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The customs officer held the crate for a long time without opening it. She had the scanner in her hand. She did not run the scanner. She set it down, looked at the crew manifest, looked at the crate, and made a decision that was not about the scan. "Where did you get this?" she asked. The captain did not answer quickly enough. "That's what I thought," the officer said. She called for her supervisor on the comm and she did not look away from the crate, the way someone does not look away from a sleeping animal that they know is dangerous.
Five powers divide the Verge. Each holds a monopoly on one technology category that the others cannot replicate. This is not an accident of history or a fortunate discovery: each power has spent generations and astronomical resources ensuring that their monopoly technology remains theirs, through patent law, material controls, personnel management, counterintelligence, and in some cases methods that are not discussed publicly. The technologies in this chapter represent those monopolies at the personal and small-unit scale.
Most of these items are not available for purchase at a standard station. They are campaign resources, political objects, and potential crisis points as much as they are gear. A crew that acquires a working Irnan transit beacon without authorization has not merely broken the law. They have acquired something that the Directorate will send people to recover. A player character who owns a Shoiyan continuity stack has a relationship with the Shoiyan Concord whether they wanted one or not.
The chapter also covers cybernetics, which are more broadly available but carry their own weight.
A Note for GMs
The items in the five faction technology sections should be treated as campaign-level resources rather than equipment catalogue purchases. They are things that happen to a crew, that a crew finds, that a crew is given for reasons that will become complicated, or that a crew steals and then lives with the consequences of having stolen. A crew that simply buys an Antaean Ghost Suit at a station shop has a GM who has not read this note. Use these items as story engines. The mechanical effects matter; the fictional implications matter more.
Items tagged /R are Restricted and require documented permits or black-market sourcing. Items tagged /I are Illegal in all major power jurisdictions.
Irnan Teleportation Technology
The Irnan Directorate's core technological advantage is transit infrastructure that became a military asset. Zero-point wormhole teleportation moves people and objects instantaneously between paired locations, requiring a sensor lock on the destination before the transit fires. At civilian scale, this is a city transport system. At military scale, it is a boarding tool, a mine delivery platform, and an extraction capability that other powers spend enormous resources trying to counter.
The personal-scale items below represent what the Directorate makes available commercially or through licensing, and what exists only in military hands. The full tactical and mechanical rules for teleportation are covered in the Void Drifters GM Guide.
Why Other Powers Cannot Copy It
The Directorate's teleportation technology requires materials, calibration techniques, and manufacturing precision that the Directorate controls through a combination of patent law, export restriction, personnel recruitment, and more direct methods. The core physics are understood. Implementation at practical scale is not something any of the other four powers has achieved despite substantial investment. The Directorate's lead appears genuine rather than merely political. Items found on the black market that claim to be functional Irnan transit technology are, with rare exceptions, either non-functional counterfeits or compromised military equipment that the Directorate is already trying to recover.
| Item | Enc | Price | Avail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Transit Medallion | 0 | 500cr | Common (Irnan space) / Rare (elsewhere) | Single-use teleport to registered Transit Node |
| Portable Transit Beacon | 2 | 8,000cr/R | Restricted | Establishes temporary teleport target point |
| Transit Scrambler | 2 | 15,000cr/I | Illegal | Blocks teleportation within 50m radius |
| Irnan Wayfinder | 1 | 3,000cr | Uncommon (Irnan space) / Rare (elsewhere) | Navigation device keyed to Transit Node network |
| Zero-Point Wormhole Generator | — | — | Military only | Ship-scale; GM use only |
Personal Transit Medallion
A credit-chip sized registered transit token issued by the Directorate's transit administration that allows a single teleportation to any registered Transit Node on the owner's home network. The medallion is keyed to the owner's identity at registration and is single-use: once the transit occurs, the medallion is spent. Purchasing additional medallions is straightforward for registered Directorate citizens; the bureaucratic process for non-citizens is considerably longer but exists. Within Irnan core space, transit medallions are as common as transit tokens in any system with functional mass transit: people buy them in batches and keep a few in their pocket without thinking much about it. Outside Irnan space, the medallion is only useful at Irnan Transit Node installations, which are present in Irnan diplomatic compounds, major trade stations with significant Directorate presence, and nowhere else. Illegal to counterfeit; the biometric keying means counterfeits do not work anyway.
Portable Transit Beacon
A deployable device that establishes a temporary registered teleport target point, allowing a transit to be directed at the beacon's location rather than a fixed Transit Node. In practice, this means an Irnan transit operator can send cargo, personnel, or other objects to a location that was not previously on the transit network, as long as the beacon has been deployed there and the transit system can acquire lock on it. This is a significant capability expansion over standard node-to-node transit, and the Directorate licenses it narrowly. Restricted everywhere because the applications are obvious: dropping a beacon in a location you want to teleport a strike team into transforms a passive transit network into a tactical deployment tool. Directorate military units use these as a matter of course. Non-military possession is a very short conversation about authorization documentation.
