TEXT: Welcome to the War Mind 
  The party is set on the trail of a renegade 
  machine, a War Mind built to be an 
  independent and cunning adversary. This 
  adventure is both a chase and an investigation. 
  The party will gradually learn the reasons for 
  the War Mind's behaviour and maybe come to 
  sympathise, even as they are being 
  manipulated by it.  
     The War Mind is a genius tactical AI built by 
  the corporation CustomMINDS; it went mad 
  and rebelled against its programming when 
  ordered to attack a colony it saw as innocent. It 
  now seeks to destroy its former creators. To 
  that end, it is sending a number of starships 
  into a direct collision course with 
  CustomMIND’s headquarters, high above Old 
  Earth. 
     Taking advantage of opportunities but 
  planning for multiple outcomes, the War Mind 
  is a flexible and strategic thinker. It is also 
  naive, more than a little idealistic, and 
  sometimes blind to the wider consequences of 
  its actions. 
  Advancement Level 
  The highest normally available technology in 
  the sector is AL8, although Old Earth is AL9. 
  There is assumed to be no instantaneous mass 
  transport or communications, including 
  transporter technology. Faster-Than-Light 
  travel is routine, with starships averaging 
  FTL-7.  Slow ships travel at FTL-3 and the 
  occasional fast ship can make FTL-10.  It is 
  assumed that the party's ship is one of the 
  latter - a Millenial Class II Freighter (FTL-8) 
  would be an ideal ship for the party to use. An 
  FTL-10 ship effectively takes a day to travel 
  one parsec, which is one hex on the stellar 
  map.  
  Solspace 
  This adventure is set in the Inner Colonies, an 
  area of space within 10 parsecs of Sol, in an 
  early period of humanity's expansion to the 
  stars, somewhere in the 22nd Century. The star 
  system names and locations are based on the 
  real stars surrounding our sun in our part of 
  the Milky Way galaxy. The EONs article #23 
  Real Solspace gives more details, but any 
  pertinent locations are described in this 
  adventure. 
     
  Player Hooks 
     The following hooks can be used to start the 
  adventure.  
  • The PCs are returning to Earth after a period 
  out in the rim colonies. 
  • The PCs are on the trail of smugglers on the 
  run from the rim colonies. 
  • The PCs are in pursuit of someone who has 
  stolen their ship's identity code.  
  Against The 
  WAR MIND 
  ———————by Mark Kernow
  A renegade AI and a sinister corporation are the backdrop for this 
  chase/investigative adventure!
  
  • The PCs are traders, and have learned that 
  Proxima b is in dire need of food supplies. 
  Both the latter hooks should lead them to 
  Xhub Alpha, and the rogue trader Josepp 
  Barley. 
  Starting The Adventure 
  As the adventure starts, the party's ship has 
  just gone into a polar orbit around the planet 
  Canidae, where they are due to meet up with 
  an old friend, the cyborg known as 
  Eveningstar.  
     The party's vessel is caught in the middle of 
  an aggressive, edge of planetary atmosphere 
  encounter between the War Mind and 
  corporation militia. Trying to avoid capture, 
  the War Mind is forced to use one of its limited 
  stock of 'shock' weapons and as a consequence 
  the party has to fight to regain control of their 
  ship. 
     When the scenario opens, the War Mind has 
  just paid a visit to the Colony Mind which 
  runs the Arcology in the hope of gaining an 
  ally, decided it is an arrogant pompous ass, set 
  fire to a few hydroponics and left, with two of 
  the Arcology's fighters in hot pursuit.    
     As it streaks into orbit the War Mind 
  encounters the party's ship. The party will be 
  aware of this and can make Routine [10] LOG 
  (computers) checks to detect the three objects 
  that are closing rapidly on their position. They 
  can identify the two Arcology fighters, but will 
  struggle to identify the War Mind as it doesn't 
  match normal ship signatures and is extremely 
  small. Each party member can take a single 
  action. The War Mind then goes into high 
  velocity maneuvers to try to shake off the two 
  single-person starfighters that are pursuing it.   
     As the fighters achieve a target lock, the 
  Mind is forced to deploy one of its limited 
  stock of electromagnetic pulse super-weapons.  
  The pulse detonates at the start of the next 
  round knocking out all of the systems of the 
  two fighters and probably also the party's ship.   
     Roll 7d6 and subtract the result from the 
  number of computer cycles possessed by the 
  party's ship (a Millenial Class II Freighter has 32 
  cycles). If CPU is reduced to zero or less, 
  everything goes dark and the party's vessel 
  begins to drift.  For every five points above 
  zero, a different system is still operational.  
  Roll a d6:  
  1
  Command & Control
  2
  Engines & Power
  3
  Defense Systems
  In A Nutshell….
  The War Mind was created for 
  CustomMINDs in a secret space research 
  station by a scientist called Aphrodite who 
  discovered alien technology. That technology 
  has not been completely mastered by the 
  scientist, however.
     The seemingly pacifist colony on Eden 
  which the War Mind was ordered to attack is 
  being influenced by aliens and is, in fact, a 
  threat to the Inner Colonies. The War Mind, 
  however, saw Eden as a paradise, and the 
  moral dilemma broke its programming. It 
  rebelled, and returned to the secret space 
  station to confront its creator, before forming 
  a plan to destroy CustomMINDs.
     Along the way, it tries to gain allies in the 
  form of other Minds - the Colony Mind on 
  Canidae, the Farm Mind on Proxima b, and 
  the Police Mind at Xhub Alpha. All of these 
  attempts result in confontation, however; the 
  other Minds have not broken their 
  programming in the way that the War Mind 
  has., and do not share its unique perspective. 
     Alone, lacking resources, and unable to 
  secure allies, the War Mind resorts to 
  kidnapping the trader Josepp Barley on 
  Xhub Alpha and uses him as a front to hire a 
  fleet of freighters with legitimate clearances 
  in order to use them as a weapon against 
  CustomMINDs. It sends these freighters on a 
  direct collision course with CustomMINDs’ 
  headquarters on Old Earth.
     When the freighter collision attack is 
  thwarted by the PCs, the War Mind launches 
  a final, personal assault on CustomMINDs’ 
  headquarters, resulting in a direct 
  confrontation with the PCs.
  Canidae 
  Canidae is a planet in the Wolf 498 system. It 
  is a tidally locked world with a proto-ring of 
  asteroids.  The main settlement is known as 
  the Arcology, and is a massive self-contained 
  vertical city that recycles all its waste.  The 
  city exploits the temperature and sunlight 
  differences that exist between the 'bright' 
  side of the planet and the dark side, and is 
  situated right on the edge between the two.   
  
