Siren Star

“The song, it come through the Vox, clear as day and twice as loud. It promised us easy living, plenty of amasec and freedom from our bonds. Ev’ry hand aboard turned to his job right quick. We stretched out, but we never made it. A solar storm blew up and smashed the ship apart. Only me and a few of me messmates made it out in one of the ship’s boats. I’m tellin’ you boys, there’s a star out there that sings to you, and it’s the prettiest song you ever heard.”
–Able Voidman Jak Plaice, former Gunner’s Mate of the Avarice
Rumors abound throughout the Koronus Expanse
of a lone star in an empty system that mourns for
its lost children, the long-dead inhabitants of the
worlds it holds in orbit. It’s said that this star sings a sad and
deeply compelling song that can be heard through a ship’s
vox systems throughout the system. This song calls out to
voidfarers, promising them peace and leisure and protection
in the loving embrace of the star. It causes pressed men
and Rogue Traders alike to throw aside all caution and run
straight to the heart of the system in search of the source of
this song. Those that succumb to the Song disappear into
the void, never to be seen again. Some say that the star itself
swallows ships and crews whole. Others say vile xenos live
in the system, and they use the Song to lure in unsuspecting
ships for their unspeakable designs. Others say it’s daemons
or spirits or one of a hundred other horrors cooked up by
the over active imaginations of voidmen. No matter the
cause, some version of this story can be heard in
every tavern, public house and ship’s mess in the
Expanse. While none agree on where this star
lies and what danger it hides, they all agree
on one point. The only voidmen known to have seen the star
and lived to tell the tale were among the crew of the doomed
tradeship Avarice.
Avarice, an extravagantly appointed Dauntless-class light
cruiser formerly of the Imperial Navy, was the pride of a
shipping fleet owned by a Rogue Trader named Graydon
Gekkonidae. She disappeared with all hands, including her
dashing captain, somewhere in the Heathen Stars region. A
few years later, voidmen claiming to be the sole survivors of
the Avarice began turning up in Port Wander and Footfall,
spinning tales of a system where the star sang a song full of
promise and hope. A song that drew their ship in and caused
them to be dashed apart in an asteroid field by a violent warp
storm. Being common deck hands, none could accurately
describe where they’d been shipwrecked, but they all agreed
that they were in or around the Heathen Stars region, and
what they heard coming over the ship’s vox was irresistible to
even the most jaded and stalwart voidman. Rumors spread,
and eventually the story passed into legend.
==A Lonesome Star==
As is often the case with legends, very few of the details of this
rumored Siren Star are correct, but there is truth at the core
of the story. On the far Spinward side of the Heathen Stars
region, not far from the baleful light of the Rifts of Hecaton,
is an abandoned system charted millennia ago by an unnamed
surveyor and labelled on ancient charts as Devia Sirenum.
Aside from bare facts such as the type and size of Devia
Sirenum’s star, the number of planets and known navigational
hazards, the only detail included in the report of any interest
is the notation “Celestial Anomaly” attached to the description
of the star itself. No other information appears in the chart,
and no hint as to the nature of this celestial anomaly. Once
the survey was complete, it seems that the system was judged
unimportant and never revisited, only to be rediscovered
centuries later by the Avarice.
The Devia Sirenum system is long dead, scoured of all life
by some unnamed calamity ages before it was charted. The
star itself is close to the end if its days, a dim white dwarf
languishing at the center of the system, struggling to cast its
weak, guttering light to the outer planets. Vast asteroid fields
and rings of debris orbit close to the star, the apparent remains
of the system’s inner planets. The outer planets, a mix of dead,
ice-covered rocks and massive gas giants, circle in their ancient
tracks, waiting out their final days. The only evidence that life
ever existed here are a handful of dead, artificial satellites of
unknown and obvious xenos origin, some ruins on a few of the
outer planets, and a strange, lingering radiation that disrupts
auger arrays. The most notable thing about this system, aside
from its desolation, is the “celestial anomaly,” a sharp, keening
wail that seems to emanate from Devia Sirenum itself.
The star emits a jumble of frequencies that are picked up on
nearly every wireless system used in shipboard and in-system
communication. What causes this star to sing and broadcast
its songs to passing ships is unknown; it could be a natural
phenomenon, or the work of some daemon or even some
ancient xenos technology. Whatever the cause, it is this noise
that gives Devia Sirenum its more common nickname, the
Siren Star. The star’s song drives men to distraction or
madness, and compels them to make all possible
speed toward the center of the system and the
embrace of the star’s fierce glow.
Aside from the star and its song, there are a multitude of
other threats within the system that make travelling through
it a dangerous proposition. Dense asteroid fields, dangerous
gravitational tides, and vicious solar storms that can blow
up without a moment’s notice present constant navigation
hazards. Pirates lurk among the asteroid fields close to the
center of the system, preying on the unfortunates who are
lured in by the mysterious star.
==Ancient Radiation==
The lingering radiation from Devia Sirenum’s ancient and unnamed cataclysm makes navigating the system fairly difficult.
