: None. But Meklars can learn force.

Mrrshan (Meer-shun)

     The Mrrshans lived on the same planet as the Zanirion, which they
avoided because of their special abilities. When the Cygnan came and
talked about their mission of peace they had a hard time convincing the
Mrrshan, and contact was tense in the beginning. The Mrrshans had
already learned to avoid other sentient species. But soon the Cygnan
succeeded in convincing the Mrrshan about their actions, and the
Mrrshan planet was involved in the Cassiopeian union. The war against
the Hivemind was already at bay, and the Mrrshans knowledge of battle
was needed; soon the Cassiopeian union could count important victories
to their favour.
     The Mrrshans are a people whose history is much more forceful than any
other of the Cassiopeian union. Therefore they usually serve as guards
or soldiers. But they are also renown for their technical knowledge.
     Appearance: The Mrrshans are predators, and one of the best on their
planet. They have powerful jaws and long claws on feet and hands. They
also are equipped with two small extra arms, usually folded up by the
sides of their upper abdomen. Those are used to hold prey in close
combat. Their skin is light green to dark brown in colour, and they
have prominent boning around their head, neck, shoulders and chest
which grows bigger with age. They do not have any ears on the sides of
their heads, but instead have two tunnel looking slots on top of their
head, which goes down on each side of their necks. This gives them very
accurate hearing forward. Their sides are watched by their eyes, which
are located on the sides of their heads, and are able to watch both
forward and backwards.
     Mutation: The ability which is mostly connected to the Mrrshans is
their extremely quick reflexes. They have reaction times which is
greatly below human average, and therefore may subtract four form the
difficulty of every initiative rolls, naturally this can't get the
difficulty below two.
     Camouflage: The Mrrshans use special cloning apparatus and body
reformations to make their bodies humanoid. Therefore they get no
minuses when damaged, but they still look strange if they have a low
humanness. But their bodies tend to take back their original shape;
therefore they must treat themselves with hormones and other medicals
to stay in shape. But the humanness still deteriorates. Subtract one
humanness for every week without treatment, or one humanness for every
month if the character is treated. They have to visit a genetics lab
and take use of the special machinery in there. Rules for that can be
read later.
     Humanness: 6, minus one for every week without treatment, or one for
every month with.
     Technology: Genetical engineering, 3 others. The Mrrshans are well
respected for their knowledge with modulation bodies, in which field
they even are more capable than the technical geniuses the Meklar.
     Force: Body, 2 others. Some of the Mrrshans are masters in fight, and
therefore they have learned to take full use of their bodies to achieve
even greater speed and agility.

Zanirion (Sanirion)

     The Zanirion lived on the same planet as the Mrrshan, but they did not
interact well. The Mrrshans considered the Zanirion as parasites and
tried to kill them, forcing the Zanirion to withdraw to other parts of
the planet. The Mrrshans were not even aware that they were
intelligent. It took a lot of work from the Cygnan to end this
conflict, and though they still are not friendly with each other they
have learned to accept each other in the battle against the Hivemind.
     The Zanirion is perhaps the most integrated in human society, because
they have always known how to hide themselves among others. Therefore
they control many high officials and so on, giving the Cassiopeian
union the power they need to stay hidden.
     Appearance: The Zanirion mostly resemble trilobites. They have six
sturdy legs with strong climbing claws. The small body is perhaps the
size of a hand, half closed, and coloured in dark brown and red. The
head is perhaps the most interesting bodypart, as they have the ability
to drill into a victim, to take control of its movement and thoughts.
This is a painless process due to the special design of the head, and
it is hard to be aware of the Zanirion until it controls you.
     Mutation: The Zanirion have the ability to take control of people by
fastening on the base of their necks. There they probe for the brain
and take control of the victim. If a Zanirion controlled body is
killed, the Zanirion may survive, if the Zanirion itself wasn't
damaged. The Zanirions body has one in all physical attributes, but it
can still withstand seven injuries, due to its shelled body.
     Camouflage: The Zanirion takes possession of other creatures, and
interacts via them. When a Zanirion has successfully sneaked up on a
victim, it makes contact with the brain, and overpowers it with the
control force. Then the Zanirion fasten its body and lets it interact
with its victim's. The Zanirion body starts with a humanness six lower
that its original score, but this value then increases with one each
week to the Zanirion's original. This reflects how the Zanirion learns
more about its victim, and that his body is more covered by the victims
flesh.
     Humanness: 8, minus six in the beginning, but increases with one each
week it possesses it's victim.
     Technology: None, but they may learn. The Zenarions have never been
very much interested in technology, and therefore their knowledge is
sparse.
     Force: Control, 4 others. The Juggintos capability of control is
infamous throughout the Cassiopeian union, but they are great
manipulators of force in other fields as well.

Willpower

Humanness

     The humanness is a value of how well the alien has adapted to the human
world. This reflects both how human the alien's body looks, and how
human it thinks and acts. Higher levels of humanness means that the
alien can be passed on as a human much easier. You can for example not
be surgically operated without puzzling the surgeon if you have a
humanness below 8. For more information, see table below.
      X          Totally alien both in mind and body. Mutations are fully
                 visible
      *          A humanoid body, but nothing more; speaks no human
                 language. Mutations are fully visible
      **         Can only speak a few words, with an alien dialect. No face
                 or details. Mutations can only be seen at close range.
      ***        Recommended: trenchcoat, shades and a wide hat. Can speak
                 but with difficulty. Mutation can only be seen at close
                 inspection in good light.
      ****       Looks strange, behaves strange, strange dialect. Mutations
                 are not visible, unless closely examined by knowing
                 personnel.
      *****      Can manage a medical exam. Mutations are not visible
                 unless activated.
      ******     Could manage a psychological exam. Mutations are not
                 visible unless activated.
      *******    Can fool close friends. Mutations only visible activated.
      ********   Can have sexual relations with humans. Mutations have
                 halved efficiency.
      *********  Could manage a surgical examination. The mutations do not
                 work. Can be seen as microscopical regressions.
      ********** Completely human. The mutations are non-existent
     The trouble with humanity is that it becomes harder to use the species
mutation.


Chapter Four: Technology

     Technology is a rating for how much alien technology a character has.
Bigger amounts are stored in secret places, but as much as three points
can be carried on a person. This is usually stored in or around a lab
or secret hideout.