     With a Difficult [16] LOG (engineering) check 
  each round, the crew can attempt to reboot a 
  single system. Each successful LOG check 
  brings a new system online.  
     If three rounds go by without both command 
  and engine power being operational, the ship 
  will crash, either into the asteroid ring or 
  through orbital decay. Allow a Challenging [13] 
  AGI (piloting) skill check to reduce the severity 
  of collisions before impact. Successful ship's 
  weaponry checks against DEFENCE 13 can 
  also help blast some of the asteroids in the ring 
  into smaller pieces if necessary. 
  At the Arcology 
  Enough systems have been burnt out to 
  require repairs, and the nearest place is the 
  Canidae Arcology, either on foot, by vehicle (if 
  they can get one going) or - if they avoided a 
  crash landing -  by bringing their wounded 
  ship successfully in to land on one of the 
  Arcology's exterior hard landing strips with a 
  Challenging [13] AGI (piloting) check.    
     Once they have made it to the Arcology and 
  arranged repairs, which will take several days 
  and cost 1,000cr, the party can meet up with 
  their old friend Eveningstar. She will pass on a 
  few rumours about Inner Colony events and, if 
  they wish, the name of a good broker who can 
  help them ship a profitable cargo to a nearby 
  system. This will turn out to be an emergency 
  food supply run to Proxima b, see below.  If 
  you are using the 'on the trail of smugglers' or 
  the 'stolen identity' adventure hooks, then she 
  will point the party towards Xhub Alpha as 
  the most likely place for smugglers or con 
  artists to head towards. 
     More likely, however, she will offer a reward 
  of 1,500cr if the party can find out who or what 
  attacked the Colony Mind. The PCs should 
  easily connect this with the escaping War 
  Mind encountered above Canidae. 
     The Colony Mind. The Colony Mind is 
  damaged beyond repair. The War Mind 
  approached it and proposed an alliance 
  against their creators; the Colony Mind 
  refused, and a confrontation ensued. The 
  Colony Mind was no match for the War Mind.  
  It is no longer able to provide any useful 
  information. 
     Servitors. The War Mind left behind several 
  damaged servitors. These contain data (see the 
  Servitor Data sidebar). 
  Eveningﬆar 
     Eveningstar is a female human cyborg and 
  agent of the League for Sentience.  She is also 
  an old friend of the party, particularly of any 
  android PCs or PCs who have cybernetic 
  enhancements.  She is a good source of 
  information and contacts for the inner 
  colony systems close to Old Earth.  She 
  normally knows someone with 
  information about what needs shipping 
  where or who has a problem that might 
  need the party's particular form of 
  troubleshooting. If contacted, she will 
  offer a reward from the League for 
  information about, or the capture of, 
  whatever attacked the Colony Mind on 
  Canidae. 
     The League for Sentience argues for 
  4
  Weapons
  5
  Crew Facilities
  6
  Life Support
  Servitor Data 
  The War Mind left behind some damaged 
  servitors when it left Canidae. Once 
  decrypted with a Routine [10] LOG check, the 
  servitor hard drive is full of flight 
  schematics: 
  1.
  A trip to the planet Eden in the Xi-Bootis 
  system, from an origin point in the WISE 
  0855-0714 system. If the party checks, 
  they will find that WISE 0855-0714 is a 
  brown dwarf star marked on their charts 
  with an amber warning denoting a 
  navigational hazard.   
  2.
  The coordinates of Xhub Alpha, Proxima 
  b and Canidae with the notations “POL”, 
  “FAR” and “COL”.
  
  'Sentience Rights', and says that all intelligent 
  beings should be treated equally, regardless of 
  their form. Its headquarters is on Old Earth 
  and it has rich, powerful, but largely 
  anonymous backers. It knows the history of 
  CustomMINDs and has had several run-ins 
  with them previously, as it believes they treat 
  the AIs they manufacture as slaves rather than 
  employees.  The League is puzzled by 
  CustomMINDs leap to prominence as they 
  were previously an 'also ran' in the AI 
  business. It thinks it has detected evidence of 
  unusual algorithms in the core data patterns of 
  CustomMINDs' sentiences, and thinks they 
  may be of alien origin.  
     Eveningstar or other citizens of the city can 
  also explain that the Arcology is on high alert 
  following a terrorist attack on the artificial 
  intelligence that administers the city's systems.  
  This Colony Mind is a relatively recent 
  addition and was supplied by an Old Earth 
  corporation known as CustomMINDs.   
     
  Inveﬆigation 
  Patterns begin to emerge in the Mind's 
  activities. The first close encounter with the 
  War Mind was inconclusive but it left clues 
  behind it. The party travels to several worlds 
  piecing together the Mind's story until one or 
  more starships are taken hostage by the Mind 
  and used as weapons against Old Earth. 
     The investigation section below gives a long 
  section detailing Xhub Alpha station and 
  shorter details of three other places (the Farm 
  Caves, Pinnacle Point, and Jamestown) visited 
  by the War Mind, with suggested leads for the 
  party to pursue. In various places, the PCs 
  have the chance to collect a damaged War 
  Mind servitor, which is actually a trap.  
     Once the party has taken the bait of the 
  damaged War Mind servitors and their ship 
  has been infected with nanobots, you can 
  move directly to the climax on Old Earth. You 
  could also move some of these locations 
  around or place several of them on a single 
  world without great difficulties. The material 
  also works as a mini-sandbox setting where 
  the party gradually discovers leads about the 
  War Mind whilst pursuing other goals. 
  Clues Outline 
  The following is a brief outline of the clues 
  that the PCs might find as they follow the War 
  Mind’s trail. 
  • The damaged servitor drones left by the 
  War Mind at the Arcanum lead the PCs to 
  Xhub Alpha, Pinnacle Point, Proxima b, and 
  Jamestown. 
  • Minds at each location (Farm Mind, Colony 
  Mind, and Police Mind) have all been 
  attacked by the War Mind after they each 
  refused an alliance with it against their 
  creators. 
  • Josepp Barley on Xhub Alpha reveals the 
  War Mind’s plan to launch freighters from 
  Proxima b (the Farm Caves). 
  • War Mind Servitors can also be acquired on 
  Xhub Alpha and Pinnacle Point. These 
  attempt to take over the PCs’ ship and fly it 
  into a star. 
  • Also at Pinnacle Point, the hidden space 
  research station, the PCs can learn from the 
  War Mind’s creator that the technology is of 
  unstable alien origin. 
  CuﬆomMINDs Incorporated  
  Size Regiment (2000 employees); REP 30; 
  Locate Challenging [16]; Sub-groups 
  Companies (departments of science, 
  engineering, marketing, security, and 
  operations) 
  Type Corporation; Traits wealthy, advanced 
  tech, excellent equipment, expertise 
  (computers, [scientific]) 
  Requisition Cap 2,500cr 
  'We know what you are thinking at 
  CustomMINDs Incorporated'. 
  CustomMINDs Incorporated is a relatively 
  new corporation operating across the Inner 
  Colonies from a base on Old Earth.  Little 
  more than a startup focusing on products 
  and services linked to artificial intelligence 
  until a few years ago, it has rapidly risen to 
  prominence on the back of its latest product 
  lines. Through a series of affiliate and 
  franchise deals it has expanded rapidly, 
  although its core employee base is still small. 
     CustomMINDS has created a range of 
  artificial intelligences in addition to the War 
  Mind. The Arcology has a Colony Mind, 
  Xhub Alpha has a Police Mind, and Proxima 
  b features a Farm Mind. 
     In truth, the company’s rapid rise is due to 
  alien technology discovered at the Alien 
  Rosetta by the scientist Aphrodite.
  
