The Deep Ether Campaign

The Deep Ether Campaign (Corsairs II) took place in Celestial Space and Naga Space.
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
Character 	Player 	Rank 	Description
Allie Lloyd Flashpan	Tom 	Science Officer 	Human swashbuckler and explorer.
Aggron & Aggron 	Andersen	Designated first boarders. 	Conjoined ogre-orc twins searching for the orc promised land.
Garrel 	Lux 	Navigator 	Saldanese automaton.
Janea Goodall 	Emily 	Morale Officer 	Human (?) adventurer turned anthropologist.
Klaus May 	Sean 	First Officer (later Captain)	"Scottish" (German) Human officer.
Banshee 	Wes 	KM shareholder 	
Sgt. Lumbergh 	Sean 	Boarding sergeant 	Self-absorbed German Human boarding officer.
Naga Dundee 	Wes 	Occult Officer 	Power-armored giant looking for the biggest beasties to wrestle.
Notan Krussksdotter 	Seth 	Designated second boarder 	Orc-elf psychic and bruiser.
Regi 	Vince 	Chief Physician 	Elvish "curiosity" collector.
Hrymn 	Karl 	Boarding party member 	Golem
Faolan Siobhan 	Brynn 	KM Lieutenant 	Knights Mercantile Operative
=== Important Non-Player Characters ===
Character 	Rank 	Description
Charles Valch 	Knights Mercantile Chapter Undersecretary 	
[Name Withheld] 	Knights Mercantile Quartermaster 	
Hiru 	Commanding Officer of the Taigun 	(yes that Captain Hiru) Human Nipponese
Tenku 	Navigator of the Taigun 	
Fyodor Durakiy 	Commanding Officer of the Dalcia's Spoils 	Human, Russian
His Excellency Count Kiril Orloff	First Mate of the Dalcia's Spoils 	Investor, Human, Russian
Vasily Temrov 	Boarding Sergeant of the Dalcia's Spoils 	Human, Russian
Hans Velmudt 	Commanding Officer of the Freistadter 	Human, Deutschreich
Gentila Parveno 	Commanding Officer of the Lance 	Human, Venetian
Dila Sadrith 	First Mate of the Lance 	Half-Elf of the Mirror Enclaves/Margravate
Sigismund Salvard 	Second Mate of the Lance, Security Officer	Human
Krenech 	Gunnery Sergeant of the Lance 	Human
Janice Sydney 	Chief Engineer of the Lance 	
Yan Shi 	Commanding Officer of the Fire Mule 	Human, Celestial
Johannes 	First Mate of the Fire Mule 	Human, Margravate
Liyan He 	Second Mate of the Fire Mule 	Human, Celestial
Fadrique Dartelle 	Boarding Officer of the Fire Mule 	Human, Iberic/Margravate
Parus Linaeus 	Shipboard Medical Officer of the Fire Mule	Fialta exile
== Background ==
=== Celestial Powers ===
* Nippon States
* Cult of the Mirror
* Elvish Enclaves
* Porcelain Lords
* The Perfect Princes
* Kingdom of the Interior
* Kingdom of Aksai Chin
* Margravate of Tarim
=== Denizens of the Deep Ether ===
* Umbrans
* Naga
* Perfect Princes
* Leviathans
=== Deep Ether Phenomena ===
* Mind Coral
=== Expeditionary Fleet ===
The Taigun, of Corsairs fame, has been upgraded at considerable expense by the Knights Mercantile to field the best of Imperial and Celestial technology. It is accompanied on its mission of exploration and gunboat diplomacy by a pair of Imperial two-deck frigates, the Freistadter and Dalcia's Spoils, an Imperial three-decker, the Lance and a Celestial Junk, the Fire Mule, refitted with a boarding ram and a bristling array of anti-personnel weapons.
Dalcia's Spoils was commissioned by Count Kiril Orloff, secretary of the Russian KM chapter, for 20 million crecibles as a sister-ship to the more inveterate Freistadter, a torpedo and gunboat. Both ships have been designated to protect and escort the expedition’s main battleship: TCS Lance. The Lance is an experimental ship in development for the better part of a decade as an answer to the heavy gunboats sometimes seconded by imperial powers to their trade fleets. Sarcastic KM grandees have given it the snide appellation "TCS Money Pit" and the designer of the ship’s showpiece rail cannon, Doctor Janice Sydney reportedly pulled significant strings to have the ship assigned to the expedition into Naga space as a demonstration of its potential. Dr. Sidney will be accompanying the vessel on its first "live-fire" voyage.