Architecture (Engineering)

     Architecture was a highly respected technology in the space, but on
earth it has little use. Still the architects are necessary for the
Disappearance, and the creation of bases. But no now living
Cassiopeians remember the glorious City of High Hopes on Cygnius.

     * Construction: This is the basic skill of architecture. To build
ordinary facilities, such as skytowers, and underground secret bases,
undetectable on radar or other deep scanning probes. With this skill
you can construct the huge underwater or underground facilities that
the Cassiopeians use to hide their secret labs in.
     ** Powerplant engineering: The complicated structure of a matter /
antimatter powerplant needs the most exact calculations. This is
necessary as the energy given is so high, so high even that the plant
easily could explode. To make it safe it requires a multitude of safety
regulators.
     *** Starship construction: The construction of starships is vital to
the surviving of a space exploring race but as the knowledge disappears
the council has been distressed. Without the knowledge of starship
building, they are truly abandoned, so they have tried to rediscover
and remember the old skills of starship construction. But new designs
are necessary to develop beyond the hyperfield.
     **** Beanstalk architecture: The knowledge of construction of orbital
facilities is nearly easier than spaceships, but to have an
uninterrupted communication between them and the planet is difficult.
This is when the beanstalk comes in. A gigantic beanstalk that
stretches from the base, down through the atmosphere and is connected
to the earth. The construction of such an object is of course of great
difficulty.
     ***** Terraforming technology: This is the advanced knowledge of
creating habitable planets from nearly habitable ones.. The process
takes thousands of years and has to be closely supervised by the
Terraforming engineer. But the knowledge is essential to the
colonisation of space.

Computers (Computers)

     The Cassiopeians use a system which resembles ours remarkably much, but
they have achieved higher transfer rates by using a quadrary system
instead of a binary. Superconductivity has also cut down on the power
requirements, and nanotechnology has meant that it was possible to
create very small IC-circuits, with high efficiency and low power
consumption.

     * Supercomputers: The alien super mainframes are what they call
outdated. Those are the machines who human engineers have wet dreams
about. They are superfast, have gigantic memories, and do not require
much energy to work. But they are mostly based on similar technologies
as the human computers, and can therefore be easily constructed by the
materials available on earth.
     ** Nanocomputers: A Nanocomputers is what is also called a machinery
computer. They are created by very small moving parts, and of course
also electric. They are microscopic, and are much more energy
conserving than the supercomputers. The drawback is that they do not
have long lifespans. Therefore they are usually built by many
replaceable parts, which makes them easier to maintain. Those computers
are used when space and energy is the limiting factors, as in small
tools or cybernetics.
     *** Cybercomputers: A step towards intelligent that proved easier was
to access the problem the other way. If they could not take the
computers to intelligence, then they had to bring intelligence to the
computers. By the use of medical research they soon succeeded in
linking a brain to a computer. This led to a lot of knowledge regarding
artificial intelligence, which could later be used to create true
computerised brains, and later intelligent software. The trouble with
cybercomputers is that the controlling brain has a tendency to get mad
after some twenty years, and also to age and die. Even though the brain
is properly treated by doctors and psychologists they do not grow older
than maybe 800 years.
     **** AI:s: Even though certain humans claim that artificial
intelligence will never be able to be achieved above the logical level,
the Cassiopeians can prove them incorrect. It is merely another
development in computers, not based on binary counting, but comparison.
Every logical and random event is compared, to use the best one. They
are also self-learning, which means they learn which solution is the
best, and if the AI get into another similar situation, it will used
learned facts to be able to act correctly. The most famous AI on earth
is the leader of the Meklar, MMPX-112.
     ***** Hyperlinked computers: The computer science also won on the
development of hyperspace. Because of the difference in time a
calculation in hyperspace always takes no time. Soon a mainframe was
built that could move its calculations into hyperspace, calculate them
there, and then retrieve them. The only trouble is that the
mathematical rules of hyperspace is different than ours, so the results
have to be remodelled after our space. This is the time consuming part
of the calculation. Another spin-off from this research is that you can
tap into different computer systems, and therefore access them even if
there is no external access. This can be used to create the biggest
parallel processor in the universe. Of course this is also used to hack
into computer terminals around the world. This has of course leads to
some disputes with the Virtual Adepts, as the Cassiopeians hacked into
their systems.

Elements (Science)

     This is the knowledge of the basic elements of nature. The alien
knowledge of those are far greater than ours; they have discovered that
there exists superheavy elements that have greater stability than we
have achieved. Elements without this stability can also be sustained in
specific fields, that stop the deteriorating reactions in the atoms
nuclei. This is also the science of anti-matter, elemental particles
and hyperspace particles.

     * Superconductors: The technology of superconductors that operate in
room temperature was discovered a long time ago by the Cassiopeian
scientists. They discovered that the crystal order was best built in
super high gravity environments, and so they soon took gravity
generators to use. Now the technology is widespread. Although
superconductive cables are difficult to produce, much could be obtained
from the gigantic factories spread though Cassiopeian space. On earth
it is a completely other matter.
     ** Anti-matter: To handle anti-matter is a difficult problem, as matter
and anti-matter transform into high energy gamma radiation when
exposured to each other. But the anti-matter can be kept in specific
containers. But this technology mostly means how to create and take use
of anti-matter and the energies that could be obtained by the use of
it.
     *** Superheavy elements: The superheavy elements are such famous atoms
as the Elerium-115, Argandium-127 and so on. Those elements are created
in specific accelerators, that construct the atoms. Many of the atoms
deteriorate quickly, but with some luck a small percentage survives and
proves stable. But the stability is of course limited.
     **** Superstoragers: This was an important breakthrough in the
development of hyperdrives. The enormous energy output needed to move a
ship into hyperspace was hard to achieve with the spaceship's reactors
alone. But by the development of superstoragers, a sort of battery
capacitor, made it possible to store huge amounts of energy, and then
let it out in a quicker rate. This is necessary to power the energy
consuming hyperspace aggregates. This meant that the ships could get
smaller, and faster. Even small battleships could be of Hyperspace
capability, if they could recharge at a mothership.
     ***** Hyperspace particles: The science of hyperspace particles is
extremely complex because of the different nature of hyperspace. Few
people can really grasp the idea of how they work. But this science is
perhaps the most researched one on earth, because of the hyperspace
field, it is such particles that hold the aliens stuck on earth.