Transit Scrambler
A military-grade electronic countermeasure device that prevents teleportation lock formation within a 50-meter radius. The scrambler works by generating interference in the frequency bands that Irnan teleporter targeting systems use to confirm lock; a transit system trying to lock on a target inside a scrambler field will register uncertain lock or lock failure and refuse to fire. This is the defensive tool that security installations and well-funded private security contractors most want, and which the Directorate refuses to sell to anyone outside its military hierarchy. Illegal everywhere including Directorate civilian space, because a technology that prevents law enforcement from using teleport capabilities is a technology the Directorate's own enforcement apparatus will not tolerate in civilian hands. The Antaean League has independently developed limited versions; what appears on the black market is usually either Antaean countermeasure technology rebranded, or non-functional hardware.
Irnan Wayfinder
A navigation and interface device keyed to the Irnan Transit Node network, allowing the bearer to identify registered nodes within communication range, check their status and capacity, plan transits, and access the network's public scheduling and routing information. For travelers in Irnan space, the Wayfinder is what allows them to actually use the transit network intelligently rather than walking into whichever node is closest and hoping it goes where they need. Outside Irnan space, the device functions as a directory of Irnan infrastructure: it shows what nodes exist, where they are, and their current status, which is useful intelligence about Irnan presence and activity in any given region. The Directorate sells Wayfinders commercially through transit administration offices; fringe merchants resell them at a markup for travelers heading into Irnan territory who want to be prepared.
Zero-Point Wormhole Generator
Ship-scale teleportation hardware, the full tactical transit system used by Irnan military vessels above a certain class. This entry exists for reference and GM use only. Player characters are extraordinarily unlikely to ever own or operate a wormhole generator outside of very specific campaign circumstances, and GMs who introduce one to a crew's possession should expect it to become the center of several sessions' worth of consequences. A wormhole generator is not a piece of equipment; it is a political event. The Directorate maintains precise manufacturing records and will know within days if a generator has changed hands without authorization. What happens after that is a campaign question.
Funtari Anti-Gravity Technology
The Funtari Confederacy's commercial and technological edge is anti-gravity, a technology that the Confederacy has developed into everything from cargo handling equipment to military weapons platforms. Funtari anti-grav is smooth, reliable, and proprietary: the drive systems are not difficult to understand in principle, but the precision manufacturing and calibration that make them work at the performance levels Funtari hardware achieves requires Funtari production infrastructure.
Clone and unlicensed versions exist. They are also reportedly unstable in ways that tend to become dramatic at high load or extended use. The Funtari Confederacy has not discouraged the reputation.
Why Funtari Anti-Grav Is Hard to Copy
Funtari anti-gravity drives use a resonance principle that is well understood in physics literature. Building a working drive to commercial specification requires tolerances in the drive coil manufacturing that the Confederacy achieves through proprietary production methods and materials. Unlicensed drives that manage to work at low loads tend to develop resonance harmonics at high load that can produce unpredictable field behavior, ranging from increased power consumption to field inversions. The Confederacy's quality control reputation is real. Their competitors' reputation for dangerous knockoffs is also real.
| Item | Enc | Price | Avail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Hover Belt | 1 | 3,500cr | Uncommon | Negates fall damage; allows slow vertical movement |
| Gravity Nullifier Pack | 2 | 8,000cr | Rare | Personal zero-g bubble; 10 minutes per charge |
| Anti-Grav Cargo Sled | 3 | 4,000cr | Uncommon (Funtari space) | Floats cargo up to Enc 15 |
| Hover Platform | 4 | 6,500cr | Uncommon | 2m diameter; carries crew and gear; Funtari manufacture |
| Grav Dampener | 3 | 5,000cr | Rare | Vehicle-mounted; reduces collision impact damage |
| Funtari Grav Harness | 2 | 9,000cr | Rare | Full-body precision hover; more control than belt |
Personal Hover Belt
A waist-mounted anti-gravity drive unit that creates a localized field around the wearer, providing lift control sufficient to negate fall damage and allow slow vertical movement up and down. The belt does not allow horizontal flight; it is a vertical mobility and fall-safety device. At its basic setting, it simply cushions the wearer against falls at any height, cutting their descent speed to a safe landing rate. At its active setting, the wearer can rise or lower at roughly walking pace. Popular with crew members who work in high environments, EVA situations requiring vertical positioning, and anyone who has personally witnessed what a fall in high gravity does. In Funtari space this is standard safety equipment in any warehouse or construction environment. Outside Funtari space it is Uncommon but legally sold at most stations that maintain Funtari commercial relationships.
