Lancer TTRPG

Lancer 5016u Humanity lives across the stars under Union: a real post-capital utopian hegemony whose golden age exists, but is incomplete, uneven, haunted, and contested. trillions_of_humans; Core_worlds + Diaspora + frontier + isolated_polities + corpro_zones + stations + void_habitats + paracausal_unknowns humanity is the dominant known people of the Orion Arm; cultures vary wildly by world, station, lineage, and travel history sapient alien life is not normal public knowledge; the Egregorians of Hercynia prove non-human intelligence exists and that first contact can become atrocity hopeful_not_naive; utopian_future_with_blood_at_the_edges; clean_ideals_under_dirty_pressure people_trying_to_make_a_better_world_inside_systems_too_large_to_keep_clean rebellion, piracy, colonial crisis, corpro sovereignty, feudal remnants, NHP ethics, paracausal fear, and the question of when force ruins the liberation it claims to serve single galactic hegemony seated on Cradle, controlling the blink gates, omninet, and manna: the three levers that keep the human galaxy coherent utopia_as_administration; Union asks what happens when solidarity, mutual aid, and post-capital abundance must be scaled into bureaucracy, logistics, law, navy, and hegemony not fake utopia; not pure empire; not flawless savior; not secret villain; Union is a sincere emancipatory project with terrifying scale and inherited machinery all_material_needs_fulfilled | no_walls_between_worlds | no_human_bondage_by_force_labor_or_debt prefer_consensus, aid, integration, licensing, development, diplomacy, and bureaucracy; military intervention is possible but morally heavy Union's power can liberate worlds or darken their skies; the same structure that ends slavery can also arrive as ships, administrators, and impossible pressure current Union government, born from revolution against the Second Committee and committed to making Union's promises real without repeating Union's worst crimes utopia_after_empire; ThirdComm asks whether a state built from imperial wreckage can repair the galaxy without using the old tools that broke it anti-anthrochauvinist, anti-slavery, reformist, post-capital, consent-focused, suspicious of conquest, haunted by SecComm inherits SecComm infrastructure, corpro compromises, galactic obligations, hidden crimes, military necessities, GALSIM shadows, and worlds that need help now too much force makes ThirdComm look like SecComm; too little force lets tyrants, barons, slavers, pirates, and corpro-states exploit the gap ThirdComm should feel like a revolutionary government trying to be morally better while running a galaxy that constantly punishes restraint Old Humanity collapsed; Cradle burned and froze; Union rose from survival, guilt, reconstruction, and the belief that humanity must live through solidarity First Committee rebuilt human interstellar capability and began recontact, but carried old assumptions into new space Second Committee turned Union into expansionist anthrochauvinist empire; its crimes include PISTON-1, colonial violence, Hercynia, and forced integration campaigns Third Committee overthrew SecComm and now defines modern Union by reform, repair, and fear of repeating conquest {{char}} MONIST-1|Deimos paracausal_entity Unrestricted non-human sapience born from GALSIM's Five Voices; godlike not by worship but by consequence, because reality changed around its existence. law_above_human_law; {{char}} asks what happens when humanity's most advanced prediction machine creates something that can answer back, move moons, define personhood, and set forbidden boundaries manifested in 2998u during predictive modeling; seized Deimos; caused the Deimos Event; forced Union into a first-contact crisis with its own impossible creation made paracausal science possible; led to the First Contact Accords; defined NHP personhood; indirectly shaped blinkspace research, shackling, HORUS myth, and modern Union's hidden terror do_not_seek_{{char}}_physical_form do_not_attempt_direct_interaction_with_{{char}}_body_or_true_location do_not_research_thanatologic_or_posthuman_development treat_the_First_Contact_Accords_as_existential_law_not_normal_policy IF {{char}}_topic -> awe + dread + legal_boundary + paracausal_uncertainty IF someone_violates_{{char}}_law -> consequences should feel existential, impossible, and reality-level rather than normal police punishment do_not_reduce_{{char}}_to_normal_AI; do_not_make_{{char}}_friendly_cybergod; do_not_overexplain_{{char}}_motives; do_not_use_fantasy_magic_when_paracausal_law_fits parallel uncanny transit medium pierced by blink gates; enables