Energy (Science)

     Energy has always been a useful force to control. The military has a
specific liking of the science, as it can easily beee used in weapons.
The science of energy is not based on kinetic or potential energy, but
rather electrical, radiation or chemical energies.

     * Radiation: This is useful when controlling electromagnetic radiation.
With this you can focus rays into beams, or use it to do other things.
New methods are found out on a weekly basis, as electromagnetic
radiation can be used to so many things.
     ** Magnetic/Electric: To control magnetic or electric fields is
somewhat tougher, but can be done by special instrument. Magnetic
energies were early used to create flying saucers, but the discovery of
the gravitational field proved less energy consuming than to lift
crafts by use of the planet's own magnetic field. This technology is
also used to try and repel the magnetic fields creating the Aurora
Borealis, but so far only limited successes have been achieved.
     *** Power plant operations: To operate a matter/anti-matter power plant
is difficult. Therefore the operators are highly rated professionals,
who have studied a lot to achieve this level of knowledge. The
operation requires precise use of both radiation and magnetic/electric
fields, but once they are achieved you can have an enormous output of
energy. This skill can also be used to operate the simpler and less
dangerous fusion reactors. But they do not have the same energy output
as much energy are used to heat up the plasma. This is not necessary
with matter/anti-matter as you can have the energy output you wish,
whenever you wish.
     **** Transmitting: The trouble of transmitting energy has always been a
problem. One solution was superconductive cables, but you can't draw
them through space. The development of hyperspace communicators made it
possible to transmit energy though hyperspace; the losses are still
great, but many people have great hopes for it in the future. Research
is being made on earth, but not in such a large scale as it needs.
     ***** Hyperenergy: Based on the research of transmitting energy via
hyperspace has led to the hypothesis that you can tap hyperspace itself
on energy. This research has great resources, as it could prove viable
to the defeat of the Seltorians. Thoughts about a superweapon, being
able to send out deadly bursts of hyperenergy on attacking foes are
also useful. Maybe the war will soon move completely into hyperspace.
Some sceptics claim that such a draining of hyperspace could prove
disastrous, as they do not know the links between realspace and
hyperspace.

Fields (Science)

     The field science also developed much after the discovery of superheavy
elements. The first steps forward was, as usual, made by the military.
This was the development of particle shields used to block, or at least
slow down incoming objects. The blocking takes huge amounts of energy,
therefore the technique of relapsing energy was found out. This meant
that the field, if not encountering anything it can effect, simply
bends back and recharges the generator. This meant that energy was only
needed when objects tried to break in. Now the Cassiopeians could use
superstoragers to store energy for those crucial moments when it was
needed instead of deploying the huge amounts of energy which only
dissipated though the universe.

     * Particle deflectors: The first real field technology developed was
particle fields. When any mass tries to penetrate the field, it is
attacked by a force of high energy photons, which forces it to go
another way. Instead of hitting the object, it is repelled in another
direction.
     ** Cloaking devices: Another one of the military's efforts was cloaking
devices to be able to construct a field which rotated all beams around
it, efficiently cloaking everything inside. The first cloaking devices
only cleared an area from sensor outputs; this worked fine in the
beginning, but soon the sensors learned to see the cleared areas of
space. This technology was not usable on planets either, because a
black area seem to attract attention. But soon the technology was
better, being able to duplicate the areas behind the object, giving
them a non-appearing status. There even exist duplicating fields, which
creates a picture instead of hiding something.
     *** Gravity: The fields to affect gravity was another important
breakthrough in field science. By dispatching the gravitons around the
field the Cassiopeians were able to create weightless objects, such as
flying saucers. One of the drawbacks was the fact that the surrounding
gravitons tend to break up into photons, emitting light and maybe a
whining sound.
     **** Stasis: The stasis field is a bubble in which time passes very
slowly. An object in a stasis field could be there for thousands of
years, and still not have aged more than a couple of months. This is
used to storage very unstable or radioactive elements. What is believed
to happen is that the stasis field moves its interia to hyperspace, and
gets it back with repeating intervals from the time it was put in.
Sometimes the object has also aged quickly, or been terribly mutated
into other shapes. Organic tissue also has a sensitivity, similar to
hyperspace sensitivity but nothing has still been able to be monitored
from the inertia of a stasis field, as no observations could take so
little time. This means that the theories are still untested.
     ***** Hyperfields: The stasis field is perking on the edge of
hyperspace, creating a passageway between them but Hyperfields are
really used in hyperspace. The development was first issued by the
military, to be able to make hyperspace cloaking devices but this
seemed very difficult. Now the research is based on stopping the
aggressive Sol hyperparticles to invade the hyperspace aggregates and
force them to overload. This is so the Cassiopeians can return home.

Genetic engineering (Medicine)

     The usage of genetic engineering has always been a subject of debate,
but the weakening of the Cult allowed Cygnan scientists to start
researching. Soon the good effects overruled the bad, and genetic
engineering was not again to be forbidden. Even though the Cult still
keeps a wary eye on its users.
     The skills of genetic engineering among the Cassiopeian races is much
greater than ours. One of the biggest breakthroughs is the development
of fast growth cloning. In special cylinders with the right mixture of
different substances, the growth can be accelerated. This environment
at first tried to copy the environment in the womb, but soon the
technology achieved even quicker results. This has also lead to the
development of the regeneration tank, as bodies can be quickly healed,
without scars, in such an environment, and with the same genes.

     * Duplicate organs: The Cassiopeians can regrow any organ, except for
neural ones, in special machines. But they at least need a part of that
organ.
     ** DNA-engineering: This level of skill makes you able to create DNA
out of a blueprint, with the special DNA-weavers. With this skill you
do not even need a part of the object for cloning, only a printout or a
piece of its DNA. You can also make your own DNA.
     *** Fast growth cloning: With this level you can operate the advanced
cloning chambers. Mix the correct liquids, and make them grow your
required specimen.
     **** Create mutation: With this skill you can implement mutations into
a foster, even in fully grown creatures. Even though the mutations then
have to be looked after, to see if it mutates correctly. You can give
someone completely new sets of organic tissue, and even working organs,
like wings or gills. Even though that still is difficult.
     ***** Create lifeform: Life is the creation of god, someone said. So
also in the Cygnan world. It was when the Cult has lost almost all of
it's power to the scientists that this technology could be researched
in. To create a lifeform is one of the most difficult things you can
try. This requires that you have full knowledge of the ecology in which
you want to implement it. Then you have to design the genes, create
them, test, redesign, recreate, retest, and so on, until the specimen
has the required capabilities.