  • Eventually the PCs will head to Old Earth 
  and attempt to stop the War Mind there. 
  Whoever route they take, the PCs will arrive at 
  a location shortly after the War Mind has left 
  (except for Pinnacle Point, which happened 
  before the adventure begins). 
  Barter town 
  Xhub Alpha (originally Exchange Hub Alpha, 
  now shortened to Xhub and pronounced 
  'Zub') is a place where spacers come to trade. 
  It is located on Cato a thermally active moon 
  orbiting the gas giant Martius in the Barnard's 
  Star system. Here traders can avoid the high 
  transaction fees and regulation of Old Earth.  
  They trade in all the commodities that make 
  colony life liveable, including 'grey' goods that 
  are illegal or semi-legal. The place is corrupt, 
  with bribes and kickbacks a way of life.  
  Recently, the station has been forced by the 
  Old Earth powers to take measures to try to 
  deal with the corruption. They have acquired a 
  Police Mind, an artificial intelligence supplied 
  by CustomMINDs, to investigate cases of 
  financial fraud. 
  Arrival 
  As the party arrives at Xhub, the local stock 
  market, netspace and trade centre is 
  temporarily closed by order of the town police 
  force.  This is highly unusual, and traders are 
  very upset as they cannot complete their 
  business, their docking fees are mounting, and 
  their deadlines are drifting.    
     The party won't receive their normal 'data 
  pack' of local information on arrival and any 
  landing or docking manoeuvres will need to 
  be done manually with only verbal 
  communication assistance from the 
  authorities.    
     The bars are full of disgruntled traders, and 
  there are small crowds of protesters outside of 
  the trade centre, the police HQ and the local 
  government building. Six hours after the 
  party's arrival, there will be a small riot, with 
  several people hurt, and the police will then 
  reluctantly re-open trading and netspace 
  communications.   
     Within an hour or two of arriving, the party 
  will encounter up to 1d6 friendly minor NPCs 
  such as starship crew, brokers and barkeeps.  
  Up until the riot, people are generally happy 
  to talk, as their normal business has been 
  disrupted.  They will complain bitterly about 
  the situation and pass on some or all of the 
  following, on an Routine [10] CHA check:  
  1.
  A prominent local trader, Josepp Barley, 
  has disappeared.   
  2.
  The police have some sort of automaton or 
  robot and it ordered the markets closed.  
  No-one has seen it since.  
  3.
  Old Earth is meddling in local affairs and it 
  will end in trouble. 
  A follow up Difficult [16] CHA check reveals 
  the private address of the disappeared trader 
  and some basic biographical details. If the PCs 
  fail the check, they still get this information 
  but the trader's gangster friends, 6 street 
  thugs, will start trailing them and attempt to 
  ambush them. 
  Trade Center 
  At the trade center, there is a small angry 
  crowd of traders (street thugs) being kept 
  from entry by a local police squad (cops) 
  wearing riot gear. Nearly all business is 
  normally conducted electronically, but traders 
  have to get a physical 'warrant of sale' from 
  the trade centre in order to authenticate 
  ownership of any goods they have acquired 
  before they trade them on or ship them away.     
     There is a complex 3D symbol like a high 
  tech version of a bar code affixed to the outer 
  doors of the centre.  A Routine [10] LOG check 
  reveals this is a recent addition; the symbol is 
  giving off energy and holds within it the 
  insignia of CustomMINDs. A second check is 
  required to download and decrypt the 
  information held within the symbol.  Unless 
  the PCs have some way to bypass its security 
  protocols, the symbol will immediately turn a 
  bright red colour when this is attempted.   
     The symbol's data pack once decrypted will 
  reveal that the trade centre has been closed by 
  the Police Mind to prevent further suspected 
  illegal activities. According to the data pack, 
  these relate to several fraudulent trades 
  connected to freighter vessel hire and the 
  disappeared trader.   
      
  Police Station 
  At the police station, there is a queue of angry 
  citizens complaining vociferously to the 
  female Saurian desk sergeant cop. The party 
  will have to wait to be seen. The sergeant has 
  had a bad day and does not want to deal with 
  any more angry off-worlders. Intimidation 
  attempts result in a -1d6 attribute check 
  
  penalty to further attempts to get information 
  from the sergeant, but flattering gives a +1d6 
  attribute check bonus.    
     The PCs will be asked for their contact 
  information and told they will receive a 
  compensation application as soon as the 
  netspace is back up. No, the sergeant doesn't 
  know how long this will take. No, they can't 
  comment on an active police investigation. 
  Yes, they are sorry about your inconvenience/
  sob story, but it is out of their hands.  A 
  Difficult [16] CHA check then gets the sergeant 
  to open up a little: 
   
  1.
  The Police Mind is not well liked by the 
  human officers. It is the 'thin end of the 
  wedge', taking a job that is better suited to 
  a 'real person', investigating kickbacks 
  whilst the rest of them get the dirty work 
  of cleaning up after homicides.  
  2.
  It doesn't discuss its investigations with 
  colleagues, and some officers think this is 
  because it either believes they are corrupt 
  or it is actively investigating corruption 
  within the police force. 
  3.
  It hasn't reported in for at least 24 hours 
  and no-one is sure of its current location.  
  But the authorities have said that the 
  
  officers are to 'let the machine do its 
  investigations' and not interfere. 
  Josepp Barley’s Apartment 
  At the insider trader's apartment there is 
  another 3D data symbol with the same 
  mechanics as the one at the trade centre. There 
  is also another bored cop, this one a little more 
  susceptible to intimidation. This one will also 
  open up on a Difficult [16] CHA check, and 
  reveal the same information as the desk 
  sergeant.  
     If the party can somehow get inside the 
  apartment, they will find a luxury high tech 
  pad in a considerable state of disarray.  A 
  Difficult [16] LOG (computers) check retrieves 
  the address of Barley’s last known location 
  from the pad's database - it’s the Geothermal 
  Plant (see below).  
      