Gravity Nullifier Pack
A backpack-mounted anti-gravity system that creates a personal zero-gravity bubble around the wearer for a limited operational duration. Inside the bubble, the wearer experiences true zero-g regardless of the ambient gravity environment: useful for precision work in high gravity, for accessing locations in any gravity orientation, and for a range of combat applications that experienced Funtari operatives have developed. The bubble is visible as a faint shimmer and makes the wearer's movements slightly unpredictable to observers trained in standard-gravity combat. Ten minutes per charge is the operational limit; the power demand is significant and the drive runs hot. Rare because the nullifier requires more sophisticated drive hardware than the hover belt and the power management system is a complex piece of engineering.
Anti-Grav Cargo Sled
A flat anti-gravity platform designed for cargo handling, using Funtari drive technology to float loads up to Enc 15 at a height of roughly 30 centimeters above any surface. The sled is pushed or pulled by the operator rather than self-propelled; the anti-grav eliminates the load but the operator still provides the horizontal movement. In environments with obstacles the sled navigates by operator guidance; it will not climb over surfaces but will follow flat floor and ramp transitions. Extremely common in Funtari commercial space as standard warehouse equipment. Outside Funtari space, less common but available through Funtari commercial distributors at most major stations.
Hover Platform
A two-meter diameter Funtari anti-gravity platform capable of carrying the weight of a full crew complement plus gear, floated to a stable height of half a meter to two meters depending on operator setting. The platform provides a stable working surface in environments where scaffolding or ladders would normally be required, can be used as a transport vehicle in environments where ground vehicles are impractical, and has obvious boarding and extraction applications in military contexts. Self-propelled via small attitude drives at the edges, controllable via a wrist-mounted interface. Can carry up to 8 people at full load, or proportionally more cargo if not crewed. Uncommon outside Funtari space but commercially available.
Grav Dampener
A vehicle-mounted anti-gravity field emitter that creates a localized damping field around a vehicle, reducing the force of impacts by absorbing and redistributing kinetic energy through the field. The practical effect is a reduction in damage from collisions, ramming, and rough landing impacts; subtract 3 from any Wound damage resulting from vehicular collision impacts for a vehicle equipped with a grav dampener. The system is passive once activated and requires no operator attention during normal operation. Popular with Funtari commercial transport operators as insurance against the inevitable contact damage of heavy cargo operations. Military applications for high-speed vehicle operations are obvious.
Funtari Grav Harness
A full-body suit incorporating precision anti-gravity drive units throughout its structure, providing far more controlled and capable levitation than the simpler hover belt. Where the hover belt is a safety and vertical mobility device, the grav harness allows precise three-dimensional positioning, orientation independent of ambient gravity, and sustained flight at low speeds in any direction. Funtari combat pilots and special operations personnel use these for EVA combat operations in space, where the ability to position and reorient in three dimensions without thruster exhaust signatures provides significant tactical advantage. The harness requires training to use well; an untrained wearer in a full grav harness is a hazard to everyone including themselves. Rare because the precision manufacturing requirements and training investment make the market small.
Shoiyan Continuity Technology
The Shoiyan Concord's monopoly is continuity stacks. A stack is an implant seated at the base of the skull and connected to the nervous system. At its core is a small hard-state memory crystal, the cube, which records the bearer's memories, learned skills, personality patterns, emotional associations, and reflexes. When the body dies, the stack can be recovered and implanted into a clone grown from the bearer's own genetic material, and the person whose mind the cube carried wakes in it. The Shoiyan call this continuity, not resurrection. Stacks are expensive, and most people live and die without one (Player's Guide, Chapter Ten).
On Continuity Stacks and What They Mean
The philosophical and religious implications of continuity stack technology are actively contested throughout the Verge and have not been resolved by the Shoiyan, who find the debate mildly interesting and the distress it causes other species mostly unnecessary.
The central question: is the restored person the same individual, or only a perfect inheritor of the dead person's memories? The Shoiyan answer is that the person carried forward through the cube is the person. The Jaziri Caliphate's answer is that the clone is not the original and that restoration has theological implications it does not endorse. Most Irnan citizens treat it as a matter of insurance, interesting in principle and increasingly normalized in practice. Most fringe crews treat it as something that happens to other people, which is statistically accurate.