==== Taigun ====
Experimental exploration vessel
Crew Complement:
* 25 crew
* 15 marines – assorted Imperial mercenaries
* Assorted special officers
Other Features:
* Adamantine prow
* Pseudo-adamant armor plating
* x2 Light boarding skiffs (MGs)
* Etheric shielding
Weapons:
* Etheric lance battery (dorsal: fully traversing)
* Broadside hydrogen cannons (x4 port; x4 starboard)
* Torpedo bays (ventral: x2 aft-facing, x1 stern-facing)
* Heavy machine guns (dorsal: x2 aft-facing, x2 stern-facing)
* Auto-cannon (ventral: fully traversing turret)
==== Dalcia’s Spoils ====
Two-deck frigate (torpedos and cannon)
Crew Compliment:
* 40 crew
* 30 marines: Cossacks
Other Features:
* Pseudo-adamant ventral and dorsal armor
* x1 Heavy boarding skiff (1 of the dorsal auto-cannons)
Weapons:
* Broadside hydrogen cannons (x20 port / x20 starboard)
* Heavy machine guns (dorsal: x4 aft-facing, x4 stern facing; x4 ventral, fully traversing)
* Auto-cannons (dorsal x3, 2 fully traversing, 1 sternward; ventral x2, fully traversing)
* Torpedo bays (ventral: x2 aft-facing)
==== Freistadter ====
Two-deck frigate (torpedoes and cannon)
Crew Compliment:
* 50 crew
* 20 marines: assorted Imperial mercenaries
Other Features:
* Pseudo-adamant ventral and dorsal armor
* x4 Light skiff
Weapons:
* Broadside hydrogen cannons (x25 port / x25 starboard)
* Heavy machine guns (dorsal: x4 aft-facing, x4 stern facing; x4 ventral, fully traversing)
* Torpedo bays (ventral: x2 aft-facing; dorsal: x2 aft-facing, x1 sternward)
==== Lance ====
Three-deck frigate (heavy naval guns and rail cannon)
Crew Compliment:
* 60 crew
* 50 marines
Other Features:
* Pseudo-adamant armor plating and internal structure
* x2 Heavy boarding skiff (2 of the dorsal auto-cannons)
* Dorsal etheric shielding
Weapons:
* Broadside hydrogen cannons (x20 port / x20 starboard)
* Heavy machine guns (dorsal: x4 aft-facing, x4 stern facing; x4 ventral, fully traversing)
* Auto-cannons (dorsal x4, fully traversing)
* Rail-cannon (ventral, aft-facing)
* Heavy naval guns (x2 dorsal, aft-facing, x1 dorsal, stern-facing)
==== Fire Mule ====
Cargo and boarding
Crew Compliment:
* 60 crew
* 200 marines:
**100 Margravate privateer rifles
**50 Aksai Chin
**50 Celestial mercenaries
Other Features:
* x10 Light skiffs
* Pseudo-adamant boarding prow
Weapons:
* Broadside hydrogen cannons (x30 port (x10 auto-loaded) / x30 starboard (x10 auto-loaded)
* Heavy machine guns (dorsal: x4 aft-facing, x4 stern facing; x4 ventral, fully traversing)
* Auto-cannons (dorsal x4, fully traversing; ventral x4, full traversing)
* Harpoon-launchers (x10 dorsal, aft; x10 ventral, aft)
=== Trade ===
The majority of the Pin-Jump trade is controlled by companies originating in Imperial Space, with Aeldrum and the Knights Mercantile retaining their first-mover advantages and accounting for about 43% of total trade revenue. The Fialta and Shantine were relatively late to the trade, making serious bids a few years after the Aeldrum Celestial Trade Company and Trans-Celestial Trade Company had already established themselves.
Piracy and unlicensed trade have flourished, aided by the endemic corruption of the ACTC/ATC and the factious infighting of the Knights Mercantile — raids, mutinies and sabotage have all been funded by both Nipponese and Naga agitators.