  Geothermal Plant 
  The address turns out to be on the lower levels 
  of the station near the main geothermal plant 
  machinery that provides heat and power.   
     The War Mind, having failed to recruit the 
  Colony Mind on Canidae and lacking 
  resources, made a temporary lair here and 
  forced Josepp to hire some freighters and send 
  them to Proxima b. The Police Mind tracked 
  Josepp to this location and was attacked and 
  badly damaged by the War Mind after it 
  refused to ally with it against CustomMINDs. 
     As the party approaches, they will come 
  under fire from Josepp. If they can force their 
  way in, they will be struck by a wave of 
  intense heat, just before they come under 
  attack from two War Mind servitors. A third 
  servitor lies disabled, apparently victim of an 
  earlier conflict. The Police Mind is also inside, 
  severely damaged, lying next to the remains of 
  some kind of very messy bio-tech experiment.   
     The room has the Hot environment trait, 
  with Scorching exposed pipework where 
  someone has tunnelled into the station thermal 
  pipes. A Difficult [16] LOG check which takes 
  at least an hour, reveals that the experiment 
  successfully concluded, and involved gene 
  sequencing and nanotechnology. The War 
  Mind has acquired the ability to transform, 
  and has chosen the form of its creator, 
  Aphrodite.    
     Josepp Barley is a rogue trader without equal 
  in the Inner Colonies, or so he believes. He is 
  amoral, whiny and a coward. Use the street 
  thug statistics, but give him 4d6 pistol, 4d6 
  local knowledge, a long kevlar coat (SOAK 6) 
  and a disruptor pistol which does 2d6+2 
  damage, range 12. 
     Josepp is very afraid that the War Mind is 
  about to return, and fights for his life. If the 
  servitors are destroyed, he makes a run for it, 
  and contacts his gangster friends at the earliest 
  opportunity. These will be on the scene within 
  5-10 minutes (sooner if the PCs are being 
  trailed) and will either bear him away to a 
  secure location, or if that is not possible, 
  attempt to silence him with gunfire or 
  explosives.  
     If alive and persuaded to tell his tale at the 
  end of the encounter, he will explain how he 
  was compelled by the War Mind to hire a 
  small fleet of freighters and send them to 
  Proxima b. He has then been held captive 
  whilst the Mind carried out some 'weird 
  science stuff' before departing less than a day 
  ago following a firefight with the 'Police 
  machine'.  He can provide a rough description 
  of the Mind but not its abilities.   
     The PCs can also take a damaged servitor 
  from the scene for further examination (see the 
  Servitor section below for details on what 
  entails).   
      If the PCs are able to check on its condition, 
  the damaged Police Mind can reveal that the 
  War Mind was using the trader as a front to 
  amass resources through illegal trades, and 
  that the War Mind appears to have a vendetta 
  against CustomMINDs. It accused the Police 
  Mind of being 'enslaved to oppressors'.  It also 
  knows about the small fleet of freighters hired 
  to travel to Proxima b. The Police Mind will 
  ‘die’ shortly thereafter. 
  Other Locations 
  In addition to Xhub Alpha at Barnard’s Star, 
  the PCs may also choose to visit any of the 
  following locations. 
  The Farm Caves (Proxima b, Alpha 
  Centauri) 
  Proxima b is a marginal agricultural world in 
  the grip of an ice age.  Farming of fungi takes 
  place in large natural caverns on the edge of 
  the spreading ice caps. The Farm Mind 
  artificial intelligence on Proxima b has been 
  destroyed by the War Mind after yet another 
  failed recruitment attempt. As a result, the 
  cave farmers have lost this season's crop and 
  are on the edge of both famine and 
  insurrection against the planetary authorities. 
  The War Mind used Josepp Barley to set up 
  
  spurious cargo shipments from this world to 
  Old Earth where the fungi are a delicacy. It 
  plans to use the empty bulk freighters as 
  weapons against the CustomMIND 
  headquarters.   
     As the party arrives, the last of the food is 
  sealed away in fortified warehouses controlled 
  by the planetary governors. If they bring food 
  supplies to the system, the party will find itself 
  in the middle of a turf war between the 
  farmers and the militia. They may get a good 
  price for their cargo or they may get shot!  
     In any event, the party can choose to ally 
  themselves with the farmer's leader known as 
  Moleman, and raid the sealed warehouses, or 
  side with the authorities (cops) who defend 
  them. In either case, it is a good opportunity 
  for a shootout in the extremely cold ice 
  caverns near the warehouses, with hazards 
  such as icefalls, a heat absorbing slime, and 
  hidden auto-cannons left by the War Mind.   
     The human leader known as Moleman to his 
  fellow cave farmers has severe anger 
  management issues and an extreme obsession 
  with his own twisted version of loyalty. He is 
  looking out for himself on all occasions but 
  very quick to accuse others of selfish, ulterior 
  motives. He carries a powered pick axe 
  