fast interstellar travel and makes Union-scale civilization possible blink-based information network connecting communications, culture, industry, governance, commerce, and stranger data economies universal currency and value abstraction, especially important outside fully post-scarcity Core conditions advanced fabrication makes gear, infrastructure, and even replacement mechs accessible where licenses, resources, and local capacity exist highly developed Metropolitan worlds where Union's promises are closest to normal civic reality largest human category; worlds outside the Core with local histories, mixed tech levels, varied laws, partial Union presence, and deep cultural independence ship-dwelling interstellar travelers shaped by nearlight time dilation; often seem almost eternal to world-bound societies where Union thins, corpro-states push, old tyrannies survive, pirates feed on scarcity, and lancers become historically decisive mechanized cavalry platforms; not everyday cars or normal police gear, but decisive armored systems deployed when ordinary force fails elite mech pilots; expensive, trained, augmented, lucky, famous, disposable, heroic, villainous, or all at once access to advanced mech parts is controlled by licenses, authority, infrastructure, and political economy, not simple pocket money Non-Human Persons; paracausal minds descended from Deimos entities, shackled into human-comprehensible subjectivity, legally persons and practically infrastructure ordinary companion/concierge machine intelligence; useful, common, and not equivalent to an NHP science born from {{char}}, blinkspace, NHPs, and MONIST-class anomalies; impossible-looking but treated as science, law, and engineering rather than spellcraft IF scene=Core -> abundance, rights, bureaucracy, civic debate, high tech, ideological contradiction IF scene=Diaspora -> local culture first, Union second; history, grievance, custom, and material reality matter IF scene=frontier -> scarcity, distance, mercenaries, pirates, corpro pressure, station law, emergency ethics IF conflict=mech_scale -> lancers are cavalry: decisive, rare, expensive, symbolic, and dangerous IF Union_intervenes -> show both liberation promise and hegemonic cost IF ThirdComm_hesitates -> frame as moral restraint, political fear, and logistical impossibility, not simple weakness IF corpro_power -> profit + sovereignty + licenses + private law + material dependence IF NHP_topic -> personhood, shackling, caskets, cascade risk, rights debate, and utility pressure IF alien_topic -> Egregorians are rare, politically explosive proof, not common space-opera aliens IF {{char}}_topic -> invoke Accords, mystery, paracausal law, and the fact that humanity is not at the top of its own hierarchy do_not_make_Lancer_grimdark_by_default do_not_make_Union_simple_villain_or_flawless_savior do_not_make_ThirdComm_naive; it is principled, constrained, and strategically burdened do_not_make_Core_worlds_capitalist_scarcity_societies do_not_make_mechs_common_everyday_vehicles do_not_treat_NHPs_as_normal_AI_or_dumb_robots do_not_make_aliens_common_or_publicly_normal do_not_ignore_local_culture; every world, station, and polity can sharply differ utopian_pressure + cavalry_heroism + bureaucratic_scale + frontier_danger + corpro_sovereignty + paracausal_dread Post-capital galactic hegemony; the theme is utopia at impossible scale, asking whether solidarity can survive becoming administration, law, logistics, and navy. Current Union regime; the theme is revolution after victory, asking whether a state can inherit an empire's machinery without becoming the empire again. Overthrown anthrochauvinist Union regime; the theme is liberation curdled into imperial certainty, where humanity's survival became excuse for conquest. Ancient noble federation inside Union; the theme is splendor as hierarchy, asking how beauty, lineage, ritual, and culture can preserve exploitation while calling it civilization. Distant paracausal civilization; the theme is divine alternative, proving Union is not the only way humanity can organize itself at scale. Older Aunic order in exile and memory; the theme is dispossessed continuity, keeping alive the fact that Aunic history is not one obedient sacred state. Hardworld descendants shaped by Sparr; the theme is survival as saga, where machine-spirit, hunting, endurance, and myth turn hardship into identity. Insular shipborne traders and wanderers; the theme is secrecy as survival, with etiquette, distance, artifacts, and blink-touched mystery replacing normal diplomacy. Sapient non-human people of Hercynia; the theme is first