As the Bank of Valdos has become increasingly connected with the emergence of the Second Fialta Imperium under the self-styled Tiel'Fialt, relations with the Knights Mercantile have grown more complex and significantly more hostile. While doing its best to remain a neutral arbiter, the Bank has become a pillar of the Fialta Imperial State, often putting its interests at odds with historic partners in the Knights Mercantile, who have predominantly backed the Thalranese Marches, the Great Companies, and assorted Fialta renegades in their struggle for autonomy.
== Summary ==
=== Session 1 ===
=== Session 2 ===
=== Session 3 ===
=== Session 4 ===
=== Session 5: Side Story: Banshee Goes Home ===
=== Session 6 ===
=== Session 7 ===
=== Session 8 ===
=== Session 9 ===
=== Session 10 ===
=== Session 11 ===
=== Session 12 ===
=== Session 13 ===
=== Session 14 ===
=== Session 15 ===
=== Session 16 ===
=== Session 17 ===
=== Session 18 ===
=== Session 19 ===
=== Session 20 ===
=== Session 21 ===
=== Session 22 ===
=== Session 23 ===
=== Session 24 ===
=== Session 25 ===
=== Session 26 ===
=== Session 27 ===
=== Session 28 ===
=== Epilogue ===
In Memoriam:
*Dr. Reginleif, daughter of the Enclaves, ex-ATC Major: crushed to death in the crash of the Terror into the palace of the Rainbow Serpent. Though Regi did not live to see the Rainbow Serpent perish, it is undoubtable that she was a linchpin of the Corrobel Run: her surgical expertise made the transformation of Dietmar possible, and her mastery of chemistry and physiology unlocked the secrets of the Naga. Her last words were to Klaus May, a demand that her death not be in vain: "Kill that damn snake." Dr. Regi joins the tradition of such scholars as Dr. Aga, who devoted their medical lore to combating the Naga Threat, to excising the eternal parasite of Celestial Space.
*Dietmar, son of the wild elves of the Shantine frontier, instrument of Othal: expired within the dreamshape of the Rainbow Serpent while trying to consume an angel. Dietmar, his ambitions and personality twisted by decades of sensory deprivation, sought new sensations and above all, fixated on consumption of others by himself, by others of himself. His gamble, to devour an angel of Othal while in the mindbowels of the Rainbow Serpent, failed, but the satisfaction of having tried echoed through his last moments: "worth it."
*Faolan Siobhan, son of Ireland, founder of the FIRA: perished in the churning consciousness of the Rainbow Serpent while cradling his beloved Roisin. Though he relinquished his soul in the depths of the Rainbow Serpent's doomed mind, Faolan got exactly what he never knew he could dare want. The shift to the Rainbow Serpent's plane brought Faolan's weapon, Roisin, with him, made as perfect as possible—with her in his arms, he visited bolts of the Mind Virus on the slumping minds of the Naga and, in his last moment, gave the Rainbow Serpent a taste of the very best Irish whiskey.
*Hrymn, last masterwork of the Episurian Refugees: dissolved in a burst of etheric energy to become one with the background radiation of the universe. Hrymn's sacrifice aboard the Naga fighter made possible the daring assault of Faolan, Dietmar and Dundee into the mind of the Rainbow Serpent. He died not knowing whether that sacrifice was in vain, but history would remember how the Lodestone Golem from the lonely Panopticon proved instrumental in the final vengeance of Episur against the Naga, their last tormentors. As far as Hrymn was concerned, however, his last moment was a fitting and comforting culmination of millennia of frustrated vengeance—to the golem, in that instant, it all hung beautifully together. The Forge Fathers would have been proud, and the ether was a beautiful place to die.
*Commandant Sulla, son of the Marches, relic of the Fialta-Shantine War: vaporized himself and the material form of the Rainbow Serpent. The Old Commandant, after decades in the purgatory of the Station, at last found the end he wanted. He and his three surviving comrades met a death worthy of legend, giving themselves to slay a god and avenge an eons-old treason against the Pentacle. His final words, "I'M COMING THALRAN" echoed in the Martial Lord's long memory, and it is said that Sulla's god sought for years to find some trace of his soul to raise him to an angel.
