How to Play a Pyxis

*This article was originally an informal document. As a result, it is more jokey and informal than a typical wiki article.*

There is one of everybody in Pyxis. Any rule that anybody has ever made about what a Pyxis is like will have been immediately disproved by a prominent exception. The house is highly esoteric and has a culture which incubates and encourages this state of affairs. Feel free to go directly against any of these suggestions. A Pyxis is defined as much by what they are not as what they are.

### Core Values

There are two core values shared by almost every Pyxis: discovery and freedom. These are broad concepts which can be interpreted in many ways, much like values in our own society like democracy and tolerance. Pyxis who don’t value these things are considered fringe and are often the subject of fairly vicious ridicule.

How a Pyxis views these core values can be abstracted to a position on two axes: Chaos/Law and High Church/Repentant. This is not an exact science, and should be used as a handy guideline rather than a hard and fast alignment system.

#### Aspect Axis

The Chaos/Law axis is much the same as it would be in D&D. However, even the most lawful Pyxis is probably less lawful than a lawful D&D character. Almost every single Pyxis uses PATHS, which was a crime for most of the house's history. Similarly, many lawful Pyxis submit dutifully to laws they believe to be just, but are perfectly happy to subvert those laws which they see as fundamentally wrong. This is most often seen in the case of aliens, who otherwise lawful Pyxis often treat in ways which are technically illegal due to being far down the High Church/Repentant axis. If you feel like this is something of a hypocrisy, you’d be correct. Doublethink is a core element of many Pyxis’ mindset. Don’t try to force your Pyxis to have a coherent and logical set of beliefs for the sake of it. If you feel like your character’s belief is bizarre and contradictory, embrace it.

The High Church/Repentant axis is largely, but not entirely, about faith. However, many Pyxis, especially those further along the chaotic axis are not a particularly dutiful practitioner of either faith. Feel free to have your Pyxis -accidentally or on purpose-  misinterpret or deviate from the teachings of their faith. For example, many Repentant Pyxis tend to do very little actual repenting. This axis in many ways represents the ideals of the two churches rather than the character’s actual adherence to exact matters of doctrine.

A character’s position on these two axis and how that colours their view of freedom and discovery forms the core of how they view the world. After this, decide on their place in Pyxis society.

#### Hierarchy

Among nobles, House Pyxis has a flat hierarchy. While many of them will tell you that this is for any number of egalitarian reasons, the simple truth is that nobody could agree on who should be more powerful than anyone else after the split. No Pyxis has official power over any other, meaning that all hierarchies are informal. The central means of becoming powerful within Pyxis is to become respected. Granny Pyxis, the de facto leader of the house, holds her position not because of any rule that forces people to do as she says, but because her reputation is so formidable that they wouldn’t stand against her, either out of fear or reverence.

There are two principle means of gaining this respect: discovery and gaining a reputation for being a basically good person. Discovery is in many ways a simpler matter. It simply concerns assisting in the discovery of something new and exciting. This may be by being on the crew of the ship which found something, running messages to explorers, establishing a base camp for others to use or innumerable other things. It is important to note that this must be something that somebody did personally. Simply loading a bunch of serfs onto a ship you own and sending them off on a voyage of discovery will not garner respect. In fact, it would be the opposite- ‘grounded’. Grounded is a Pyxis slang, meaning both boring and cowardly, but also un-Pyxis. Calling a Pyxis grounded is a serious insult and depending on the situation can lead to a duel.

#### Exploration

It’s worth taking a digression here to stress quite how highly Pyxis value the act of discovery. Pyxis tend to explore as an end in itself. While many can offer coherent explanations as to why they believe that exploration is such a mighty end goal, from the perspective of a player these can be treated as window dressing. The hunt for new discoveries suffuses Pyxis society and is endlessly drummed into them from an early age. Much like children learn manners, Pyxis learn exploration. This often leads to somewhat bizarre reasoning, which can can cause Pyxis to attempt unnecessarily dangerous tasks or prioritise seemingly worthless things over great riches. For instance, most Pyxis have access to significant capital and could be significantly richer than they are if they invested it. However, they elect instead to use it to further their exploration and make a net loss. They know that they could have made that money, they would simply much rather have spent what they had immediately to improve their chances of finding something.

### Character Choices

#### Titles

The central decision you as a player will need to make about your Pyxis is whether they have a discovery title. This is a title awarded at the Moot for the discovery of something truly special. Of course, this being Pyxis ‘something truly special’ may be an odd, mostly worthless thing or an odd, entirely worthless thing. In many ways, the more bizarre and pointless your discovery is the better. Pyxis don’t see it that way, they genuinely believe in the sincere importance of whatever it is they found. A discovery title is usually the name of the thing the Pyxis discovered. However, they name it. This means that very underwhelming things often have grandiose names so as to make good titles. A Pyxis with a discovery title instantly commands more respect than one without one.

#### Attitude

The second means of gaining respect is more abstract. Being ‘nice’ is not easily defined. However, a Pyxis who is basically ‘nice’ to others will gain a reputation as such. Philanthropy, friendliness, selflessness, being fun at parties, humility, making enjoyable conversation, respecting others and any number of other vague and generally positive ideas are important. This creates an enormous social pressure on Pyxis to not be dicks. This extends to serfs, aliens and animals. Even those Pyxis who are more conservative in their views look down on someone who mistreats those weaker or less fortunate than them. Of course, Pyxis are a bit odd. This does mean that sometimes there is a bit of culture clash and a Pyxis will not realise that they are being rude. If they are made aware they are usually very apologetic.