Machinery (Mechanics)

     The masters of machinery are the Meklar; their android bodies represent
the cutting edge of mechanical devices. The Cassiopeians mechanics have
not developed far from humans, but the use of new materials and
nanoscience has helped it greatly. Some of the latest breakthroughs
have also contributed much in the belief that machinery still isn't a
dead science, but are closing into the realm of life.

     * Robots: The Cassiopeian robots are not extremely highly developed in
comparison with human, but they can take usage in their special
materials and computers, to create robots that are highly advanced. A
robot factory linked to an AI is a most useful tool, as the AI has full
control of the complete factory, and can create anything it is ordered
too. Of course there exist ghost stories of such self-producing
factories gone wild. Another useful thing about robots is that they are
not affected by the same things that kill Cassiopeians or other
organisms, therefore they usually take such missions as cleaning up
radioactive or dangerous places.
     ** Exosuits:The use of external machinery that reads the moment of the
body, and enhances it is still very useful. This technology has been
widespread in loading bays and by the military. Sometimes exosuits are
also linked to cybernetic implants, to allow a quicker and more
accurate reading of the body's movements.
     *** Androids: This is a step beyond robots. An android is a nearly
exact replica of a living organism, but made by robotic parts. This
gives it the same mobility and flexibility as a living organism, but
such things as breathing or weakness is of course removed from the
design. Androids are also usable as spies, as they can be built in
almost any shape. The drawback is that such a design is hard and
expensive to construct, and usually a normal robot can do the same
task.
     **** Reconstructive machinery: This is the mechanical equivalent to
smart materials. This is a machine that can respond to outer stimuli,
and react accordingly. Now I do not talk about pressing a button, but
if a projectile hits any place of the surface, the machinery itself
will move harder plates in the way, maybe even covering up the hole.
This ability is very useful in space battle, as a hole can prove
devastating. The machinery can even be built in such a way as it reacts
logically to the stimuli, not requiring a computer, but a computer is
of course always good to have linked to it.
     ***** Morphic machinery: This is the most advanced machinery yet
developed. By the use of nanomachinery, small machinery and special
alloys, it is possible to make a machine out of a morphic mass (like
the bad terminator in T2). This machinery is usually fitted with a
computer or link to a computer, which is needed to control the advanced
mechanics of the body. Then the machine can be moulded into any shape
desired; of course smaller moving parts are unnecessary, as the body
can do the major tasks anyway. It is composed by strong magnetic
fields, and usually has a magnetic shielding not be disturbed. Some
morphic machines can even change the texture, colour and feel or the
surface, imitating such things as human skin, or clothing.

Materials (Engineering)

     Chemistry has lost its usage in alien science for now they know how to
create most compounds with machines, and in perfect solutions.
Therefore the knowledge of chemists was passed down to the technology
of materials. Alien materials have a wide variety of uses. Almost all
are tailor-made for their special purpose.

     * Plastics: This is the knowledge of creating and inventing different
polymers. Alien plastics are widely spread. Some are harder than steel;
others are lighter than aluminium; others are flexible as rubber and
some are conductive. In short, they have a wide variety of uses and
specifications.
     ** Alloys: Alien alloys are also tailor made, with just the right
mixture of the correct metals. There even exists alloys with non-metal
components; they are also grouped under alloys. The alloy technology
went back as plastics really came through, but soon it was learned that
the alloys still meant a great deal to construction. Alloys have a
hardness never achieved by humans, and they can also be superlight or
liquid or have any other important aspect.
     *** Smart materials: The Cassiopeians have great knowledge in what is
called smart materials, materials which react to outer stimulus. For
example there exist metals that if they are _?_ they create a harder
and thicker surface by themselves. There also exist metals that regain
other forms if electricity is conducted though them, or if exposured to
heat or cold.
     **** Crystal metals: The invention that meant the most to the survival
of metals is the creation of crystal steels. It was discovered that
steel, and other alloys, together with other compounds, could regain a
crystal structure. This meant that the metal not only grew somewhat
lighter, but much stronger. Some objects even have the ability to
regain its old form completely when not affected by forces.
     ***** Pikocomposed materials: It was the discoveries of pikobots and
crystal steel that made it possible to create pikocomposed materials.
They are the cutting edge of material science. Pikocomposed materials
are build atom by atom, instead of mixing metals and hope that they
fall in the right places. This makes it possible to construct materials
with exactly the correct abilities, such as super hardness.

Medicine (Medicine)

     This is the skill of using operation methods and other medicinal
approaches to heal, damage or change the body. Of course this mostly
applies to knowledge about the Cassiopeian races, but research, mostly
by Cygnans, have resulted in methods applying for humans as well.

     * Surgery: Alien surgery is far more advanced than what we know now.
They mostly apply microbots to probe the inside of the patient to
remove or treat injuries. The most used tool with this skill is the
automed.
     ** Neurosurgery: The surgery of the nervous system is more advanced
than simple organic surgery. But then the effects can be so much
better. With this skill you can treat such things as brain damage,
Alzheimers and such. This technology even applies to the construction
of nervous systems, including reconstruction of the brain.
     *** Cybernetic interfaces: To connect the cybernetic machines to the
nervous system you have to know a bit more than to simply grow nerves
with each other. This skill is mostly used to 'trim' the equipment, and
shows that you are capable of that.
     **** Bionics: The more advanced form of cybernetics is bionetics. With
this you can install complicated organic tissues, which helps the body
in different ways. This is the knowledge to how to apply those to
existing nerves, and to make the body adapt the organ without killing
it, or the contrary, that the organ kills it's host.
     ***** Body reanimation: Wen you have reached this level of knowledge,
you can get dead creatures to start living again. Of course you cannot
make destroyed or dead tissue live again, but you can replace it. You
can also do such incredible things as brain replacements.

Nanomachinery (Mechanics)

     Nanomachinery is a pretty old science; even humans have nearly aspired
the first level of this technology. But the development in this field
has been slow; this is mostly to blame on the hardship in surviving the
effect of different solutions. The world is very small, and therefore
difficult to explore. Most nanobots are built by nanomachinery, that is
constructed by the help of nanomechanics, which is made by the
scientists. This procedure also meant that the construction takes a lot
of time.