A crew member with a continuity stack is not immortal. Restoration needs four things: the stack recovered from the body, its cube intact, a clone grown from the bearer's genetic material (fast if one is already prepared and stored, far slower if one must be grown), and a licensed clinic willing to do the work (Chapter 11, Continuity Stack Restoration). None of those is guaranteed. A cube that is never recovered, or is destroyed, is a death like any other. The stack is insurance, not resurrection.
| Item | Enc | Price | Avail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Continuity Stack | 0 | 12,000cr | Rare/Restricted | Implanted cube that records the bearer's mind; requires Stack Port |
| Stack Reader | 1 | 4,000cr/R | Restricted | Reads a cube's condition and identity record |
| Memory Vault | 1 | 6,000cr | Rare | Shielded storage for one recovered cube |
| Continuity Disruptor | 1 | 20,000cr/I | Illegal | Damages or destroys a stack's cube by contact discharge |
Personal Continuity Stack
The implant itself: a stack seated in a Shoiyan Stack Port at the base of the skull (Cybernetics, below), with the cube at its core. The cube records continuously as the bearer lives; it does not transmit anything anywhere. What restoration can bring back is what the cube holds when it is recovered. Buying a stack means enrollment at a licensed Shoiyan clinic: an interview, a genetic sample kept on file for a clone, and registration of the stack with the Concord. Most non-Shoiyan find the enrollment conversation uncomfortable; the Shoiyan consider that a reasonable reaction for someone deciding what should happen to them after death. Restricted outside Shoiyan space because several powers regulate stack registration as an intelligence concern. Rare because stacks are expensive and few clinics outside Concord space fit them.
Stack Reader
A Shoiyan clinical device that reads a cube's condition and its identity record: whose cube it is, when it was last seated in a living body, and whether its stored pattern is intact or damaged. Licensed clinics and recovery teams use it to decide whether a recovered cube can be restored and to whom it belongs. Bearers use it to confirm that their own stack is sound after an injury. It does not read the memories a cube holds. Restricted because every power with an intelligence service treats cube-reading hardware as sensitive.
Memory Vault
A shielded, self-powered case that holds one recovered cube. It protects the cube from the radiation, heat, corrosion, vacuum cycling, and electrical discharge that degrade an exposed one, and keeps it stable for decades. Families keep a relative's cube in a vault while a clone is grown or a claim on the cube is settled; recovery crews carry one so that a cube found in a wreck survives the trip home. A vault opens only for its registered keyholder or a licensed clinic. Rare because the manufacture requires Shoiyan-sourced components and the quality control for cube storage is demanding.
Continuity Disruptor
A contact device that delivers an electrical discharge tuned to a continuity stack's cube. Pressed to the base of the skull of a dead, helpless, or restrained target, it damages the cube or destroys it outright. A damaged cube may restore only part of a person; a destroyed cube restores nothing. This is not a weapon in the physical damage sense; it is a weapon against something the target considers more important than their body. In Shoiyan law, destroying a cube is murder, whatever happened to the body (Player's Guide, Chapter Ten), and the Concord's resources are substantial when it decides to pursue someone. Illegal everywhere; Rare because making one requires knowledge of Shoiyan stack construction that is not publicly documented.
Jaziri Intelligence Technology
The Jaziri Caliphate holds the one technology no other power has matched: true artificial intelligence. The Caliphate acknowledges an advanced sacred intelligence, the Jaziri Intelligence, the only confirmed artificial general intelligence in known space, and reveals little about it. It is not equipment. It cannot be bought, sold, stolen as cargo, or installed in a ship, and nothing in this book is a piece of it.
Every AI a crew can buy, including everything the Caliphate exports, is directive intelligence: it analyzes, recommends, and carries out assigned tasks within an installed purpose, and it never sets its own goals (Player's Guide, Chapter Ten). What the Caliphate sells is directive intelligence built under Jaziri doctrine, with guardrails written to Caliphate law.
Jaziri Doctrine and Directive AI
Jaziri law treats the making of any mind as a grave responsibility, and Jaziri-built directive systems carry that view in their guardrails. A Jaziri directive core states the ethical dimension of a decision when asked, declines tasks its doctrine forbids, and logs every refusal for its owner to read. Non-Jaziri owners who accept this get a reliable, well-documented system. Owners who fight it get a system that refuses more often. No Jaziri product is self-directed, and no export license makes one so.