*Guy McFearson, son of no place worth remembering, the Master of Lights: incinerated his own mind to shield Banshee. the Master of Lights died in a manner that would have surprised him not long ago—knowing that the psychic screams of the Rainbow Serpent as Faolan, Dietmar and Dundee attacked its very soul would doom McFearson or Banshee or both, he saw to it that Banshee the Blind lived. His last words were an exhortation to his unlikely protegee: "Go home and take what's yours."
*Naga Dundee, no title needed but his own: died with the Rainbow Serpent's domain. Naga Dundee, taken to the dreamscapes of the Rainbow Serpent, was freed of every restraint: his true name, his great weakness, was forgotten. All that remained was a giant encased in armor with a cheerful nickname and an overwhelming desire to wrestle. He satisfied that desire more than any might have thought possible, cleaving into the mind of the Rainbow Serpent, hacking and breaking it until he held its ruins aloft on his mighty shoulders, crying out to his fallen comrades, "She's a Beauty, mates!" The Serpent's dreamworld collapsed all around him, his soul doomed with it, and Dundee caught a flash of the real world, where the Fialta death squad ended the Rainbow Serpent's material form. The giant gave an approving nod. Captain Naga Dundee and his crew had fought a god and won.
The Survivors:
*Allie Flashpan, though unable to thwart De Turenne's schemes, was able to escape Naga Space at long last, seizing a corsair sloop with the help of Jessie, Klaus May, Barty Shen and everyone's true friend, Notan Krussksdottir. The last of the Taigun's leadership, with a handful of surviving crew, pushed into the Deep Ether once more. They returned to the Pin Jump just over four years after their departure. Allie used her share of the expedition's winnings, including the prize money for defeating the Naga, to retire from adventure: with a hefty donation and a treatise on genetics, she became a member of the Academy of Saldan's department of biology.
*Her old friend, Jessie, took some more time in Ireland, where she witnessed the first emergence of the new FIRA, a Libertarian movement turned cult. Funded indirectly by Allie's considerable wealth, the FIRA became part of the long and bizarre tradition of occult resistance movements in Ireland—its exploits would echo in the halls of political power not only in Ireland but in the Spires of Aeldrum itself.
*Jessie took Notan with her to Ireland, giving her the same care and support that she knew her father had received in his waning days, before returning to join Allie—Notan would never recover from the horrendous wounds she suffered defending her friends, but she would be remembered as a hero by all who survived the expedition.
*Nurse Joy, her mother, went into partial retirement to be with her daughter, and the two took up a comfortable, safe existence on Saldan, where her many old companions could visit her—nothing gave Notan greater happiness than to hear from Joy, "Notan, one of your friends is here to see you!" and these words she heard frequently for the rest of her days.
*Klaus, still officially listed on the roster as a First Officer of the Terror, received a considerable payout—he returned to Scotland, where he spent much of his time and fortune rehabilitating his dear cousin, Lumbergh and grappling with his own demons. An envoy of Charles Valch, now the CEO of Valch Biotech, who tried to recruit Klaus into the organization, was sent away at gunpoint
*Barty Shen, though a little psychologically worse for wear (including having to consume poor Fyodor to survive the return journey from Corrobel), was well rewarded for his heroism over the course of the expedition: after five years in the clutches of Jonathan Pickman and another three in the KM expedition, he was at last free to return to Celestial Space. Bidding farewell to the other surviving crew of the Terror, many of whom he had saved directly from the suicidal Corrobel Run, he took his fortune and rebuilt his lost shipping company: "Shen Imports" flew throughout Celestial Space for years, and Barty used the maps stolen from the black tower of Wrymouth to chart shorter routes that confounded his competitors and delighted his clients.
*Bosun Temshi was rapidly promoted through the ranks of the Knights Mercantile, going on to captain his own ship on behalf of the Trans-Celestial Chapter, the Wages of Folly. After another decade of adventure, Temshi retired to open a casino in the Pin Jump, inviting Notan Krussksdottir as a guest of honor at the grand opening—rumors persisted for years that Temshi had been a deep cover agent of the Veiled Masters, but none were ever substantiated.
*Sigurd joined Valch in building a fortune on genetic technology but was soon called away by an offer impossible to refuse: join the organization of Count Homer of Lidenia as a chief scientist and the captain of industrial development in ATC-controlled Naga Space.