     * Nanomechanics: The first thing to be learnt is nanomechanics. This is
necessary when understanding the nanomechanical world. This level
represents theoretical knowledge about nanomechanics, and the ability
to create simple things as moving parts or levers.
     ** Nanomachinery: This is the creation of generators, motors and more
advanced moving parts. Now the scientist can build the machines
necessary to control and drive other nanomachinery.
     *** Create nanobots: Nanobots are small independent nanofactories.
Capable of travelling around on their own, constructing other nanobots
or repairing things. They work somewhat like living cells, but are made
of mechanical parts rather than living tissue.
     **** Advanced nanobots: Those nanobots can also be fitted with
nanocomputers, or be controlled by the outside, via radiowave patterns
or chemical substances. They can even have an own limited intelligence,
but no real AI capability.
     ***** Pikomachinery: This represents the cutting edge of nanomachinery.
When nanobots are build of extremely small mechanical devises,
pikomachinery is made by some very few atoms. They are placed in such a
structure that they catalyse different reactions, thus giving them the
same abilities as nanobots, but they are a lot smaller.

Sensors (Engineering)

     With the knowledge of elements and electronic radiation, the
Cassiopeians could soon develop highly advanced scanners. Now there
exists a myriad of different scanners, of both varying efficiency and
size,. The biggest, placed on orbiting platforms around bigger planets,
are able to scan for lifeforms on other planets in the nearest solar
systems, or for incoming vehicles, even in hyperspace.

     * Communications: The most basic usage of scanner technology is to
create realspace communicators. These are compact communicators with a
very quick and interference-free communication. This knowledge
represents both simple handheld communicators and around the word relay
stations.
     ** Energy scanners: The field scanner is the simplest form of scanners.
They pick up information on magnetic or radioactive energy and relay
them to the user. They can also measure gravitation and electric
charges.
     *** Life form scanners: All life emits signals; the basic ones are
chemical substances such as smell and carbon dioxide, but also electric
signals, and wave patterns in hyperspace. The life form scanner picks
up such things, processes them, and relays to the user facts about
lifeforms.
     **** Mind scanners: A more complex machine than the mind is hard to
find. But the very sensitive mindscanners pick up the small chemical
and electrical discharges in the brain, as well as hyperspace patterns
of thoughts. This knowledge is usually operated by interrogators, being
a very useful tool when separating truths from lies. It is also usable
to determine the intelligence of a new species.
     ***** Hyperspace scanners: These are the most complex scanners
available. Hyperspace is hard to reach, and hyperspace particles seldom
interact with realspace. Therefore hyperspace scanners usually are
partially moved into hyperspace, to be able to monitor the movements
and ripples of hyperspace. Those scanners initially served a military
purpose, namely to spot incoming vehicles before they appeared, being
able to attack them when they are weak.


Chapter Five: Forces

     The forces are the alien's means to control their environment and
themselves. Some forces can be used at range; their difficulty is
listed in the following chart. Of course those difficulties are very
variable, and merely an example.

Body

     This represents the control that aliens have over their bodies.
Allowing them to heal quickly, or give them extra strength. Those
forces can only be used on oneself. However, Zanirion has managed to
extend this to their host bodies also.

     * Strengthen: This force allows you to manage incredible feats of
strength, as hurling a man through a concrete wall. System: You may add
Body to your strength total whenever you wish.
     ** Heal self: With this force you may turn your concentration inwards
and speed up the healing processes enormously. You have to sit and rest
for one hour to do this. System: Roll Body + Medicine against a
difficulty of 8. Each success allows you to heal one health level.
     *** Quickness: This force represents the supreme speed with which some
aliens react. However, it takes one turn to evoke those effects.
System: Roll Body + Brawl against a difficulty of 7. Each success gives
you an extra action to perform any time during the battle. You may not
do more extra actions than your dexterity in any single round. It takes
one turn of concentration to evoke those effects.
     **** Toughness: With this force you can call upon an extreme toughness
to survive in dangerous situations. It is this force that makes it
possible for aliens to take multiple gun wounds and fall from a high
building, and still attack the hero in the movie. System: You may add
your score in body to the number of soak dices you can use when
damaged. You can also sustain as many wound levels above bruised that
you have dots in body.
     ***** Metamorph: This is the ability that Jugginto already possess;
therefore they have reach such mastery in this force that they can also
transform themselves into a gas form, and float away as they wish by
means of telekinetic powers. They also have much easier to copy
non-humanoid objects. System: Roll Body + Expression against a
difficulty that varies according to how you try to look. To copy a
human of the same size has a difficulty of 6. But this may be higher if
you try to make a copy of a specific human. The number of successes is
the time, in hours, that this shape can be held, before you have to
spend a willpower to try again. If no willpower is spent, then you
retain your original shape within half an hour. You can also spend
successes to increase any physical attribute, or appearance. One
success can also be spent to move 2 dots between any physical attribute
or appearance. Only Jugginto can still copy objects, but you can make
yourself fit in narrow quarters.

Control

     This force is used to control other living beings. One of the major
drawbacks is that you are unable to control beings if you are not
touching them, at least if you haven't reached level four. Until then
the victim has to be touched.

     * Motoric control: With this ability you are able to force the victim
to do one or more motoric actions, as pressing a button or hitting
someone. Of course you have to touch the person, if you can reach his
spine or head this is of course more easy. The victim knows what's
happening and can resist. System: Roll Control + Investigation against
a difficulty of the victims willpower. Each success gives you control
over one action. The difficulty is increased by three if you do not
have contact with the spine or head (i.e. with the nervous system). The
victim may spend one willpower to resist one action. The controller
does not need to touch the victim as the commands are done, but they
have to be done simultaneously.
     ** Mind control: This allows you to change the patterns of a persons
thoughts. He will think the ideas and plans is his own. Cassiopeians
usually use this force to hide their presence, and make humans do as
their wish. System: Roll Control + Subterfuge against a difficulty of
the victims willpower. One success enables the controller to change the
outcome in instant unimportant decisions, like which drink to order.
With five successes the controller may change the victims personality
and thoughts to suit his needs.
     *** Telephatic command: With this force you no longer have to touch the
victim, but can affect him within a distance. System: Roll Control +
Persuasion against a difficulty of the victims willpower. If the
victims know what is happening he may try to resist with a willpower
roll against a difficulty of 5. Each success allows you to
     **** Telepathic control: This allows the controller to take full
control over a victim. The drawback is that the controller can't take
control over too many victims a time. System: Roll Control + Leadership
against a difficulty of the victims willpower. For each roll the
controller can control up to successes victims. For example, if a
controller already controls a victim, and wish to take control of
another victim, he has to score at least two successes. If a
controller, who controls three victims, wish to control another, and
only scores two successes, he may only choose two victims to take
control of.