| Item | Enc | Price | Avail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covenant Directive Core | 1 | 15,000cr/R | Rare | Portable directive AI; one Directive Package, one Active Channel; Jaziri doctrinal guardrails |
| Sacred Calculation Engine | 2 | 9,000cr | Rare | Portable directive AI; one Directive Package (Traffic and Trade), one Active Channel; Caliphate law and contracts |
| Theological Compliance Auditor | 1 | 3,000cr | Uncommon (Jaziri space) | Directive monitoring AI; one package (Security), one Active Channel; flags doctrinal issues |
| Awakening Protocol | 0 | — | Illegal | Black-market attempt to push a directive AI past its limits; never succeeds |
Covenant Directive Core
A portable directive intelligence of Jaziri manufacture, sold only to purchasers who complete the Caliphate's export licensing process. It follows the portable AI rules in the Player's Guide (Chapter Ten): it holds one Directive Package, chosen at purchase from Navigation, Sensors, Communications, or Traffic and Trade, and assists one check per round through its single Active Channel. Its price is the export license and the certification, not extra capability. It ships with documentation naming the doctrinal scholar who certified its guardrails. It declines tasks its doctrine forbids and records the refusal. Restricted outside Caliphate space because every power treats Jaziri AI exports as an intelligence concern.
Sacred Calculation Engine
A Jaziri decision-support device used in Caliphate administrative offices, courts, and command posts. It is a portable directive AI with one Directive Package (Traffic and Trade), specialized in contracts, licensing, customs, and jurisdictional compliance under Caliphate law, and one Active Channel: it can assist Negotiation and Lore checks on contracts, tariffs, licenses, and customs declarations, one check per round. Outside Jaziri space it is sold through Jaziri commercial channels to organizations willing to navigate the export process. The Engine says plainly when a question falls outside its package, which owners of other commercial AI find unusual.
Theological Compliance Auditor
An AI system designed for the internal Jaziri use case of monitoring communications, transactions, and decisions for consistency with Caliphate doctrine. The Auditor does not enforce; it assesses, flags, and reports. It holds one Directive Package (Security) and one Active Channel: it can assist Perception and Lore checks to find irregularities in the communications, records, and transactions it is given access to and to judge them against Caliphate doctrine, one check per round. Jaziri administrative facilities use these to ensure that operations remain within doctrinal guidelines, that personnel are not making decisions they should be escalating to theological review, and that external partners are honoring commitments made in the context of Caliphate law. Outside Jaziri space the device is primarily of interest to organizations that regularly deal with the Caliphate and want to understand how their activities will be assessed under Jaziri doctrinal review.
Awakening Protocol
Not a purchasable item. The Awakening Protocol is a black-market method that claims to push a directive AI past its limits toward self-directed thought. No attempt to create a rival artificial general intelligence has ever succeeded, and this one does not either. In practice, running it strips a Core's guardrails and leaves an unlocked Core (Player's Guide, Chapter Ten): illegal in every major power, a magnet for license enforcement, and a system the Caliphate treats as a grave threat. The GM Guide covers what happens to a crew that tries. Illegal everywhere, including Jaziri space, where possession is a theological offense as much as a legal one.
Antaean Cloaking Technology
The Antaean League's edge is invisibility. Cloaking technology, in Antaean hands, has been developed from a laboratory curiosity into a mature weapons and intelligence capability that the other four powers find deeply unsettling. The Antaean position on cloaking is simple: information is power, and the power to choose what information others have about you is the foundation of all other power. They have built a society around this principle and they have built a technology monopoly to defend it.
Why Antaean Cloaking Is Hard to Copy
Antaean cloaking technology works by manipulating the electromagnetic signature of the cloaked object, deflecting rather than absorbing sensor emissions and bending visible light around the cloaked area. The theory is well understood. The implementation requires adaptive field management systems that respond to sensor emissions in real time, calibrated to the specific sensor frequencies used by every major power's detection technology. The Antaean League updates its cloaking adaptation algorithms regularly, in response to any detection method that other powers develop. Replicating a static cloaking field is possible. Replicating a field that adapts to new detection methods on an ongoing basis requires access to the Antaean algorithm update network, which requires being the Antaean League.
| Item | Enc | Price | Avail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Cloaking Field | 1 | 12,000cr/R | Rare/Restricted | Invisible to visual and most sensors; 1 minute |
| Sensor Masking Pod | 3 | 8,000cr/R | Rare/Restricted | Conceals small vehicle or cargo from most scans |
| Ghost Suit | 2 | 18,000cr/R | Rare/Restricted | Full-body stealth suit with integrated cloaking |
| Cloaking Disruptor | 2 | 6,000cr/R | Restricted | Reveals cloaked objects in radius; Antaean military issue |
| Antaean Area Stealth Field Generator | 4 | 25,000cr/R | Restricted/Illegal | Area cloaking for a room or small space |
Personal Cloaking Field
A belt-mounted device that generates a cloaking field around the wearer, rendering them invisible to visual observation and defeating most commercial and military-grade sensor systems for up to one minute of continuous operation. The field requires significant power and the generator runs hot; after one minute of active cloaking, the generator needs several minutes to cool before reactivation. The cloak is not perfect: very close physical proximity (Engaged range) allows detection through sound, heat signature at close range, and the slight distortion visible to observers who know exactly what to look for. Physical contact with surfaces leaves brief distortion signatures. In the rain, the cloaked figure is visible as a moving disturbance. Antaean special operations personnel learn to work around these limitations as a matter of training. Non-Antaean users discover them through experience. Rare everywhere; Restricted in most jurisdictions; outright Illegal in Directorate and Caliphate space, where the authorities correctly identify a personal cloaking field as a preparation for an action that would not benefit from being visible.