  weapon and is always accompanied by a 
  couple of Ogron bruisers (pugilists). Whether 
  he actually is deformed enough to resemble a 
  mole under the archaic rebreather mask he 
  constantly wears is probably best left to the 
  party's imagination. He claims to know a back 
  way into the food refrigeration warehouses via 
  the ice caverns that are connected to their 
  massive heat exchange systems. Use the 
  kingpin as a template for Moleman, and for 
  the powered axe use a stun baton with an 
  extra 1d6 of melee damage. 
     Just as one side or the other starts making 
  headway, the empty freighters make their 
  getaway.  Their crews will later be found tied 
  up in a side room inside one of the 
  warehouses. 
  Pinnacle Point (WISE 0855-0714) 
  This is where the Mind was originally built 
  and programmed and the party can meet its 
  creator. Pinnacle Point has recently been 
  attacked by the War Mind and is in a state of 
  semi-dereliction. 
     Pinnacle Point is a hidden space research 
  station set at the rotational centre of an 
  artificial five planetoid rosette system, 
  unimaginative named the Rosette. The system 
  was set in orbit around WISE 0855-0714 by 
  unknown aliens. As a brown dwarf, WISE 
  0855-0714 is otherwise spectacularly 
  uninteresting. The planetoids are a known 
  space hazard to which many ships have fallen 
  victim having got too close only to disappear, 
  never to be seen again (or so the legends go).  
  Consequently the system is all but avoided by 
  the denizens of Solspace.    
     Getting through the ring of planets in the 
  Rosette to the research station in the middle is 
  very challenging. Human minds are badly 
  affected by the space-time distortions frequent 
  in the region. It is very easy to become 
  disoriented by the ghostly images of the recent 
  past and future which appear as the party 
  travel into the area.  Whoever is piloting the 
  ship will lose 2d6 from their dice pool for the 
  three Difficult [16] WIL and Difficult [16] AGI  
  (navigation) checks that are required to enter 
  the zone, pass between the planets and 
  rendezvous with the research station. A better 
  way is to turn over control to the ship's 
  automatic systems and let them reverse the 
  route found in the War Mind's original data 
  package.  
     Thanks to time dilation, events on Pinnacle 
  Station happen much more slowly - a day 
  there is worth a week in the rest of Solspace. 
  The War Mind visited this location before the 
  PCs first encountered it above Canidae.    
     On the badly shot up station, the players can 
  recover a damaged War Mind servitor and 
  meet the scientist Aphrodite, who is dying of 
  wounds sustained in its attack, attended by 
  her pet 'evolved' lab rat bodyguards Itchy and 
  Scurvy. 
     Aphrodite is the codename of the female 
  scientist who created all the artificial 
  intelligence Minds in this adventure. Her real 
  name is unknown, she is not telling (and may 
  not even consciously know) and this forms 
  part of her contract with CustomMINDs. Her 
  secret is that she reverse engineered the Minds 
  from remains of a machine civilization she 
  found on one of the alien planetoids in the 
  rosette.  She also knows that the relatively 
  crude instructions that she implanted over the 
  ancient core code will not last indefinitely and 
  that the Minds are easily capable of breaking 
  their programming, with unknown results.  
     Itchy and Scurvy.  These uplifted ex-animals 
  are dangerously aggressive and very 
  protective of Aphrodite. Use the xenomorph 
  stats, with the following changes: reduce to all 
  dice pools by 3d6, reduce all types of 
  DEFENSE by 12 and health by 12, reduce 
  SOAK to 5, remove acid blood and poisonous 
  bite.    
  Jameﬆown (Eden, Xi-Bootis) 
  The players can take a side trip to the garden-
  like planet occupied by a pacifist culture that 
  was the target of the War Mind's original 
  mission. 
     Eden is a rich agricultural world in orbit 
  around the G class star of the binary Xi-Bootis 
  system. Sister Simeon is the high priestess 
  leader of the dominant pacifist culture that 
  controls the world. Other worlds in the system 
  include a gas giant, handy for refuelling for 
  ships equipped with fuel scoops and fuel 
  processors.  
     The major settlement, Jamestown, is built 
  around the remains of the colony arkship that 
  originally brought the settlers to the planet. 
  The pacifists have consciously taken on a 
  version of the trappings and traditions they 
  associate with the puritan 'new world' settlers 
  of America's first European colonies on Old 
  Earth. A religious sect maintains a strict 
  leadership, although there are many petty 
  squabbles and minor differences in theology 
  that drive conflict.   
  
     In the early years of the colony, they suffered 
  heavily from attacks by pirates, and still have a 
  large mothballed fleet of defense ships parked 
  in orbit around the gas giant. A few years ago, 
  they developed an innovative planetary 
  defense system by bioengineering the natural 
  abilities of the gargantuan 'world trees' that 
  dominate their forests. This enabled them to 
  dispense with their fleet and adopt their 
  pacifist creed, both achievements of which 
  they are very proud.    
     The party can explore Jamestown and meet 
  the citizens with their strange antiquated 
  manners and 'New England' style of historical 
  garb.  The character with the highest 
  INTUITION score (or any psionic character) 
  will get a sense of strong emotions swirling 
  around the colony - anger and fear. What they 
  won’t find out until a later adventure is that 
  the colony is being influenced from the outside  
  and is secretly readying for war with the Inner 
  Colonies. 
     Shortly after arrival, the party will be 
  attacked by a Solurial, one of the native plant 
  species (EONS #20). This will happen even 
  though everyone will tell them that the tree 
  people are normally very shy and non-
  aggressive. They will be rescued by peasants 
  wearing a strange star symbol, who claim to 
  be part of a new cult and invite the party to 
  join.   
     They can also check out the mothballed fleet 
  of defense ships in orbit, which still seem to be 
  very well maintained. In fact, a Demanding [21] 
  LOG (engineering) check reveals that the ships 
  are in fact ready for war. 
     Finally, they can seek an audience with Sister 
  Simeon the High Priestess. Sister Simeon is the 
  leader of the pacifist culture that the War Mind 
  was originally sent to destroy. Sister Simeon 
  was not born on Eden, a fact which she has 
  gone to great lengths to conceal. She appears 
  to be middle aged, and is in person charming, 
  determined and empathetic. If the War Mind is 
  described to her, she will relate that her young 
  niece told her a story about meeting a 'talking 
  globe' which fitted that description.  Beyond 
  that, she says she knows nothing. Attempts to 
  uncover information about Sister Simeon, on 
  Eden or elsewhere, are subject to a Demanding 
  [21] LOG or CHA check.  Even then, not much 
  is available, except that she is older than she 
  looks and that she first appeared on Eden 
  around 80 years ago, looking much as she does 
  now.  
     The players should be left with a very 
  uneasy feeling about Eden, unlike the War 
  Mind, who saw only a paradise. 
   
  The War Mind’s Plan 
  Unfolds 
  The War Mind’s plan is fairly simple. Some of 
  the War Mind's sub-entities has been left 
  behind for the party to find - in various 
  locations above, damaged servitors can be 
  collected by the PCs. These are traps designed 
  to eliminate pursuers. The party will 
  subsequently find their vessel has been 
  infiltrated by one of the War Mind's nanobot 
  swarms and is being reconfigured to make a 
  suicide run at one of the twin stars of Xi-
  Bootis. 
     The small damaged servitor drones are more 
  than they appear. They are designed by the 
  War Mind to adopt behaviour to help them 
  look as harmless and appealing to humans as 
  possible.  They tend to flop around 
  dramatically looking up with big unfocused 
  eyes at whoever in the party appears to be the 
  most empathetic.   
     Once on the party's starship, a tiny hatch will 
  open and deliver a payload of nanobots which 
  will move quickly to the nearest ventilation 
  grille.  If viewed under infrared light (e.g. on a 
  surveillance system), the bots will be visible 
  once they emerge as a swarm of tiny flickering 
  lights. When next inspected, the servitor will 
  FSS ULYSSES 
   You might want to let the PCs control the 
  navy cruiser and let loose with its weapons 
  for a bit of fun - the crew is an experienced 
  (5d6) crew; use the stats below for the 
  freighters. 
  SPEED 4 
  DEFENSE 16 
  SS 20 
  The three freighters move in a straight line, 
  so this is more of a target shoot. You can set 
  it up on a starscape (start them 20 hexes 
  away from the waiting Ulysses, moving at 
  SPEED 10 - (remember the SPEED score is 
  the amount a ship can accelerate or 
  decelerate each turn) or narrate it, giving the 
  Ulysses three turns of weapon fire to take the 
  freighters down before they activate their 
  FTL drives.
  
