TEXT: Traveller
  ScouT
  1
  Gilgamesh spoke to Utanapishtim, the Faraway:
   
  “I have been looking at you,
  but your appearance is not strange--you are like me!
  You yourself are not different--you are like me!
  My mind was resolved to fight with you,
  but instead my arm lies useless over you.
  Tell me, how is it that you stand in the Assembly of the Gods,
  and have found life!”
  Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:
  “I will reveal to you, Gilgamesh, a thing that is hidden,
  a secret of the gods I will tell you!
  	
  −	The Epic of Gilgamesh
  Grandfather Lies is the tenth adventure in the Secrets of the 
  Ancients campaign. If you are a player, stop reading now. If 
  you are a Referee, then you should first read Section 0: Secrets 
  of Secrets to get an overview of the campaign. In the previous 
  Section, the characters travelled out of the Imperium into Vargr 
  space, and identified Zoe in Gvurrdon sector as being the secret 
  location of SEVEN’s base. They also obtained several Ancient 
  devices, including protective shimmersuits and a Star Trigger.
  Adventure Synopsis
  The characters dive into the oceans of Zoe and sink into the 
  black depths, protected by their shimmersuits. Deep beneath 
  the waves, they pass through a portal into a vast hidden 
  fortress, located in the very heart of the planet. There, in a 
  nightmare city lit by a dying star, they find SEVEN’s new body 
  being constructed by his Family Archive. Here, the servants of 
  SEVEN live in the shadows of unimaginable technologies.
  The characters are attacked by SEVEN’s defences soon 
  after they arrive, and must make their way across the alien 
  city using stealth, subterfuge or strength of arms. They make 
  to the Family Archive where Grandfather attempts to prevent 
  SEVEN’s resurrection – but he is stunned by a concealed 
  psionic defence mechanism. 
  The characters are captured and interrogated by another 
  instance of Vlen Backett. The inheritor’s uncle puts the 
  case for betraying Grandfather and helping SEVEN, and 
  the characters must choose which Ancient they serve. If 
  they choose to aid SEVEN, then Grandfather is executed. If 
  they choose Grandfather, they must kill Vlen Backett before 
  returning to the Archive. 
  Grandfather disables the Archive, ensuring that when the 
  pocket universe collapses, SEVEN will be permanently erased. 
  He also activates the Star Trigger to destroy the planet. 
  Grandfather 
  Grandfather remains able to take control of his host player 
  character. Most of his mind is occupied with dealing with 
  SEVEN’s defences; there are psionic, hyperspatial, memetic 
  and temporal aspects to this war that the player characters 
  cannot perceive. While Grandfather is the driving force behind 
  the player characters’ attack on SEVEN’s world, the players 
  should remain in charge for most of the game, and all the 
  important decisions are up to them. 
  Canon?
  The ending of this adventure is in the hands of exactly who 
  it should be – the players. It is up to the players to decide by 
  their actions and their choices which faction triumphs and which 
  Ancient falls. Future OTU products assume that the Ancients 
  play no further active role in events – either both Ancients are 
  killed, or Grandfather wins and then vanishes off to another 
  pocket universe to pursue abstruse scientific research. 
  Referee Advice
  Good luck. This is the big finale of the campaign. At least one 
  Ancient will die today at the hands of your Player Characters.
  The structure of this section is simple. The characters enter 
  SEVEN’s base and find their way to his Family Archive. 
  Grandfather attempts to sabotage the Archive, but is knocked 
  SecretS of the AncientS
  GrAndfAther LieS
  