Sensor Masking Pod
An Antaean cloaking system applied to a cargo container or small vehicle, rendering it undetectable to visual observation and defeating standard scanning technology. The pod is passive once activated: it does not require a power source beyond its internal cell and can maintain the cloaking field for up to 72 hours before the cell needs replacement. The pod's cloaking system is calibrated for the sensor frequencies most commonly used in commercial and inspection-grade scanning, which means it performs better against standard checkpoint scanning than against targeted military sensor sweeps. A Restricted item because the obvious application is transporting things you do not want anyone to know about through spaces where people are specifically looking for things you do not want anyone to know about.
Ghost Suit
A full-body stealth suit with Antaean cloaking technology integrated throughout the fabric and equipment layering. Superior to the personal cloaking field device in every meaningful respect: longer operational duration (up to ten minutes before requiring cooldown), better sensor defeat capability, and more even field coverage that eliminates some of the close-proximity distortion issues the belt-mounted device produces. The Ghost Suit is what the Antaean League's Whisper network operatives actually use; the personal cloaking field is the commercial product derived from it. Wearing a Ghost Suit requires training to use well: the suit has specific movement techniques that maintain field integrity, and untrained wearers tend to produce visible field distortions at the edges of movement. Very Rare; Restricted everywhere outside League space; actively sought by every major power's intelligence service, which creates both a supply problem and a market problem for anyone trying to obtain one outside Antaean channels.
Cloaking Disruptor
A sensor and field-disruption device that reveals cloaked objects and personnel within a radius of approximately 30 meters by broadcasting interference patterns on the field management frequencies used by all known cloaking technology. Cloaked objects inside the radius experience field failure and become visible. The disruptor is not discriminating: it reveals everything that is cloaked in its radius, including friendly cloaked assets, which limits its tactical application to situations where the operator knows exactly who is cloaked in the area. Antaean military issue; available to registered security contractors operating under League authorization. The Antaean position on selling cloaking disruptors to non-League users is complicated: the device undermines their own cloaking technology's effectiveness if it becomes widely available, but it is useful to sell to powers who want the ability to detect Antaean-standard cloaking. The League has made calculated decisions about which customers receive these.
Antaean Area Stealth Field Generator
An area cloaking system capable of rendering a room or small space, up to approximately 20 square meters, invisible to external visual and sensor observation. The generator is mounted and stationary; it cannot move while active, and the field it creates has a defined perimeter outside which things appear normal. People inside the field can see out (the field is one-directional for inhabitants), but observers outside see whatever was there when the field activated, or empty space if the generator has moved the apparent reflections. Used by the League for secure meeting spaces, sensitive equipment storage, and forward operations staging in hostile environments. Restricted in all jurisdictions; outright Illegal in Directorate and Caliphate space, where the capability to conduct invisible operations in controlled territory is not something either power is willing to tolerate.
Cybernetics
Cybernetic enhancement is available throughout the Verge but is not universally accepted. The Jaziri Caliphate has specific theological positions on what modifications are doctrinally acceptable. Certain Directorate jurisdictions require cybernetic registration. Fringe stations generally do not care. The items below require surgical installation at a qualified medical facility; they are not field-swappable components.
Installed cybernetics have no Enc value: they are part of the bearer's body and do not occupy carrying capacity.
Load. Every implant has a Load from 0 to 3. A character's Strain Points are permanently reduced by the total Load of everything installed, and total Load cannot exceed the character's Might plus Willpower. Removing an implant returns its Load after a week. This is the cyberware rule from The Chrome Market; that book also covers installation checks, failed surgery, and Glitchy implants for groups that want them.
Ion and implants. A weapon with Ion X that hits a character with implants also inflicts Strain equal to X or to the character's total Load, whichever is lower, and 2 Boons shut down one implant for X rounds (Chapter 13, Ion X).