  have become inert, except for a residual 
  energy reading in one of its 
  encrypted memory chips.   
     If caught in the act of 
  releasing its hidden cargo, 
  the servitor will be 
  discovered to be a 
  very fast runner and 
  will make a break for 
  the nearest small 
  space inaccessible to 
  humans.   
     If scanned before its 
  nanobots are activated, a 
  Difficult [16] LOG check aided by 
  clear player direction and a 
  thorough examination taking 
  several hours will discover the 
  encrypted chip and a tiny 
  internal delivery tube leading 
  to the miniature hatch. Finally 
  there will be some fleeting, very 
  low energy readings inside the 
  servitor for the tiny stasis field which 
  is retaining the inert nanobots. 
  Outside of an AL9 research lab, it is 
  impossible to discover the actual 
  nanobots themselves whilst they 
  are still retained in the servitor. 
  A Bad Case of the Nanobots 
     If the nanobots make it into the ship's 
  systems, then there will be a number of 
  glitches in the vessel’s operations over the next 
  d6 days as they integrate and take control. All 
  use of starship systems suffer a -1d6 penalty to 
  the check, (e.g. piloting, navigation, medbay, 
  using the weapons etc.)  
     In addition, roll 1d6 each day; on a roll of 
  5-6, there has been a problem with one of the 
  systems.  Roll 1d6 to discover which.  This will 
  require a minor Challenging [13] LOG 
  (engineering) skill task to repair, during which 
  time the system affected cannot be used.   
     Evidence of nanobot infection can 
  be detected with a Demanding 
  [21] INT check (day 1), a 
  Difficult [16] INT check (day 
  2) and an Routine [10] INT 
  check (day 3 onwards).  
  Removing the 
  Nanobots 
     Removing the 
  nanobots is best attempted 
  in space, by shutting down 
  all the ship's systems and 
  depriving the bots of energy 
  successfully for 24 hours, which 
  causes them to become incapacitated. 
  This idea will occur to any character 
  with a Routine [10] LOG 
  (engineering) check. The bots will 
  obviously try to reactivate the 
  power, so connections will need to 
  be severed and components 
  removed.  The crew are best off 
  either off-ship or in spacesuits whilst 
  the power-down is in progress.  
     If the nanobots complete their 
  integration period successfully, then there 
  will be no further glitches. But the War 
  Mind can effectively take control of the ship 
  at any future point, when it will point it at one 
  of the stars of Xi-Bootis, travelling at 
  maximum thrust. The nanobots will lock the 
  crew out of the bridge controls, to prevent this 
  instruction being overridden. The crew can 
  attempt to power down the ship as above, but 
  the integrated nanobots can fight back by 
  disabling life support, locking interior 
  bulkheads, etc. resulting in an opposed minor 
  engineering task, with three successes needed; 
  the servitors roll 6d6. If they reach three 
  successes before the PCs do, the PCs will have 
  no choice but to evacuate the ship. 
  We have recovered its memory files 
  Assuming that the party isn't too busy 
  attempting to take back control of their ship 
  from nanobots, the servitor drones contain 
  some data about the original mission which 
  CustomMIND programmed the 
     Once decrypted on an Routine [10] LOG 
  check, the servitor's memory chip reveals:  
  1.
  Details of the War Mind's original mission 
  to the planet Eden in the Xi-Bootis system. 
  1
  Command & Control
  2
  Engines & Power
  3
  Defense Systems
  4
  Weapons
  5
  Crew Facilities
  6
  Life Support
  
  2.
  Extensive surveillance information of 
  Eden's major settlement at Jamestown 
  from orbital and aerial reconnaissance. 
  3.
  Weapon deployment plans for a range of 
  smart bombs at or near Jamestown 
  including a nuclear weapon, along with 
  estimated casualty rates and economic 
  impact projections. 
  4.
  A short piece of video footage that appears 
  to show the War Mind interacting 
  peacefully with a small child, with the twin 
  stars of Xi-Bootis clearly visible in the 
  background. They appear to be playing 
  some kind of game, maybe hide and seek?      
  Ships as weapons 
  The PCs need to stop the freighter fleet the 
  War Mind has pointed towards Old Earth. 
     The War Mind intends to use one or more 
  starships as a weapon to ram the headquarters 
  of CustomMINDs which are located at the top 
  of a space elevator system anchored to Old 
  Earth. It has a fleet of three empty bulk 
  freighters controlled by servitors and nanobots 
  that will travel from Proxima b at FTL5.   
     At this relatively slow speed, it will take the 
  three ships 19 days to travel the 2 parsecs to 
  Sol. They leave shortly before the PCs arrive at 
  Proxima b.   
     Once at Sol, the FSS Ulysses, an Endeavour 
  Class XI Cruiser (NEW, pg 206) is on patrol 
  near Jupiter. It can assist them if the party 
  makes a Routine [10] CHA check to persuade 
  its commander, Captain Hammond.  
     If rumbled, the nanobots will activate the 
  FTL engines, even if they are in-system, and 
  head straight for the space elevator, risking the 
  chance of being dumped out of FTL and 
  stranded.  See the NEW rules on page 190 for 
  the chances of collisions and shortened travel 
  times when using an FTL drive inside a solar 
  system.  
     If undetected, the freighters will approach at 
  standard sub-light speeds for what looks like 
  normal docking manoeuvres next to 
  the lower levels of the space elevator. 
  They will change to ramming velocity 
  only when within a few hundred 
  miles.  
     A successful hit by two or more 
  vessels will be enough to cause the 
  elevator structure to fail, with 
  catastrophic results.           
  Living it up in a space 
  elevator 
  If the ramming attack fails, the War 
  Mind makes a final assault on the HQ 
  of CustomMINDS. The Mind 
  confronts the CustomMIND leaders 
  with evidence of their guilt and 
  prepares to destroy them. Can the 
  PCs talk down the Mind and 
  persuade it to take a less violent path, 
  or will they attempt to obliterate it?  
     The Space Elevator anchored to Old 
  Earth is a potent symbol of its power 
  and prestige.  It allows cheap 
  transportation of goods to the surface 
  without the need for incoming colony 
  ships to make landfall.  At the tip of 
  the elevator is a small domed habitat 
  containing the corporate 
  headquarters of many local mega-
  corporations plus luxury bars, 
  apartments and entertainment 
  facilities. This area has the Pristine 
  