The interfering fallout ebbs and flows, reducing a ship’s Detection by 2d10 (re-roll each day the ship is in the system), and
reduces the range of all ship-to-ship vox systems to a distance of fifty kilometers. The reduction in vox range does not affect
a ship’s ability to hear the song of the Siren Star, for that plaintive wail can be heard everywhere in the system.
==The Draw of the Siren Star==
The plaintive song of the Siren Star can have such control over the minds of men that they will rush to their deaths only
so that they can be closer to its source. Whenever a voidship enters the Devia Sirenum system, its vox and any other
wireless comms systems immediately pick up the star’s song, enthralling the Explorers and damaging Morale. Upon
hearing the song for the first time, each Explorer needs to pass a Hard (–20) Willpower Test to withstand the draw
of the Siren Star. If he succeeds without any degrees of success, he still takes a –10 to any tasks so long as he can hear
the sound. If he fails the Test he feels a compulsion to travel towards the system’s center, giving orders to that effect
and arguing strongly if anyone disagrees. He suffers 1d5 Insanity Points and also suffers a –20 to all Tests due to the
enthralling star, but every 6 hours he can attempt another Hard (–20) Willpower Test to snap out of it. He can also
attempt the Test at the GM’s discretion if another Explorer makes a concerted effort to get through to him.
However, if a player fails by five or more degrees, he is immediately driven completely mad (suffering 1d5+2 Insanity
Points) and will do anything and everything in his power to reach the source, including attacking shipmates, stealing
ship’s boats, or even throwing himself out of an airlock. The only help for a character so compelled is to be restrained
by his fellows until he can be taken somewhere out of earshot of the Song, at which point he may make a Hard (–20)
Willpower Test every six hours to snap out of it. For every full six hours the Explorer is not exposed to the Song, the
Test decreases in difficulty by one degree.
Upon hearing the Song, a ship’s crew immediately loses 2d10 points of Morale, and an Explorer in a position
of authority must make a Difficult (–10) Command or Charm Test. Success means the Explorers shut off vox
communications and isolate the crew from the call of the star, suffering no further effect. For every degree of failure
however, the crew loses an additional 5 Morale as the men begin to clamour for the song. For every thirty minutes that
the ship remains in the system with the vox or other wireless comms systems active, the crew loses an additional two
points of Morale as the call of the star spreads throughout the decks.
Any Explorer who succeeds on their Willpower Tests can attempt to shut down the ship’s wireless vox systems
to prevent the song from being heard. While shutting down the vox systems will isolate the crew from the Song, it
obviously makes ship-to-ship communication with any cohorts difficult short of sending ships boats back and forth with
messengers. If a Explorer or NPC has the skill, he can make a Difficult (–10) Scholastic Lore: Cryptology test to use
the ship’s running lights to send messages back and forth using ancient Naval semaphore codes. During the attempt to
shut down the vox systems or wrest control of the ship from those already in the grip of the song, the Explorer may very
well be prevented from doing so by those who have already succumbed to the compulsion. This could lead to situations
where one half of the crew is battling the other among the decks, or where the bridge officers are trying desperately to
wrest control of the ship for themselves to either escape or plunge further into the system to their doom. A ship with its
crew in the full grip of the song, barring any accidents or interdiction by the system’s pirates, will plunge at full speed
directly into the heart of the star.
==Pirates of the Siren Star==
The details on the pirates who live among the asteroids at
the center of the system have been left intentionally vague
to allow the Game Master to tailor the encounter to match
the strength of his players and the theme of his ongoing
campaign. If the Game Master has no specific idea in mind
that fits in with his campaign, he is free to choose from the
following suggestions.
Renegades
The pirates are a group of human predators from somewhere
in the Expanse. Whether fallen Rogue Traders or career
pirates, these killers have found life easy and the pickings
rich in Devia Sirenum. They have become immune to the
Siren Star through either mutation, constant exposure or
by simply keeping their wireless comms sets turned off.
Game Masters should use the stats for Voidfarers, Mutant
Outcasts, Renegades and Void Pirate Captains, and the ships should
be either Hazeroth-class privateers or Havoc-class merchant
raiders, or Wolfpack Raiders.
Xenos
Vile xenos pirates have set up shop in Devia Sirenum and are
preying on the unfortunate, misguided victims of the star’s
Song. They could be Eldar Corsairs, Ork Freebooters or
even some home-grown xenos terror that the Game Master
would like to unleash on the players. Whomever they are and
wherever they come from, due to their alien nature they are
immune to the song of the Siren Star. Game Masters should
use the stats for Eldar Corsairs and Ork Freebooters, or feel free to create some
new race. Their ships will typically be Eldar light cruisers
like the Memory of Lament, or the Onslaught
Ork Raider. For campaign specific xenos created by the Game Master, their
ships should be based on the Wolfpack Raiders.
Category:Heathen Stars
Category:Koronus Expanse
Category:Stars