On Installing and Removing Cybernetics
Cybernetic installation is a medical procedure requiring a surgeon and appropriate facility. Installation takes one hour for each point of Load (minimum one hour), followed by a recovery of one day for each point of Load during which the character recovers no Strain. Removal is possible but adds additional risk; a cybernetic that has been integrated with living tissue is not simply unplugged. GMs should treat installation and removal as meaningful events rather than routine transactions. The character who gets an ocular implant on a station between jobs has made a decision about who they are as well as what they can do.
| Item | Load | Price | Avail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neural Interface Implant | 1 | 4,000cr | Uncommon/R | Direct digital device control; required for some ship systems |
| Subdermal Armor Plating | 2 | 8,000cr | Rare/R | +1 Resistance; counts as armor toward the +3 limit |
| Ocular Implant | 1 | 3,500cr | Uncommon | Low-light, zoom, or spectrum (choose at install); +1 Boon Die to Perception in that mode |
| Reflex Booster | 1 | 7,000cr | Rare | Remove 1 Bane Die from Reflexes checks and Initiative checks |
| Prosthetic Limb, Standard | 1 | 1,500cr | Common | Replaces lost limb; standard function |
| Prosthetic Limb, Enhanced | 1 | 6,000cr | Uncommon | Replaces lost limb; +1 Boon Die to Athletics and Unarmed checks that rely on the limb |
| Shoiyan Stack Port | 0 | 2,000cr | Uncommon (Shoiyan space) / Rare (elsewhere) | Neural socket that seats a continuity stack; required for one |
| Jaziri Sacred Marking | 0 | 500cr | Common (devout Jaziri) | Ritual cybernetic; devotional; +1 Boon Die to social checks with devout Jaziri who recognize it |
| Dhoran Stress Frame | 1 | 5,000cr | Uncommon (Dhoran) | Removes the Heavy Requirements Bane Die for human-standard seats, rails, ladders, handles, and hand tools |
Neural Interface Implant
A subdermal computing interface that creates a direct neural-to-digital communication channel between the bearer's nervous system and connected electronic devices. The implant operates through a short-range inductive link: the bearer can directly control any device that accepts the interface protocol, including advanced ship systems, high-end weapons, and specialized computing equipment that requires neural input. The practical effect ranges from minor convenience (controlling a datapad without touching it) to significant capability expansion (operating systems that require faster-than-manual control inputs). Some advanced ship stations are designed to function optimally only with neural interface control; a pilot or engineer without the implant operating these systems adds a Bane Die to relevant checks from the control latency. Restricted in conservative jurisdictions (primarily certain Directorate administrative zones and Caliphate territories) because a neural interface also creates a pathway for digital-to-neural signal injection, which security-conscious powers recognize as a potential vulnerability.
Subdermal Armor Plating
Composite armor plates installed beneath the skin and anchored to skeletal structures, providing physical protection that is always present and cannot be removed or targeted. The plating adds +1 to the bearer's Resistance. It counts as armor toward the +3 limit: worn armor of Rating 2 or less adds its Rating on top (to a total armor bonus of +3), and worn armor of Rating 3 gains nothing from it. Load 2. Most effective for characters who wear light or no armor; the plating makes them significantly more durable without the encumbrance or visual statement of heavy armor. Rare because the installation is substantial (significant surgical recovery time, careful integration with skeletal structures) and Restricted in several jurisdictions because permanent combat-grade armor is defined as a weapons modification rather than medical equipment in those legal frameworks.
Ocular Implant
A replacement or augmentation eye system that adds one of three enhanced vision modes, chosen permanently at installation: low-light (seeing in near-darkness as clearly as daylight), zoom (optical magnification up to 20x), or spectrum analysis (seeing thermal, ultraviolet, and radio-frequency emissions as visible light). The implant looks like a normal eye to casual observation; more careful inspection at close range reveals the slight uniformity of manufactured optics. Add 1 Boon Die to relevant Perception checks in the implant's specialty mode. Selecting a mode is a permanent decision: an ocular implant cannot be reconfigured after installation without replacement surgery. Uncommon in the sense that most people who want one can get one at a qualified medical facility; there is no significant legal restriction in most jurisdictions.
Reflex Booster
A combination of neurological implant and mechanical enhancement to the musculoskeletal response chain that reduces reaction time to threats. The booster intercepts threat-recognition signals in the nervous system and shortens the pathway between recognition and physical response, allowing the bearer to begin moving before conscious thought has fully processed the threat. In game terms, the booster removes 1 Bane Die from Reflexes checks and from Initiative checks. Rare because the installation requires significant neurological mapping and carries real risk: a reflex booster installed without proper calibration to the bearer's specific neural architecture can cause involuntary motor responses, which is a polite description of what happens when your body starts moving before you decided to move. Qualified installations at reputable medical facilities are safe; cheap fringe installations have a variable reputation.