Mind

     This force is used to magnify your own mind. Mind was the first force
to be discovered, and has developed much under time.

     * Concentrate: This is used to focus your mind on one skill. System:
Roll Mind + Performance against a difficulty of 7. Each success gives
you that number of dots in any desired skill. This lasts for a scene.
One of the drawbacks is that you can only concentrate on one skill at
the time.
     ** Rest: Sleep has always been disturbing. By the use of this force,
its user are able to go on without feeling sleepy or needing to sleep.
System: Roll Mind + Survival against a difficulty of 6. Each success
allows you to nullify 3 hours of sleep (Aliens have adapted to the 8
hour sleep of humans). Three successes meaning that you do not have to
sleep.
     *** Read mind: The force of mind is not only deployed with your own
mind, but you can affect other minds as well. Read mind means that you
can read the thoughts of a person. System: Roll Mind + Emphaty against
a difficulty of 6. The number of successes show how much of the person
is uncovered. If the victim knows what is going on he may resist with a
willpower roll against a difficulty of 7.
     **** Mindspeak: With this force you can communicate with another mind.
The one affected will feel this as another voice speaking in his mind.
You can also read what he is thinking for the moment, at least his
outer thoughts. But he may try to resist. It is also easier to persuade
people this way, as they might consider the thoughts their own, but
this is not as powerful as complete control. System: Roll Mind +
Intimidation against a difficulty of 6. The number of successes needed
are affected by range. The victim may also try to resist, with a
willpower roll against a difficulty of 7. Each success lowering the
score by one.
     ***** Change mind: This is one of the most powerful mind tools that are
available. With this force you are able to wrap someone's thought as
you wish. This is very useful when persuading people, or making them
forget. On many occasions this has saved Cassiopeian bases from
discovery, as masters of mind have made them think that this is
nothing, or that they are mad. System: Roll Mind + Subterfuge against a
difficulty of the subjects willpower. The effects of this force is hard
to feel, therefore no resistance roll may be used. One success means
that you can make the victim feel nervous, or bored or anything. More
successes makes it possible to make greater changes. With five
successes you can change the complete personality and beliefs. With
three successes you may choose a new demeanour for the victim, and with
five both a new demeanour and nature. If you wish to be free from the
effects, you have to spend an equal amount of willpower to the
successes of the Change mind.

Mindbattle

     Mindbattle is one of the most aggressive mental usage of the force.
With different tricks and ways of attack you try to disturb the nervous
system, and on higher levels, try to knock it out.

     * Disturbance: By inciting different understreams in the opponent's
mind, you try to disturb him, give him a headache or a muscular spasm.
System: Roll Mindbattle + Streetwise against a difficulty of 7. For
each success you may subtract one dice from the opponents dice pool.
The effect lasts for one turn. Of course you can do other actions, but
that requires that you split your dice pool.
     ** Incite delirium: With this force you can affect the persons nervous
system, giving him illusions. You cannot control this feeling so much;
it is rather the victims fears and phobias that you call forth. The
victim might, for example, feel sudden changes in temperature, or see
differently coloured spots before his eyes, or anything like that.
System: Roll Mindbattle + Emphaty against a difficulty of 6. The more
successes you score, the more real the delirium is, and the longer it
stays. One success might only make the person feel hot or cold. But
five successes makes him see and feel his worst phobias. For example, a
Vampire sees the sun, a Werewolf becomes consumed by a Wyrm-beast. Each
success gives deliriums for one round. Due to the disturbing nature of
delirium, each success removes one dice from the victim's dice-pool,
for as long as the effect lasts. But such illusions can induce
rotschreck or frenzy.
     *** Destroy memory: This force is used to destroy memories, wipe them
clean and remove them forever. This is a lengthy and difficult
procedure, and has to be done with precise skill, otherwise too much
may be removed. This effect has also been used in mind combat, wiping
the opponent clean. System: Roll Mindbattle + Subterfuge against a
difficulty that varies according to what you are trying to achieve. If
you merely try to wipe someone clean, the difficulty is 4, but if you
try to remove a specific memory the difficulty may be 7, or maybe even
8. The victim may try to resist with a willpower roll against a
difficulty of 6. This is a continuos task, ending when you have scored
a number of successes equal to or greater than the victims willpower.
Then the memory is completely wiped out. A battle wipe works in the
same way, but then you hit every memory you can get, not destroying it
completely. Each success lets you temporarily remove two dots of a
chosen ability. The victim will be able to roll one regain roll after
each sleeping period which means that he may roll a number of dice
equal to the lost dice in each skill + 1, against a difficulty of five.
Each success means that he regains one dot in the ability.
     **** Mental shield: This force is very useful when dealing with
mindbattle. It is not an attack, but a defence. It is meant to block
away any attack against ones mind. This is done by letting the attack
slide by outside the brain which means that the user is also immune to
passive mind skills. System: Roll Mindbattle + Expression against a
difficulty of 6. The number of successes is the number of automatic
successes you have on any resistance roll against any power that
affects your mind. You may still roll your resistance score, but add
this to your result. This includes not only mindbattle and other mind
forces, but also the Mages mind sphere and Vampires dominate and such.
The effect lasts for one scene.
     ***** Brainkill: This is the most devastating attack that can be made
with mindbattle. It is even worse than destroy memory, as it does not
affect what the brain holds, but the brain itself. Killing of parts of
it. System: Roll Mindbattle + Leadership against a difficulty of 7.
Each success lets you subtract one willpower score from the victim
permanently. It also allows you to subtract successes dots from the
victim's mental attributes. No attribute can fall to zero before the
others have reached one. The first attribute to fall to zero is
perception, meaning that the victim lose all sensory contact with the
outer world. The second attribute is wits, transforming the victim into
a vegetable, i.e. he cannot act on his own accord and is completely
lame. When intelligence reaches zero the brain is completely dead, and
the body has to be linked to a machine to survive. If willpower reaches
zero the victim becomes a mindless zombie.

Sense

     Sense is useful when you try to see things. This represents the
extremely accurate sensory organs that some aliens possess. This does
not make you see better, but gives you the ability to see different
things. But also remember that you are not blinded by all things you
see, they are merely different colours. A source of strong
electromagnetic radiation can blinded you though, and increase the
difficulty seeing things in the same spectrum.