#### Position in the Community

A notable way to gain lots of respect is to hold one of the great offices of House Pyxis and become an Orator or High Warden. Intriguingly, the pursuit of these positions of power is seen as somewhat gauche.These are both elected positions and as such require a lot of respect to get into in the first place, but they are also seen as great sacrifices. To be elected to a great office is to voluntarily surrender your freedom and subject yourself to the will of others for the good of the house. It is an honourable act. To achieve the office a Pyxis must be seen to be doing it out of a selfless duty or deep kindness, not an attempt to gain power. Even having been an Orator in the past garners great respect and is added as an epithet to a Pyxis’s name.

#### Moral Compass

It is worth noting that being respected within Pyxis and outside of it are usually goals which work against one another. The humility and abandon which Pyxis expects of itself are rarely viewed as favourably by others. Pyxis heroes are often viewed as madmen or hedonists by those outside the house. Beyond that, the kind of treatment Pyxis expects its members to show to serfs and aliens is distasteful to Imperial society at large. Some Pyxis, like Biggles, are very popular with nobles outside of their house, but are actively despised within. Pyxis are the bottom rung of the noble ladder for a reason. Their culture does not play well with Imperial society.

### Character Traits

Finally, there are several character traits associated with the quintessential Pyxis. As said before, a Pyxis is defined as much by what they are not as what they are and you should try to find a few of these which your character very much does not conform to.

#### Bravery

Bravery is very common amongst Pyxis. It is well known that exploration is highly dangerous and many Pyxis see things in their childhood on the Imperial fringe that others only face in their nightmares. An undaunted rise to any challenge, often to a point of stupidity, is an often observed trait amongst Pyxis.
 While Pyxis are often brave due to the dangers they face, this also quite often leads to a serious degree of nihilism. Pyxis do not seek death, but when it comes around for tea they’ve already got the kettle on and the table laid.

#### Egalitarian

Egalitarianism is a natural result of Pyxis culture. This most often manifests when Pyxis leave their bubble and enter the wider Empire. Leaving cultures which are built around treating others fairly and with dignity and traveling Acheron Rho makes many Pyxis angry, unable to accept the burning injustices of their society.

#### Unreliable

Pyxis are unreliable. A delivery is as likely to be early as it is to be on time or late. Someone who said they would come and rescue you may have a ship malfunction of their own or be waylaid by pirates with a vendetta. You can be certain they have a good reason for it, but it doesn’t do much to help you in the present moment.

#### Idealistic

Idealism is common in Pyxis. In a culture of extremes it is very normal for people to become very uncompromising on their principles. While this is often idealism for a coherent cause, like pacifism, very often Pyxis can become adherents to much more esoteric concepts, like conspiracy theories or a certain piloting technique.

#### Insular

The sheer sense of difference which Pyxis experiences when it deals with the rest of the sector leads many to become very insular. Mistrust of outsiders is common. Non-Pyxis are not allowed to attend the Moot (although this is not dealt with in a particularly straightforward way.) Pyxis delight in confusing outsiders with bizarre in-jokes and their strange political structure. Citizens of Lodestone are known to be broadly uncooperative with Crux investigations unless they have the official sanction of the Warden of Security, for no clear reason other than how different Crux is as a house to Pyxis.

#### Irreverent

Irreverence is a well earned stereotype of Pyxis. Being the sector’s trash nobles, disrespected by those superior to them in the chain of being but still hated by those who seek its abolition, they have no one to rely on for social support but themselves. Pyxis have been known to deliberately ruin the days, parties and lives of those who are rude to them through sheer impish pluck.

#### Loyal

Pyxis are strongly loyal. Once they have found someone they care for, trust or respect, they will work hard to keep them safe and never betray them. Earning this kind of respect from a Pyxis is no easy feat, but if you have it you can be sure that they will stand by you through thick and thin, though they may not be the most reliable about it.

#### Pacifistic

Pyxis tend to avoid violence. Very few are extreme pacifists who will never fight anyone, but killing things or getting into fights for the sake of it isn’t very Pyxis. As a house, Pyxis try to avoid the use of violence as the primary, or even secondary, solution to a problem.

#### Reformists

Most Pyxis are in some way reformist. To return to PATHS, all Pyxis are in some way subverting the established order. Most of those Pyxis would like to see PATHS not only decriminalized as it has been, but fully legalised. This serves as the springboard which sets many Pyxis down the path of reform, questioning other elements of the Imperial establishment.

#### Wanderlust

Most Pyxis have an unshakeable wanderlust. The constant reinforcement of the need to explore means that they often struggle to remain in one place for long periods, fearing stagnation. Pyxis can be flighty partners and unreliable research partners because of this.

### References

And finally, a few Pyxis references, just for fun:
Indiana Jones, The Beach Boys, Brian May, Richard Feynman, Oddball, Ernest Shackleton and other Heroic Age explorers, The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Kirk and This Guy.