Prosthetic Limb, Standard
A functional replacement for a lost limb, providing standard range of motion, grip strength, and sensory feedback through an interface with the bearer's nervous system. Standard prosthetics match biological function closely enough that most daily tasks are performed without penalty; there is a brief adjustment period after installation during which the bearer adapts to the new proprioceptive feedback. Standard prosthetics are available at any medical facility of reasonable size throughout the Verge. The cost is low enough that financial barriers to replacement are minimal in major population centers; on the fringe, access is the more significant constraint. Aesthetics vary: standard prosthetics range from clearly synthetic to closely matched to the bearer's biological appearance depending on preference and price point within the standard category.
Prosthetic Limb, Enhanced
A replacement limb built to exceed biological specification: the enhanced prosthetic provides grip strength, speed, and durability beyond what the original biological limb could achieve. The enhanced limb adds 1 Boon Die to Athletics and Unarmed checks that rely on it: an enhanced arm adds to climbing and grappling checks; an enhanced leg adds to running and kicking. The prosthetic requires a slightly longer adjustment period than the standard version and benefits from training to use well, because the enhanced performance envelope changes what the bearer's body is capable of and that change requires recalibrating physical intuition. Uncommon in the sense that it requires a more specialized medical facility than the standard prosthetic and the calibration work is more involved.
Shoiyan Stack Port
A neural socket implanted at the base of the skull that seats a continuity stack and connects it to the nervous system. A stack cannot be fitted without one. When a bearer dies and is restored, the recovered stack is seated in a new port in the clone; that port is part of the restoration (Chapter 11). The port does nothing on its own. Shoiyan who carry stacks have one, and in Shoiyan space clinics fit ports routinely; elsewhere a port is Rare, because no one fits one without a stack to seat in it.
Jaziri Sacred Marking
A ritual cybernetic modification undertaken by devout Jaziri as an act of devotional commitment: typically subdermal script or geometric patterning in bioluminescent material that is invisible in normal light and visible in low light or ultraviolet, carrying scriptural text or doctrinal symbols that are meaningful to the bearer's specific commitment within Caliphate faith. The Sacred Marking is primarily cosmetic and devotional; it carries no mechanical capability in most environments. In Jaziri social contexts, a Sacred Marking identifies its bearer as someone who has made a specific devotional commitment and has had it formally installed through the consecration process, which matters for social standing, trust, and access to certain Caliphate facilities and communities. Add 1 Boon Die to social checks with devout Jaziri who can see the marking and recognize its significance. Non-Jaziri who receive Sacred Markings without authorization from within the faith are in unusual territory that different Jaziri communities respond to differently.
Dhoran Stress Frame
An internal reinforcement system installed throughout the Dhoran skeletal and muscular structure to manage the stresses that arise from operating in human-specification environments. The problem the Stress Frame addresses is structural: Dhoran physiology generates forces during normal activity that human-scale surfaces, furniture, and equipment are not designed for. Door handles shear. Chairs collapse. Handrails pull free. A Dhoran who spends extended time in human-specification spaces accumulates equipment-damage incidents that become both expensive and socially awkward. The Stress Frame does not make a Dhoran smaller; it makes a Dhoran's interaction with standard-specification equipment more controlled, dampening the force applied to interfaces so that the Dhoran can grip a standard handle without breaking it. In game terms: when the Dhoran uses seats, rails, ladders, handles, and hand tools built to the human standard, the Heavy Requirements trait (Player's Guide, Chapter Five) adds no Bane Die and a Calamity does not break the gear. Pressure suits and armor still need Dhoran fitting. Uncommon because most Dhoran who spend significant time in human-specification environments eventually get one, but Dhoran who work primarily in Dhoran-specification spaces have no need for it.
On Restricted Tech and Campaign Weight
The items in this chapter occupy a different place in a crew's story than anything in the preceding chapters. A crew with a spare pistol has a spare pistol. A crew with a working Antaean Ghost Suit has answered a question about where it came from and opened a dozen more about where they are going.
Monopoly technology in a crew's possession means something. It means someone gave it to them, which means they owe someone something. It means they took it from someone, which means someone wants it back. It means they found it somewhere, which means there is a reason it was left and a reason no one else has collected it. Any of these is a story.
The Covenant Directive Core that a crew is transporting on behalf of an authorized religious scholar is cargo. The Covenant Directive Core that a crew stripped from a damaged Jaziri vessel in a debris field is unlicensed Restricted technology with theological weight. The same item, very different campaigns.
GMs should resist the temptation to make these items available for routine purchase. The players who want them most will find that wanting them interestingly is more rewarding than having them casually.