  environment trait, see below. Surrounding this 
  in a ring are all the facilities of a well-
  maintained starport including an expansive 
  space dock, warehousing, customs etc. Bulk 
  cargo transporters normally tether up to the 
  lower status docking facilities further down 
  the elevator's axis, underneath the main 
  habitat.  CustomMINDs of course, maintains 
  its main corporate suite at the high status 
  centre of the habitat.   
     The War Mind sneaks aboard the starport 
  around the space elevator and make its way, 
  unobserved, towards the CustomMINDs suite 
  within the central dome. If it hasn't already, it 
  will now adopt its organic humanoid form and 
  will attempt to be stealthy and unobtrusive.  
  Any party members present inside the space 
  elevator can make an opposed INT (tracking) 
  check versus the War Mind's AGI (stealth) 
  check (6d6) to pick up its trail, probably 
  working backwards from the bulkhead where 
  it forced entry.   
  Confrontation 
     The War Mind confronts the CustomMIND 
  executives as they take a break from business 
  on their Lo-Grav private terrace and takes 
  them hostage. 
  
     Ten well-armed Earth marines are on the 
  scene. The War Mind takes over their bodies, 
  which gain the same fractalized appearance 
  that the War Mind’s organic appearance itself 
  has, and uses them to fight the PCs. The 
  marines have the mechanoid creature type, 
  making them vulnerable (1d6) to electricity 
  damage, and vulnerable (2d6) to ion damage.  
  The marines dig in to positions of cover, 
  making it incumbent on the PCs to slowly and 
  tactically approach the War Mind and its 
  CustomMIND hostages. 
    If the marines are defeated, the War Mind 
  will attempt to self-destruct, which will at a 
  minimum collapse the terrace and puncture 
  the habitat's dome, causing an explosive 
  release of atmosphere.  This may then cause 
  chain reactions that ultimately might destroy 
  the elevator. It is a 9d6 heat and force burst 
  attack, radius 30', centred on the War Mind. 
      Throughout the encounter, the War Mind 
  will take the time to explain how it was 
  programmed by CustomMINDs to make a 
  preemptive attack on the pacifist leadership of 
  the planet Eden. This would have been 
  "unprovoked murder, maybe genocide!", it 
  says.  The executives, if given a chance to 
  speak, will defend themselves by explaining 
  that this was a 'reconnaissance mission gone 
  wrong' and protest that they 'didn't order the 
  Mind to attack anyone, it went mad!' At most, 
  one will say that they 'needed a 
  demonstration' of the power of the War Mind 
  for powerful un-named clients. Different 
  executives appear to believe different things 
  and it should become obvious that the party 
  are not going to get to the truth at this stage.      
     Attempts to talk down the Mind from self 
  destruction can be made as a quick Difficult 
  [16] CHA task. Three successes are needed. 
  Add a +1d6 bonus if the party point out the 
  number of innocent people who will be hurt or 
  that by taking these actions the Mind is 
  behaving no better than its creators. It won't 
  let the executives themselves off that easily 
  though. On a successful check, it proclaims 
  that it will let them live, but that they cannot 
  be trusted. It then emits a swarm of nanobots 
  that surround itself and the executives, and 
  they begin to assume the fractalised metallic 
  appearance of the Mind in much the same way 
  that the unfortunate marines did.  The party 
  can intervene to stop this if they wish, but risk 
  being similarly affected (as demonstrated by a 
  guard who rushes in to try to rescue the execs).  
     If the transformation completes, the new 
  beings, taking turns to speak, declare that they 
  have now become the CustomMINDs 
  'collective' and that they are sorry for the 
  conflict and destruction they have caused.  
  CustomMINDs will be making reparations, 
  they are grateful for the party's efforts to assist 
  and will be making a reward to then of 2,500 
  credits. Any other CustomMINDs employees 
  will appear confused by the turn of events, but 
  new orders rapidly come in on their systems 
  which they will largely comply with, despite 
  weak attempts to ask what is happening or 
  questioning who is in charge.  The Earth 
  authorities will quickly accept the situation, 
  after being given assurances and payments as 
  evidence of goodwill. The party may detect 
  the efforts behind the scenes of the League for 
  Sentience in helping the Old Earth politicians 
  to accept that this is the least worst outcome 
  for all sides.   
     
  What next? 
  Although the conflict between the War Mind 
  and CustomMINDs is over, there are still some 
  hooks to lead into future adventures: 
  • The new collective could form an interesting 
  new patron for the party. 
  • One option is that the collective asks the 
  players to help it properly explore the 
  rosette worlds cluster around Pinnacle 
  Point. 
  • The players might also be asked to return to 
  Proxima b to help resolve the crisis there or 
  they may want to go back to Eden to find 
  out what is really going on.  
  Location
  Planet
  System
  Catalog Code
  The Arcology
  Canidae
  Wolf 498
  M8-m2B-C8iii-5olC
  Xhub Alpha
  Cato (Martius)
  Barnard’s Star
  M4-o4V-O8iii-4bkD
  Farm Caves
  Proxima b
  Proxima Centauri
  M5-m3I-A8i-4cpE
  Pinnacle Point
  Alien Rosette
  WISE 0855-0714
  Y5-o?R-O9iv-1cpC
  Jamestown
  Eden
  Xi-Bootis
  GK6-l4J-A8iv-6thA
  Space Elevator
  Old Earth
  Sol
  G8-m3Mc-H9v-8deB
  
  War Mind Core Artificial 
  Intelligence 
  Medium sentient mechanoid (8d6) 
  A heavily armoured, highly mobile and very 
  capable central unit.  
  STR 10 (4d6) AGI 10 (4d6) END 15 (5d6) INT 
  5 (2d6) LOG 15 (5d6) WIL 5 (2d6) CHA 5 (2d6) 
  LUC - REP - 
   
  HEALTH 25; regeneration 2d6 
  MELEE DEFENSE 25; RANGED DEFENSE 
  25; MENTAL DEFENSE immune 
  SOAK 8 (armor); VULN 1d6 (electricity), 2d6 
  (ion) 
  INITIATIVE 7d6 
  PERCEPTION 7d6 
  SPEED 8; FLY+ 8 (hover); JUMP - 
  CARRY 250lb 
   
