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Truths
truth:starforged/cataclysm
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We escaped the ravages of a catastrophic war.
Over millennia, we consumed resources and shattered lives as we fueled the engines of industry, expansion, and war. In the end, a powerful foe took advantage of our rivalries in a violent bid for power. Fleeing the devastation, we assembled our fleets and traveled to the Forge. A new home. A fresh start.
In this final war, we were set upon by:
Genetically engineered soldiers
truth:starforged/exodus
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Mysterious alien gates provided instantaneous one-way passage to the Forge.
In the midst of the cataclysm, our ancestors found a strange metal pillar on our homeworld's moon. A map on the surface of this alien relic detailed the deep-space locations of the Iron Gates—massive devices that powered artificial wormholes. With no other options, the Exodus ships fled through the gates and emerged here in the Forge.
truth:starforged/communities
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Dangers abound, but there is safety in numbers. Many ships and settlements are united under the banner of one of the Founder Clans.
We have a tentative foothold in this galaxy. Each of the five Founder Clans honor the name and legacy of a leader who guided their people in the chaotic time after the Exodus. Vast reaches of the settled domains are claimed by the clans, and territorial skirmishes are common.
truth:starforged/iron
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Iron vows are sworn upon totems crafted from the enigmatic metal we call black iron.
Black iron was first forged by a long-dead civilization. Some say it is a living metal, attuned to the hidden depths of the universe. Remnants of this prized resource are found within ancient sites throughout the Forge. It is resistant to damage and corrosion, but can be molded using superheated plasma at specialized facilities. The Ironsworn carry weapons, armor, or tokens crafted from black iron, and swear vows upon it.
truth:starforged/laws
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Our communities are bound under the terms of the Covenant, a charter established after the Exodus. The organization called the Keepers is sworn to uphold those laws.
Most settlements are still governed under the Covenant and yield to the authority of the Keepers. But a few view the Covenant as a dogmatic, impractical, and unjust relic of our past; in those places, the Keepers find no welcome.
truth:starforged/religion
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Our faith is as diverse as our people.
Many have no religion, or offer an occasional prayer out of habit. Others pay homage to the gods of our forebears as a way of connecting to their roots. Some idealize the natural order of the universe, and see the divine in the gravitational dance of stars or the complex mechanisms of a planetary ecosystem. And many now worship the Primordials—gods of a fallen people who once dwelt within the Forge.
truth:starforged/magic
truth:starforged/communication_and_data
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Information is life. We rely on spaceborne couriers to transport messages and data across the vast distances between settlements.
Direct communication and transmissions beyond the near-space of a ship or outpost are impossible. Digital archives are available at larger outposts, but the information is not always up-to-date or reliable. Therefore, the most important communications and discoveries are carried by couriers who swear vows to see that data safely to its destination.
truth:starforged/medicine
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To help offset a scarcity of medical supplies and knowledge, the resourceful technicians we call riggers create basic organ and limb replacements.
Much was lost in the Exodus, and what remains of our medical technologies and expertise is co-opted by the privileged and powerful. For most, advanced medical care is out of reach. When someone suffers a grievous injury, they'll often turn to a rigger for a makeshift mechanical solution.
truth:starforged/artificial_intelligence
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We no longer have access to advanced computer systems. Instead, we must rely on the seers we call Adepts.
Our computers are limited to simple digital systems and the most basic machine intelligence. This is because:
The energies of the Forge corrupt advanced systems
The Adepts serve in place of those advanced systems. They utilize mind-altering drugs to see the universe as a dazzling lattice of data, identifying trends and predicting outcomes with uncanny accuracy. But to gain this insight they sacrifice much of themselves.
truth:starforged/war
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Professional soldiers defend or expand the holdings of those who are able to pay. The rest of us are on our own.
Mercenary guilds wield power in the Forge. Some are scrappy outfits of no more than a dozen soldiers. Others are sector-spanning enterprises deploying legions of skilled fighting forces and fleets of powerful starships. Most hold no loyalty except to the highest bidder.
truth:starforged/lifeforms
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This is a perilous and often inhospitable galaxy, but life finds a way.
Life in the Forge is diverse. Planets are often home to a vast array of creatures, and our starships cruise with spaceborne lifeforms riding their wake. Even animals from our homeworld—carried aboard the Exodus ships—have adapted to live with us in the Forge.
truth:starforged/precursors
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The Ascendancy, an advanced spacefaring empire, once ruled the entirety of the Forge. Vaults of inscrutable purpose are all that remain to mark the Ascendancy's legacy, but those places are untethered from our own reality.
Ascendancy vaults can appear spontaneously, washed up like flotsam in the tides of time. Their gravity and atmospheres pay no heed to natural laws. Some are corrupted and ruined. Others are unmarred and intact. Some are both at once. They are chaos.
truth:starforged/horrors
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The strange energies of the Forge give unnatural life to the dead. The Soulbinders are an organization sworn to confront these horrifying entities.
The woken dead are a plague within the Forge. Some of these beings are benevolent or seek absolution, but most are hollowed and corrupted by death. They are driven by hate and a hunger for the warmth of life that is forever lost to them. The Soulbinders are dedicated to putting them to rest—whatever the cost.