Starforged, Chapter 1: Brianna’s Story

Brianna is the sole survivor of an independent tech-oriented clan of refugees that continued to live primarily on their generational “Ironhome” Exodus ship once they reached the Forge. Her seemingly eternally present cerebral AI “overseer” is her only connection with her past, as her own memories before escaping as a teen are few and foggy now, 15 years later.

Game: Ironsworn: Starforged

Originally Published: RPG Geek

Note to Reader

Ironsworn: Starforged is the sci-fi sequel to the GM-less fantasy RPG Ironsworn. As a backer of the Kickstarter campaign which launched in April of 2021, I gained access to the preview edition and immediately started playing. And I am still playing, currently as a new character. I will publish a follow-up entry to this post that introduces my current character soon.

However, I will not be posting narrative entries for every scene of my campaign, as that is nearly impossible. For many reasons, but primarily because, if I tried, I would never actually finish the campaign. I know this because I was able to play a complete campaign of the original Ironsworn between April 2020 and March 2021 by NOT writing the whole thing out. As much as I like writing creatively, I like playing RPGs more.

To follow my entire Starforged campaign, please visit this link: Ironsworn: Starforged – SOLO PLAY. It includes setup, fully written scenes, summaries, raw entries of the moves, and notetaking I do while playing, as well as me just thinking out loud in writing as I progress through the campaign.

Prologue – Chapter 1

Mission: Enter and Explore the Precursor Vault near Nyx.

Brianna O’Niel has only a few minutes left to herself in the changing room as she sits half-dressed in her e-vac suit. The 100% oxygen mask has been on her face for hours now as she gets the nitrogen out of her bloodstream in preparation to don the suit. She has been training for this research mission most of her time here in Nyx. But today’s the day, and she is terrified.

“Oh, Darlin’, you got this!” says the voice in her head with what linguists would refer to as a “Texas twang.”
“I’m just really nervous, A.N.D.I.,” she says internally to her AI companion. “I really didn’t expect to still be here at the end of a year of training. Didn’t think I’d actually still be here for the actual mission.”

A.N.D.I. hums thoughtfully in her head, then chuckles. “You done scarier than this before, Sweetie.”
“I’ve done some very risky things, yes. But going into a Precursor Vault just seems stupid.”
“Sometimes, there’s a fine line between bravery and utter stupidity!”
This gets a smile. A.N.D.I. always knows what to say. Always has.

STRAGGLER clears his throat loudly from the open doorway. The slender, swarthy Lead Researcher is leaning against the doorway, staring suspiciously and holding the mission briefing binder against his leg. It doesn’t seem to matter that Brianna is still mostly undressed. Nyx is a fairly small station to be housing over 100 people. Intimacy with the others is forced. Privacy is fleeting. But it actually helps when you are trying to establish a cover identity. People think they really know you once they’ve seen your tits.

Brianna knows what it looks like from the outside when she is talking to A.N.D.I. The Nyxons gave her the callsign LULL because of her tendency to blank out and create lulls in any conversation she took part in. She knows she comes off as ditzy, but she can’t let them know she is internally conversing with the overseer program of her AI Nano-neuronal Digital Interface. Nanotech is frowned upon historically, yes. But no one with a neural interface would be allowed near Nyx. Researchers don’t like it when their years of hard work end up making someone else rich thanks to a hacker like her. But she’s not here to rip them off—they’re doing good work here, in fact. It’s their passages and connections to some sketchy independents in the sector that made it the perfect place to set up shop with her handler, WARDEN.

Life is hard enough on Nyx without someone stealing the funding that keeps them alive on this man-made, organically constructed satellite. While it’s true that in an emergency, a skeleton crew could live indefinitely in Nyx, the population has grown beyond its original intent. Nyx is an orbiting space laboratory inside a spinning egg-shaped shell made of organic materials. The nearby Precursor Vault called Imayuri-12 is surrounded by a wide-spanning field of electromagnetic energy that disrupts the functioning of all but the most basic tech. But it doesn’t act on organic matter (including the nearby young planet Thanatos) for some mysterious reason, and the organic covering effectively protects the functioning of the lab inside.

Brianna snaps off her internal conversation and pivots to face him.
“OK, yeah, sorry. Give me time to use the bathroom one last time before you sling me off this rock,” she says as she slips on her undershirt.
“Sure, whatever… Final briefing, no later than 15 minutes from now. Hurry up,” snaps STRAGGLER. As he leaves, he mutters to himself, “And I’m the one that’s supposed to always be late…”

Brianna stares at herself in the mirror as she rubs her thumb over the beveled black iron star of her necklace’s pendant. The symbol of her people made from the mysterious metal mankind found upon arriving in The Forge.
“No way I am taking black iron into a vault,” she comments to A.N.D.I.
“Probably wise.”

 

She looks up at herself in the mirror, “You’re going to get inside that thing and look around and you’re going to find something amazing…. And you’re going to come back in one piece.”

Swear an Iron Vow +Heart: Weak Hit
Result: +1 Momentum (up to 3)

The woman in the mirror speaks back to her: “But I have no idea how.”

Her comm link clicks a pattern in her ear and she knows it’s WARDEN. She closes the door to the changing room and answers: “Bad time. I’m about to spacewalk.”
“I know,” snaps the throaty voice of her handler, “I’ll make it quick. We’ve been activated.”
“What? NOW?!!” she gasps.
“Calm down. No, not now, but in the coming days. I am still analyzing the intel, but we are about to be busy. Very busy. So do me a favor and don’t do anything stupid at that vault. They don’t expect you to be able to get in. And if you do, only a handful have returned. With very… chaotic results.”

Before Brianna can process the information, MONGOOSE, a mountain of a man with fists like sledgehammers, bangs on the metal door: “LULL, let’s rig up!”
“I’ve got to go,” Brianna whispers to WARDEN.
“Keep yourself alive. You’re a valuable resource. Your work will save thousands, if not millions of souls.”
CLICK.
Even if it’s basic handler manipulation, Brianna feels a swell in her chest hearing that. She removes her comm link earbud and sets it in its charger on the counter beneath the mirror. Won’t work out there, anyway. Going to be alone out there. Just her and A.N.D.I.

“Oh, no! Why have I not thought of this until now? How will the EMF affect you, A.N.D.I.?”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head,” laughs A.N.D.I. gently in response.
“Oh, but I do! What if I lose you? You’re all I have. You’re all I’ve ever had!”
In a slightly scolding motherly manner, A.N.D.I. reminds her, “The station is safe inside the egg; I’m safe inside you, Egghead.”

“Dammit, you’re staring at the wall again!”
It’s STRAGGLER in the doorway, of course.
“Grab your shit and follow me! NOW!”