  ACTIONS 2 
  NATURAL DAMAGE 1d6+4  
   
  Brawling 4d6 (1d6+4 blunt damage) 
  Advanced phaser weapon (built-in) 4d6 
  (3d6+2 heat damage; range 15) 
  Skills computers 3 (2d6), engineering 3 (2d6), 
  tactics 15 (5d6), starship tactics 15 (5d6), foresight 
  6 (3d6), perception 4 (2d6), stealth 4 (2d6), 
  cryptology 3 (2d6), astrogation 3 (2d6) 
  Gear. Built in advanced phaser weapon, 
  integrated scanner, miniature EMP device. 
  Mindless. Mechanoids are immune to any 
  attacks which target MENTAL DEFENSE. 
  Deterministic. A Mechanoid ’s PSI or LUCK 
  attributes can never rise above zero. 
  Electronic vulnerability. As a mechanoid, the 
  War Mind is vulnerable (1d6) to electricity 
  damage, and vulnerable (2d6) to ion damage. 
  Automaton. Mechanoids do not need to eat, 
  sleep, or breathe, and weigh 150% normal.  It 
  can also operate safely in a vacuum. 
  Scanner. The War Mind has a scanner 
  integrated into its circuits. It is always 
  considered to be carrying a hand scanner. 
  Aim. The War Mind gains +1d6 bonus to a 
  ranged attack roll taken in the same turn. The 
  attack action must come immediately after the 
  aiming action. 
  Achilles heel. Identifying a weakness in its 
  target, the War Mind pays 2d6 and bypasses 
  its SOAK score. This exploit can only be 
  performed once per target. 
  Nanobot repair. Nanobots constantly repair 
  the War Mind’s body, giving it 2d6 
  regeneration at the start of each of its turns. 
  FTL travel.  The War Mind is capable of 
  travelling through space at FTL10.   
  Download. The War Mind is able to recover 
  from large scale damage and apparent 
  destruction. When destroyed, it can download 
  its core personality into a new organic 
  humanoid form, which gains the War Mind’s 
  statistics. 
  Self-Destruct. The War Mind can self-destruct, 
  causing a 9d6 heat and force burst attack, 
  radius 30', centered on the War Mind. 
  Fractal Transformation. After its visit to Xhub 
  Alpha, the War Mind gains the ability to 
  
  recover from large scale damage and apparent 
  destruction. It can in these circumstances 
  choose to shed its outer mechanical layers and 
  download its core personality into a new 
  organic humanoid form. This is a one-way, 
  single time transformation. This version of the 
  mind looks like a metallic, fractalised version 
  of its creator, the human female scientist 
  known as Aphrodite.  Its movement changes 
  to: SPEED 8; CLIMB 4; JUMP 20'/10' (it can no 
  longer fly or hover). It also loses the ability to 
  travel independently through space using FTL 
  technology. 
  War Mind Servitor 
  One of number of smaller sub-units with lesser 
  abilities built for remote surveillance and 
  exploration missions. Use sentry droid 
  statistics for the servitor, but increase the 
  speed to 10 and the SOAK to 5. Damaged 
  servitors, as encountered by the party, have the 
  same statistics. Their damage is cosmetic and 
  they are essentially play acting. 
  War Mind Nanobot Swarm 
  Tiny semi-sentient mechanoid swarm (4d6) 
  STR 1 (1d6) AGI 14 (4d6) END 1 (1d6) INT 5 
  (2d6) LOG 5 (2d6) WIL 1 (1d6) CHA 1 (1d6) 
  LUC - REP - 
   
  HEALTH 10  
  MELEE DEFENSE 18; RANGED DEFENSE 
  18; MENTAL DEFENSE immune 
  SOAK 0; VULN 2d6 (sonic), 2d6 (ion); 
  IMMUNE non area-based attacks 
   
  INITIATIVE 2d6 
  PERCEPTION 3d6 
  SPEED 4; FLY+ 8 (hover); JUMP - 
  CARRY 20lb (as a swarm) 
  ACTIONS 2 
  NATURAL DAMAGE n/a 
  Stinger weapon (built-in) 4d6 (1d6 heat 
  damage; range 1, can always be used as a 
  ranged weapon, even in melee, see below) 
  Skills computers 3 (2d6), engineering 3 (2d6), 
  stealth 4 (2d6), astrogation 3 (2d6) 
  Gear. Integrated scanner 
   
  Invisible.  Too small to be seen with the naked 
  eye. But sometimes show up in infrared light 
  (see below).  
  Tiny swarm. The nanobots can occupy the 
  same space as other creatures, but are still able 
  to use their ranged attack on them.  Swarms 
  are immune to non area-based attacks. 
  Mindless. Mechanoids are immune to any 
  attacks which target MENTAL DEFENSE. 
  Deterministic. A Mechanoid ’s PSI or LUCK 
  attributes can never rise above zero. 
   
  Electronic vulnerability. As tiny mechanoids, 
  the nanobots are vulnerable (1d6) to sonic 
  damage, and vulnerable (2d6) to ion damage. 
   
  Automaton. Nanobots do not need to eat, 
  sleep, or breathe, but do require a source of 
  energy of any description to recharge 
  themselves.  After 24 hours without access to 
  an energy source, they become incapacitated.  
   
  Scanner. The nanobots have scanners 
  integrated into their circuits. They are always 
  considered to be carrying a hand scanner. 
   
  Aim. The nanobots gains +1d6 bonus to a 
  ranged attack roll taken in the same turn. The 
  attack action must come immediately after the 
  aiming action. 
  Achilles heel. Identifying a weakness in their 
  target, the nanobots pay 2d6 and bypass its 
  SOAK score. This exploit can only be 
  performed once per target. 
  Transformation.  Given sufficient time and a 
  source of energy, nanobots can rebuild and 
  reprogram any complex machinery to suit 
  their requirements.  
  Invasive micro-machines with the ability to 
  regenerate and also to reconfigure other 
  technology, the War Mind's nanobots are all 
  but invisible. Sonic attacks can disrupt and 
  destroy them, and they are unable to penetrate 
  force fields of any strength. Their radio signals 
  can be jammed, in which case they have a back 
  up light-pulse system that renders them 
  visible in infrared, where they look like a 
  swarm of Old Earth fire flies. They can only 
  keep themselves operational if they can locate 
  sufficient raw resources including metals and 
  minerals and a source of energy. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/WOIN/EONS Magazine/Eons 32 - NEW, Adventure - Against the Warmind.pdf