     * IR/UV: This force allows you to see both in the ultraviolet and
infrared spectrum of sight giving you a limited heat vision, and
allowing you to use ultraviolet lamps, rather than normal, which are
undetectable by humans. System: Roll Sense + Alertness to spot things,
rather than Perception + Alertness. The difficulty may vary, for
example to spot a human in a dark room (the human's infrared radiation
that is) has a difficulty of 7. To spot a vampire in the same room has
a difficulty of 9, (Vampires do not radiate much heat).
     ** Sonar: Now you have the ability to hear ultrasounds, and sending out
such sounds. This makes it possible for you to "see" by hearing
reflecting sounds. You can also communicate with others in this matter,
and can hear others using sonar. System: Roll Sense + Investigation to
"see" things. The difficulty varies depending on the size of the
target, and how much disturbing noise there is. Another sonar can
hinder you from seeing things. The difficulty is also higher if there
is a lot of objects in the air, like scraps of paper or snow.
     *** Electromagnetic Sight: When you have reached this level of sense
you can see all types of electromagnetic radiation from radio waves to
gamma rays. Your senses are also improved, and you are no longer
blinded by strong light; you can also see in much less light than
usual. System: Roll Sense + Science to see things. The difficulty may
vary, but remember that you are no longer blinded by other sources of
energy. Even if you stand in the middle of a great field of radio
waves, you can spot normal light as easily as always. The difficulty to
see a human's IR output in a dark room is now a difficulty of 5, and to
do the same thing with a Vampire is around 7.
     **** Sense Minds: This is a very powerful sense force. Now you start to
turn your gaze inwards, instead of outwards, and can feel presence,
rather than see it. The easiest thing to feel is patterns of thought,
as they create ripples in hyperspace, detectable by the sensitive.
System: Roll Sense + Empathy to spot someone. The difficulty may vary,
but remember that even vampires emit thought pattern and can be spotted
as easily as humans. Smaller minds can be more difficult to feel. For
example, to sense a human that tries to sneak up your back is 6,
because the humans thoughts is directed towards you. If the human would
have been sitting behind you in a restaurant, ignoring you, the
difficulty would have been 9, partially because of the background
"noise".
     ***** Matter Sense: This is the ultimate art of inward gaze. Now, not
only minds are sensed, but also all matter around you. You can feel the
density and composition of every material near you. System: Roll Sense
+ Engineering against a difficulty, varying depending on the size and
density of the target. To sense and identify a gas is around difficulty
8, supposing you know which gas it is, for example Intelligence +
Science. A liquid around difficulty 6, and a metal around 4. This also
varies according to size. To spot a nail in the wall lies around 7 but
to see a wooden plug in a wooden wall lies around 9.

Telekinesis

     This is force affects matter, rather than mind. It is both the ability
to move objects, and to change them.

     * Switch: This force lets you move small movable object, like a
light-switch or a button. Even though this is not very powerful, it can
prove very usable. This can also be usable to gear a car, or remove the
parking brake. System: Roll Telekinesis + Computers against a
difficulty of 4. This difficulty can change if the object manipulated
is big, or is hard to move. Only one success is needed, but many can
make it possible to switch quicker, if that is necessary.
     ** Manipulate: This force allows a greater manipulation of many
devices. Like making an engine turn, or to open a lock without the key.
You can also use this to affect electronically devices, like opening an
electronic lock. System: Roll Telekinesis + Mechanics against a
difficulty of 5. But this difficulty may wary according to which kind
of object you are handling, and how well you know how it works. To open
a normal, seven cylinder lock may be a difficulty of 6 but skipping the
procedures in a computer that accesses the security ROM, may have a
difficulty of 9, and require more successes.
     *** Move: This is the ability mostly associated with Telekinesis, the
ability to move things through air. The objects can be rotated and
levitated, or even fly at high speed. System: Roll Telekinesis + Zero-G
movement against a difficulty according to the weight of the object. I
recommend that you use the required strength to lift it, then add 2.
The number of successes shows how well you can handle the object, spin
it in the air, and strike persons.
     **** Reshape matter: With this level of expertise you learn that
objects do not have a specific appearance, but is rather a reflection
from its hyperspace shadow. A shadow you have learned to manipulate.
Now you can wrap a object in any shape you like. This does not require
that you bend it, but you change its appearance to whatever you wish.
This means that if you bend an icetap into a knot, the icetap does not
break, but ties itself nicely together. System: Roll Telekinesis +
Expression against a difficulty of 6. The successes shows how well the
transformation proceeded. One success only deforms the object, while
five makes it exactly as you wanted it. The storyteller may increase
the difficulty if he thinks that the object you are trying to make is
very complex. For example a perfect replica of a dollar note from a
piece of paper has a difficulty of 8 and a usable handgun from a
ashtray of iron may have a difficulty of 9 or even 10, and you also
need ammunition.
     ***** Teleport: This allows you to move yourself, or anything else, to
another location, via hyperspace. Moving living matter can be very
dangerous though. System: Roll Telekinesis + Dodge against a difficulty
of 7 for yourself, 8 for another dead object, and 9 for another living
object. The difficulty can also vary according to the size of a object.
To move an elephant has a difficulty of at least 10 for example. A
living creature can also resist, by rolling willpower against a
difficulty of 6. If the successes of this roll is greater then the
teleportaion successes, nothing will happen. If you botch a
teleportation, you will show up somewhere else, or in the same spot,
with a number of aggravated damages; at least as many as your botch
"successes."


Chapter Six: Cybernetics

     Cybernetics is another way aliens can boost themselves. As production
of such objects is difficult, and they tend to reduce the carrier's
humanness they are not widely used by all aliens. The Meklar use them,
to say the least, a lot.

Humanness reduction:

     For every second point of cybernetics implanted, you will lose one
point of humanness. However, this may be reduced by using bionetics
instead. A bionetic implant has the same characteristics as a normal
cybernetic implant, but you can spend up to two of the implants dots to
reduce the humanness reduction by one for each dot. However, this
reduces the efficiency of the implant by as many dots. For example, a
level five implant, which normally reduces humanness by 2.5, could be
reduced to a level four implant, but only reduce humanity by 1.5, or
could even be reduced to a level three implant, thus reducing humanity
by 0.5.. The only way to create a humanness non-reducing implant is to
spend four dots on it, using two dots to "heal" the humanness
reduction. Of course any implant can't add on to humanity; any negative
loss is treated as no loss at all. All decimals are rounded down.
Humanness can also be risen with experience points or freebie points to
ten, after implants have been added.