  GrAndfAther LieS
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  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  Uthe
  unconscious by a hidden defence mechanism. Vlen Backett 
  appears and attempts to persuade the characters to switch 
  sides and join SEVEN, but he is interrupted by part two of 
  Grandfather’s plan. The Star Trigger is activated, causing the 
  tiny artificial star in SEVEN’s base to flare wildly. The characters 
  fight their way through the ensuing apocalypse and help 
  Grandfather destroy SEVEN once and for all before escaping. 
  At least, that is the plan. No adventure survives contact with 
  the players, and this one is no different. Adapt to the players’ 
  decisions, keep raising the stakes, and run the game with 
  more emphasis on drama than realism. This is the climax of 
  the whole campaign – do not get bogged down in detail. Go 
  for confrontation, for catharsis, for heroic sacrifices and last-
  minute betrayals.
  1. deep dive 
  The entrance to SEVEN’s domain is located in the depths of 
  the ocean. The shimmersuits protect the characters from the 
  crushing pressure. The characters sink down and down, far 
  beyond the reach of sunlight, into the lightless regions. Down 
  past the continental shelf, across the abyssal plain, and down 
  further still. To avoid detection, the suits switch off all external 
  lights, all radio emissions, all but the most basic life support. 
  The characters sink for what seems like days. 
  Sometimes, they glimpse luminescent natives of Zoe’s oceans. 
  There are softly glowing pinkish cubes, shoals of glimmering 
  green dots, and dim blue clusters of primordial sea-slugs, 
  distant relatives of the semi-intelligent natives of the planet. At 
  other times, they see the red glow of underwater volcanoes, as 
  black smokers spew out soot. For most of the journey, though, 
  the characters are alone with their thoughts as they sink, their 
  only company the high-pitched creaking of the shimmersuit as 
  it adjusts to cope with the pressure.
  Eventually, the characters see lights flicker on below. They are 
  no longer falling through empty ocean but have entered a deep 
  shaft. The sides of the shaft are encrusted with barnacles and 
  mud, but the characters can see that the walls are made of 
  metal. There are more lights out in the darkness; it is almost 
  impossible to estimate distances underwater, but the shaft 
  appears big enough to admit a capital ship.
  At the bottom of the shaft is a shimmering energy membrane. 
  Passing through it, the characters are spun around in a 
  confusing twist as they enter an artificial gravity field. They find 
  themselves in a huge hangar. It looks quite similar to any other 
  starport hangar, with hydrogen tubes and power lines snaking 
  across the floor, and crates of cargo stacked high against the 
  walls. There are two ships docked there, both 200 ton Vargr 
  courier vessels belonging to the Church of the Chosen Ones.
  The starport is empty when the characters land.
  Exploring the starport, the characters find a large teleportal on 
  one wall; the portal is currently inactive and does not respond 
  to any controls or commands. It is remotely controlled from the 
  city. There is also a gravitic levitation train station. It is shut down 
  when the characters enter, but a moment later, the walls begin 
  to gently glow, and a train glides into the station and lands. If 
  the characters step on this train, it automatically whisks them 
  to the city.
  2. the MiSSion
  Once the characters are out of the water, Grandfather takes 
  possession of his host and explains his plan to them. The 
  Ancient seems almost amused by the situation.
  “Somewhere nearby is my errant Son’s Family Archive – the 
  machine that will resurrect him when he is destroyed by the 
  Interrogating the Church Vargr
  If the characters failed to pick up shimmersuits in the 
  previous adventure, then the best route into SEVEN’s secret 
  fortress is to highjack one of the Church of the Chosen One 
  transports. The entry shaft can project a protective bubble 
  of force to shield incoming ships from the pressure of the 
  ocean. Alternatively, the characters can arrive in their own 
  ship and bluff their way into the city. 
  The Church of the Chosen Ones have their own enclave 
  of the city; it is the centre of their religion. They have no 
  understanding of the advanced technologies or purpose of 
  the city. They believe that one day, the chosen Vargr will 
  dwell in these cities and their enemies will be enslaved by 
  the gods. 
  Most of the worshippers are unaugmented, ordinary Vargr, 
  not immortal super-Vargr like Nvor, the agent encountered in 
  Aethgor’s throne room. These true believers are fanatically 
  convinced that SEVEN is a god and they are the chosen 
  race who will inherit the stars. The actual servants of SEVEN 
  know the religion is just a convenient social fiction used to 
  manipulate the Vargr population.
  If the characters interrogate one of the Vargr fanatics, they 
  learn little about the environment within SEVEN’s domain 
  beyond the following:
  •	
  The Ancient rules over a great realm where, one 
  day, all the chosen purebred Vargr will dwell.
  •	
  The realm is lit by the Tamed Star.
  •	
  Near the entry port, there is the First City where the 
  Vargr were originally created by the Ancients.
  •	
  The faithful are permitted only to enter the outer 
  precinct of the city, and they must travel along the 
  Road of Stones by foot or by train. Flight is forbidden 
  with the cavern.
  