*Garrel the automaton achieved his chief objective, gaining a soul—no longer the same Garrel that left Saldan, he was new, and better, just in time for the De Turenne expedition to Veer's World. His fate there is as yet unknown. Years after the KM expedition, Klaus turned over copies of the Lithographs of Hrymn for preservation; discovered within them were the secrets of golem fabrication. Klaus, on Hrymn's behalf, became the father of a new generation of golems.
*Captain Hiru returned to the Pin Jump under a cloud of suspicion but was spared by his old friend Sumire; the Nipponese adventurer was soon off on a different mission of daring, better suited to his heroic character but lackluster command. Hiru would die in an attempt to storm the legendary Corsair Station. His remains were brought back to the Pin Jump and then sent to the plantation of old Uncle Mito. The ancient Yakuza lit a final candle for his beloved nephew before collapsing himself, felled by grief in the peaceful shrine he had built at the edge of Imperial Space.
*Miri the pilot was taken into Sumire's care, until she disappeared once more, perhaps to mete out vengeance on the Veiled Masters, perhaps to join her Naga patrons once more—she was never seen by Sumire again, though an old Yakuza who had been on the expedition to Naga space claimed to recognize her in the crowd during an attack on Temshi's casino years later.
*Prince Sigvald used his technological edge over the princes and advance warning of the collapse of the Naga to seize yet more swathes of Naga Space—the Prince crowned himself Prince of Princes, then King, and renamed Naga Space the Sigvaldian Expanse. As millions died mad or catatonic under the Mind Virus and hundreds of thousands more died in the famines and wars that surrounded the Naga collapse, Sigvald the Cruel extended his vicious hand over dozens of worlds, his son Banshee the Blind at the head of his warfleets. If anything was to survive the death throes of the Naga, Sigvald was determined to control it.
*Banshee, for his part, became a figure of black legend, feared and hated as much as his father. Heeding McFearson's exhortation, he took his birthright: the hatred and violence to which he was born was to be shared with countless victims. Naga Space would convulse with catastrophe for years to come—if any good would come out the other side was unclear and quite immaterial to the countless souls lost.
*Captain Parveno was incensed at the surrender to Sigvald at the Forgotten World and offered to raise a punitive expedition: when she did not receive the desired funds, Parveno raged at the system that had allowed Sigvald to betray the KM while his son used the organization for his own ends. She would be recruited by the agents of De Turenne, who used her inside knowledge to chart their routes into Naga Space—soon enough, Parveno had a commission with the Aeldrum Trade Company, then an Admiralty post, then a bullet to the back of the head from a KM assassin.
*Doctor Janice Sydney, unwilling to leave the Lance, joined Sigvald's retinue—though quickly given the usual ironic handicap (in her case, psychically induced blindness so that she would depend on Sigvald's drones as her eyes (and in turn, they would know exactly what she looked at, to report to Sigvald)), she proved a valued member of the court, building great and terrible devices for the Prince. What Sigvald lacked in technical sophistication, he could compensate in strange artifacts and nigh unlimited resources for Dr. Sydney. It seemed that at long last, Sigvald had learned the value of a mundane engineer with a brilliant mind—one last twist of cruelty against Sigurd.
The heroism of the adventurers who made the Corrobel Run was long remembered: Dundee became a folk hero to travelers on the Pin Jump, raised to legend by the songs of Pelvis Resley. Commandant Sulla's story so struck the Fialta passing through the Pin Jump that some began to venerate him and his artifacts. Those Station castaways who had gone home rather than strike out on the Smuggler's Run so long ago counted themselves cursed not to share in his glory. Faolan became the central figure of the FIRA-Cult, a hero-saint to the growing movement. Dr. Reginlief was honored with an endowment in her name on Saldan.
Aggron & Aggron were never seen again, but nor were their bodies recovered—the last cry of Little Aggron, "This is the world the gods promised us!" rang in the ears of those who heard it, and with none venturing back to Corrobel amid the Mind Virus contagion, some charitable optimists have hoped that Aggron & Aggron found peace there, learning the secrets of number theory one dead Naga at a time.
== Notes ==
Category:Campaign Summaries