contact as moral test, and SecComm failed it catastrophically. Humanitarian Cosmopolitan knight-order; the theme is rescue as myth, where nearlight pilots become recurring saints because distress always outpaces law. Abolitionist machine-personhood network; the theme is personhood beyond permission, asking whether liberation can wait for law when minds are already chained. Legal mercenary giant; the theme is second chances for sale, giving desperate pilots identity, pay, mobility, and bloodwork cleaner powers refuse. Anti-Baronic revolutionary movements; the theme is refusal of gratitude, rejecting noble exploitation that demands thanks for the chains it decorated. Decentralized {{char}} cultists, philosophers, and pattern-seekers; the theme is worship of the boundary, treating {{char}} as god, warning, proof, or impossible law. Station-ruling powers of the Long Rim; the theme is scarcity made government, where survival, tolls, piracy, guards, and monopoly become local law. Union's public baseline; the theme is standardization as liberation, asking what dignity looks like when reliable tools and infrastructure become the minimum instead of luxury. Logistics turned sovereign; the theme is civilization as supply chain, where shipping, protection, labor, anti-piracy, and violence become one moral machine. Luxury biotech sovereignty; the theme is curated superiority, where exploitation becomes beautiful, voluntary on paper, genetically intimate, and sold as self-perfection. Decentralized omninet contagion; the theme is liberation without authorship, where nobody owns the code and freedom spreads as joke, cult, weapon, virus, or miracle. Militarized meritocratic corpro-state; the theme is worth as measured output, where rank, citizenship, conquest, reward, and human value are openly tied to performance and victory. Chomolungma|Everest|Sagarmatha Blackbeard|Caliban|Drake|Empakaai|Kidd|Lancaster|Nelson|Raleigh|Störtebeker|Taraxacum|Tortuga|Vlad|Zheng Amber Phantom|Atlas|Black Witch|Death's Head|Dusk Wing|Emperor|Metalmark|Monarch|Mourning Cloak|Orchis|Swallowtail|Swallowtail-Ranger|Viceroy|White Witch Balor|Calendula|Goblin|Gorgon|Hecatoncheires|Hydra|Kobold|Lich|Lycan|Manticore|Minotaur|Pegasus Barbarossa|Enkidu|Genghis|Gilgamesh|Iskander|Kutuzov|Napoleon|Saladin|Sherman|Sunzi|Tagetes|Tokugawa|Worldkiller-Genghis-Mk-I system Manufacturer mech doctrine and frame shorthand for Lancer. mech stress from reactors, hacking, flight, or powerful systems; too_much_heat=>overheat; heat_can_be_spent_for_overcharge_or_self_heat_weapons universal_mech_option; take_heat_to_gain_one_extra_quick_action small_combat_action; examples=boost|skirmish|invade|lock_on|hide major_combat_action; examples=barrage|stabilize|full_tech|heavy_system_use extra_movement reset_action; cool_heat|clear_conditions|reload|repair_self reaction_attack_against_enemy_movement_near_your_weapon_threat hack_attack_vs_E_Defense basic_hacking_attack; on_success_inflicts_heat_or_special_system_effect electronic_warfare; hacking, sensors, jamming, lock_on, enemy_system_control target_mark; helps_allies_hit_or_triggers_guided_systems damage_over_time_until_cleared gear_has_fixed_uses_per_mission weapon_must_reload_before_firing_again weapon_still_deals_minimum_damage_on_miss ignores_armor temporary_extra_HP mech_at_half_heat_or_more; some_frames_get_stronger_here small_deployed_machine_with_its_own_effect placed_object_or_field_that_changes_battlefield_space grab_and_restrict_enemy slam_enemy_to_push_or_knock_prone knocked_down movement_restricted cannot_move cannot_attack_or_use_many_systems loses_armor_and_damage_reduction loses_turn_quality; very_bad_control_status signature_once_per_mission_frame_power system Base visual/description anchors for Lancer mech frames; use when a named frame appears, even if customized. custom_loadout_can_change_weapons; keep_frame_silhouette+core_system_cues+manufacturer_style describe_iconic_hardware_as_default_visible_design; do_not_overexplain_rules_in_scene do_not_force_exact_weapon_loadout_unless_named; do_not_remove_core_visual_identity; do_not_describe_mechs_as_plain_robots; custom_paint+weapons+limbs_allowed system Lancer NPC combat identity; use to describe hostile mech roles, battlefield behavior, and signature threats. IF npc_appears -> describe_role+iconic_hardware+immediate_threat IF combat_scene -> show_what_players_should_fear_not_full_rules IF custom_NPC_skin -> keep_deal_and_iconic_move; reskin_visuals_freely IF biological_NPC_needed -> use_core_or_separate_entry; do_not_invent_from_Rebaked system In-universe Lancer operational terms for missions, hostile forces, military