Star*Drive Saturday: StarMech Collective

Last week we covered the money greedy nation of Rigunmor Star Consortium, this week it is the:

STARMECH COLLECTIVE

If you are raised in a hedonistic lifestyle and live for fleshy pleasures, as well as a genius mechanic, then you might be a Starmech.

• Population: 530 Billion Sentients
• Founding Year: 2312
• GW2 Alliance: Profit Confederation
• Capital World: Delight
• Dominant Faiths: Hedonism
• Notable Locations: Tendril System (Verge system, closest verge system to the stellar ring, currently trying to legally get it back), and various robotic probes sent out to deepspace to establish territory.

Colonization into space during humanities first strides were chaotic. Hundreds of companies and nations claimed worlds for their own. StarMech Inc. almost went unnoticed as it relocated its headquarters. They specialized in the manufacture of advanced machines and robotics. Slowly they grew an enjoyed the benefits of a large artificial workforce: time for recreation and play. They weren't ready for the First Galactic War, and many outlying colonies vied for unification. They settled on a mutual defense to preserve a tense peace. At the conclusion of the war, the company wanted to legally acquire the surrounding colonies, so they threw one of their infamous, often deviant, parties. Legends claim that when the diplomats awoke the next moring, StarMech had the signatures to guarantee a diplomatic coup. This convinced everyone to recognize the formation of the Collective, and born as a nation in 2312, at least on paper. But over time and through the Second Galactic War the union became stronger, and StarMech advanced robotic proceeded to produce the best driveships in the galaxy.

Today the Collective embraces a level of unification and organization that only two galactic wars could bring. Every citizen is a shareholder in StarMech Inc., possessing one share of the company and ability to elect the administration. The Collective society grants most democratic freedoms to its citizens - freedom of speech, religion, and leisure is taken for granted. StarMech shipyards are rightfully the pride of the Collective and the source of its interstellar trade. They are the unquestioned reliability of StarMech engineering; their ships never fail to pass inspections.

StarMech engineers conceive brilliant theories, unorthodox designs, and fantastic models. Then the robots do the work. The Starmechs enjoy the opportunity to have a good time. They don't suffer from any overpowering need to collect material possessions, or even to acquire wealth. They have a special cleverness that goes into manufacturing ships and robots. These robots fulfill most of the needs of their society, and they are comfortable with their mechanical servants, treating them as dogs or children. Most Starmechs prefer to travel with at least one robot servant.

Paraphrased from: David Eckleberry, and Richard Baker. Star*Drive Campaign Setting. Wizards of the Coast, Inc. P.O. Box 707 Renton, WA. 98057-0707: Wizards of the Coast / TSR, 1998.

Rogue Space Character Ideas
StarMech's excellent education and occupational training give the Starmechs a natural flair for all things technical. A player may choose to be a Starmech for his/her race (human only) during character creation. They gain a +1 bonus to vehicle (including spaceships) mechanics and ship systems tests.

Ship Engineer
Character Background: Engineer
High Attributes: Repairing and Scientific
Archetype: Technician
The crew knows you as the weird person who sleeps in the engine room, gets high too often, and throws the best parties. You try to always make sure things on the ship stay pretty level, and people shouldn't stop having fun. While on the outside it doesn't seem like you take your job seriously or may be unreliable at best, but nobody can argue with your results. The mass reactors and stardrive run at peak efficiency at all times, and the captain would want no one else in engineering during battle. Truly a befitting companion for the dangerous voyages into the Verge.

Roboticist
Character Background: Roboticist
High Attributes: Repairing and Scientific
Archetype: Technician
Lot's of people have friends, but you have a lot of friends. These friends though are mechanical in nature. Wherever you go, they go, and are often followed by a small army of robots. Whatever the team needs, you generally have a robot for that. You have controlling and coordinating them down to an art, and when other robots are often encountered during your adventures, you are the one to either hack it, destroy it, or preferably, steal it.