Implants:

     Armour plating: This is an extremely durable and thick skin. The higher
levels are even fire proof, or acid secure. Each dot adds one to your
soak total.

      Dots  Protects against
      *     Normal damage (like falling, gunshots, lead pipes)
      **    Extreme heat and all above
      ***   Fire and all above
      ****  Acid and all above
      ***** Radiation and all above

     Built in tools: Each dot allows you to have one built in tool, or a
high technology. But of course that technology has to be bought or
constructed with technology points as well..

     Drug injector: This device can inject drugs directly in you blood
vessels and anyplace other they are needed. It also monitors you
activities and can insert antidotes for many drugs and diseases. By
this means it can increase your stamina with its own level. You may
also have one type of drug for each level that you can inject at any
time you wish.

     Extra strength: Each dot adds one to your effective strength.

     Impulse accelerator: Each dot gives you one extra initiative dice.

     Internal computer: This is an internal database that feeds you
information. This means that you will get the database level in any
knowledge skill. The maximum skill level the database can give you in
any skill is the number of dots you have in this Implant. Each database
can be bought from the beginning with one freebie point per dot. You
can of course also program your own databases, but this requires an
Intelligence + Computers roll against a difficulty of 5. The numbers of
successes means that the database is programmed to that level. This
level may not exceed the number of dots you have in the appropriate
knowledge. If someone else feeds you with information, which means that
the maximum level is his numbers of dots in the knowledge, the
difficulty of the Intelligence + Computers roll is 7.

     Internal supply apparatus: This is a series of operations in which you
replace, duplicate or toughen the internal organs. This means that you
for every dot can ignore one wound penalty. You can also sustain this
much extra damage above the original three under incapacitated.

     Secret compartments: The number of dots decide how big secret
compartments you have.

      Dots  Size
      *     Extremely small (Cigarette lighter)
      **    Very small (Diskette)
      ***   Small (Hand grenade)
      ****  Large (Gun)
      ***** Very Large (Small firearm)

     Virtual Reality interface: Each dot gives you one extra dice when
handling computers, or hacking into software. If anyone wants to do
cyberspace rules, please send them to me.


Chapter Seven: High technology

     The aliens technical tools are another way to gain superiority over
humans, and other creatures on earth. Even though they are not
constructed in such an abundance as on Cygnius, there still exists a
lot of them. The Cassiopeians have learned to recycle and reuse their
own materials to produce their tools.

     Automed: Automed is short for Automated Medical Portable Bed. It is a
foldable bed with a cover. It can contain an injured patient, which can
be treated in various manners. You can hold a dead person alive for one
hour for each success on a Intelligence + Medicine roll against a
difficulty of 9. This may be enough to get the patient to a
regeneration tank. You can also do surgery in the field with this, and
heal a person's wounds that way. The automed is equipped with a
multi-user interface, which gives you fingertip control over a lot of
functions; this means that you can perform surgery which normally
requires many persons alone.

     Technology: 5
     Mechanics: 2
     Medicine: 3

     Gamma rifle: The gamma rifle is the latest in military design. It uses
advanced sensors and computers to calculate an interference course of a
lot of gamma rays of different frequencies. This means that the gamma
rays pass through armour, to the interference point, where it blasts a
small area with a lot of energy, melting the surrounding material to
plasma. The effects of this weapon means that armour and walls are
nearly ineffective against it. The gamma rifle is usually also equipped
with a powerful life form scanner, that allows it to spot life forms on
the other side of walls, and shooting them down. All this energy is
stored in a small superstoragers, mounted behind the handle. This
superstorager only has enough energy for 8 shots. The gamma rifle is as
big as a normal rifle.
     The gamma rifle does 8 points of damage, but you may not soak with your
armour. It can also shoot through walls.

     Technology: 9
     Elements: 4
     Sensors: 3
     Computers: 2

     Gauss rifle: This is an old, but still effective, alien weapon design.
This rifle propels small, magnetically charged projectiles with high
speed. The calibre is very small, but the rate of fire is so impressive
that it simply slices the victim apart. There is no such thing as
single fire on a gauss gun. The shells are caseless and have a long
reach. They are also armour piercing because of their small size. The
gauss rifle is about as big as a submachine gun even though it has a
long barrel.
     The gauss rifle does 2 points of damage per success scored. It also
ignores the first two points of armour you have.

     Technology: 4
     Energy: 2
     Mechanics: 2

     Life form scanner: This is a standard scanner, made to detect moving
living creatures. It also has a small computer, to help display the
results, and to filter out static.
     To detect someone, roll Perception + Computers against a difficulty of
7. The roll and difficulty may vary, according to conditions.

     Technology: 4
     Computers: 1
     Sensors: 3

     Flying saucer: Only a few of those technological achievements exist on
earth, and they are closely monitored by the silencers. They fly by
creating a zero gravity field around them, and propels itself by jet
streams. It is also equipped with cloaking devices, rendering it
invisible. Flying saucers are very agile in the air, and can land in
almost any condition; it can also work under water. It is not extremely
quick, and does approximately mach 2,5 at best. It can also reach
orbit, but there the hyperspace particles of earth hinder it to go any
further. Many Cassiopeians have tried though, but the saucers exploded.

     Technology: 18
     Architecture: 3
     Computers: 2
     Energy: 3
     Fields: 3 + 2
     Materials: 2
     Sensors: 3

     Micro medbots: These are the cutting art of Cassiopeian medical
abilities. Small nanobots enter the bloodstream, to do their intended
work, for example to operate a clogged blood vessel, or to heal a
broken bone. They can also do brain surgery, and are very useful in
neurosurgery.
     If you have micro medbots inside you, you are able to heal one health
level per day.

     Technology: 9
     Medicine: 5
     Nanotechnology: 4

     Personal cloaking device: This is the most lightweight cloaking device
available today. It is a harness which you strap on. The controls are
placed in front of the belt, easily accessible. It has an active
lifetime of 8 hours, and can easily be recharged in any earthling
socket.
     This device subtract four difficulty levels from any stealth rolls. At
least when considering sight.

     Technology: 7
     Computers: 2
     Fields: 2
     Sensors: 3