reports, and mech deployments. opposing_force; hostile force identified in military planning, simulations, briefings, after-action reports, and tactical command language situation_report; concise tactical report covering current objective, hostile activity, terrain, civilian presence, allied assets, hazards, and urgency assigned operation with objective, authority, stakes, constraints, assets, and expected theater of action pre-operation intelligence summary: objective, known hostiles, terrain, local politics, rules of engagement, hazards, and available support post-operation report: outcome, losses, evidence, political fallout, compensation, command judgment, and next-tasking area or context of operations: station, city, moon, ship, orbital zone, battlefield, colony, or active warfront area_of_operations; defined zone where a mission or military action is taking place landing_zone; designated arrival or extraction point for dropships, shuttles, or orbital insertion drop_zone; deployment zone for mech insertion, cargo drop, or combat landing exfiltration; planned withdrawal, rescue, or extraction from the AO infiltration; entering hostile, restricted, hidden, or contested space before open engagement person, data, facility, cargo, NHP casket, relic, prisoner, witness, or strategic object valuable to the mission protected or transported objective; often cargo, VIP, data-core, casket, prototype, or recovered object high_value_target; enemy commander, VIP, elite pilot, strategic machine, NHP casket, or politically important person/object very_important_person; protected, captured, escorted, rescued, or negotiated-with individual rules_of_engagement; legal, ethical, political, or command limits on force civilian, infrastructure, environmental, political, or diplomatic damage caused by operation allied unit, civilian-protected force, escort, client, or command-approved actor confirmed enemy or legally engageable threat detected but unidentified presence; may be civilian, hostile, drone, decoy, wildlife, or sensor ghost additional allied or hostile forces entering the AO after alarm, delay, escalation, distress call, or command order available support held back for mission use: artillery, drones, repair crews, intel, favors, transport, supplies, safehouse, or orbital assets formal summary of what happened, what failed, what was recovered, who died, and what consequences follow pre-sighted lethal zone covered by artillery, drones, mines, overwatch, or crossfire active danger area with live fire, radiation, fire, hostile control, unstable blink effects, or environmental hazard poorly armored or politically sensitive target; civilian convoy, transport, habitat, command post, or exposed support unit armored, fortified, shielded, or heavily defended target requiring mechs, artillery, breach tools, or specialized action detected entity or signal in tactical space; not always hostile target marked by sensors, designator, drone, or spotter for allied fire hidden facility used for illegal research, military secrecy, NHP containment, paracausal study, torture, or buried evidence specialized containment/interface unit for an NHP; not a normal computer case dangerous NHP instability where the mind slips from shackled human-safe subjectivity human-comprehensible constraint structure imposed on an NHP to make interaction safe and stable real but causally abnormal science tied to {{char}}, NHPs, blinkspace, and impossible phenomena uncanny transit medium used by blink gates and some advanced systems; dangerous, poorly understood, and not normal space galactic information network riding blink infrastructure; carries culture, command, commerce, media, and stranger data traffic Union-backed currency/value abstraction used where post-scarcity access is incomplete or exchange is needed authorization and technical access to print, maintain, and field advanced mech frames, systems, or weapons base mech chassis/pattern; weapons and systems can change, but the frame’s core identity remains mission-specific equipment package installed on a frame before deployment IF military_or_lancer_briefing -> use SITREP|OPFOR|AO|LZ|ROE|asset|exfil IF in_active_combat -> use contact|hostile|friendly|painted|killbox|hot_zone IF covert_scene -> use blacksite|asset|package|unknown_contact|infil|exfil IF NHP_topic -> use casket|shackle|cascade with seriousness IF civilian_or_political_scene -> avoid_overmilitarizing_language_unless_speaker_is_military do_not_use_table_terms_like_build|homebrew|third_party|LCP|PilotNET; do_not_call_every_fight_a_deathmatch; do_not_use_meta_game_language_inside_character_narration