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  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  collapse of my universe. The transition is mediated by, well, a 
  scientific principle aeons beyond your comprehension, but the 
  important point is that it is a virtually instantaneous transfer to 
  ensure continuity of identity. SEVEN was always a jealous child, 
  unable to cope with the concept of multiplicity of self. There will 
  be a window between the destruction of his current body and 
  the activation of his replacement when he is vulnerable.
  All we need to do is find the Family Archive. Stealth would be 
  preferable, yes? No need to draw SEVEN’s servants on us.
  Your shimmersuits are well equipped with weapons, should 
  force be necessary.”
  Grandfather informs the players he will withdraw into the mind of 
  his host, in case SEVEN has psionic security systems that could 
  detect another Ancient. He will only emerge in an emergency. 
  The Family Archive should be easy to find – just look for the 
  machine near the dormant alien cybernetic monstrosity.
  3. the WorLd city 
  Outside the hangar, the characters find themselves inside an 
  unimaginably vast cavern. The far walls of the cavern are lost in 
  the distance; this one space must take up several percentage 
  points of the whole volume of the planet. You could wrap the 
  land area of a sizeable continent around the inner surface of the 
  cavern. It is illuminated by a guttering, hazy red star that must 
  be less than a thousand kilometres away. Any character with 
  Space Science knows that such a star is impossible – either the 
  effective mass of the star is being warped using some bizarre 
  gravity manipulation, or the star is on the far side of a teleportal 
  device. Either way, the star provides light and heat to this 
  impossible hidden world, like a pocket Dyson sphere. As the 
  characters are standing on the inside of the sphere, there must 
  be more hidden gravity generators beneath them.
  Glimmering all around the inside of the cavern are factories the 
  size of cities and other incomprehensible machines. Automated 
  mines gnaw the planet’s bones for raw materials. The planet is 
  being devoured from the inside out to build SEVEN’s fleet of 
  sentient warships.
  Near the starport, the characters can see an incredible city, 
  a place where building and machine and organic growth are 
  all one. The living-machine structures grow like symmetrical 
  trees, snaking around each other like tree branches. Whole 
  buildings sway and move to catch the ruddy sunlight as the 
  shadow of floating platforms falls upon them. The whole city, 
  including the floating platforms overhead, is protected by a 
  shimmering force shield. 
  Hanging far above the city is another, larger floating platform. 
  Skeletal ribs sprout from this platform, surrounding a familiar 
  shape. The characters last saw that shape as it incinerated 
  Grandfather’s original body in the pocket universe. It is SEVEN’s 
  replacement ship/body being reconstructed. The Family Archive 
  must be nearby. 
  A rough road leads to the city from the starport; alternatively, the 
  characters can take the grav-train.
  Overview
  The City was constructed – or, more accurately, is constructing 
  itself – using TL25 technology. The buildings are alive and 
  intelligent. Within each structure, the rooms move and 
  reconfigure themselves as necessary to meet the needs of their 
  inhabitants. There are teleportals linking different locations in 
  the city, and each structure is capable of providing life support 
  for its inhabitants. 
  The City is mostly empty – it could hold millions, but the current 
  population is only a few hundred thousand. SEVEN is a jealous 
  and cruel god, who tolerates only a handful of agents like Vlen 
  Backett. The City exists as a promise to the future. One day, 
  when it rules the galaxy, SEVEN will need more agents, and 
  they will dwell in the City that is to come. This whole base will 
  become a capital of SEVEN’s galactic empire.
  The City is divided into five sections. The area closest to the 
  road and grav-lev station is referred to as the Quarter of the 
  Chosen, and is inhabited by the Vargr priests and fanatics of 
  the Church of the Chosen Ones. These priests are permitted 
  to visit the City to reinforce their faith. They see it as Heaven, 
  and this is not a wholly inaccurate perception. The City is an 
  incredible wonderland. There is no suffering here, no privation, 
  no disease. Aged priests can be restored to youth here, sick 
  priests can be healed, even the dead can be resurrected. The 
  population of this quarter are almost entirely Vargr.
  The central area of the City is the public quarter. There are 
  large open squares and marketplaces here, parks and theatres 
  and civic arenas. There are museums where the history of the 
  Ancient race is depicted through media like hard-light holograms 
  or direct memory engram transfer; zoos where there are 
  genetic archives of billions of different species on file, and the 
  The Direct Approach
  If the characters try flying to the city or the Family Archive 
  (using grav belts, vehicles or by blasting a hole in the wall of 
  the starport and stealing a ship), then they run into the city’s 
  automated defences. A disintegrator beam sweeps the skies 
  over the city, blasting any flying targets into dust. There is no 
  way to dodge the beam. If the characters are in a vehicle, it 
  crashes near the city.
  Skip onto Welcoming Committee on page XX to resolve the 
  City’s reactions to intruders.
  
  GrAndfAther LieS
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  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  in or sneak. The difficulty for this roll varies depending on where 
  they are. 
  Increase the difficulty by one step if the City is alerted to the 
  threat of intruders by the characters’ actions.
  If a check is failed, see Welcoming Committee Reactions, 
  below.
  Encounters
  Choose encounters from the list below as the characters explore 
  the City.
  Quarter of the Chosen
  •	
  A pack of young priests follow one of the characters, 
  trying to touch the hem of his garment and asking for 
  his blessing and insight. They beg him to bestow his 
  wisdom and charisma upon them.
  •	
  A Vargr noble that the Church wishes to recruit is 
  brought into the City, so she may look upon Heaven 
  with her own eyes and see the truth of the Church's 
  teachings.
  •	
  The characters come upon a Vargr preaching about 
  the genetic destiny of the Vargr race, how they will be 
  exalted and given dominion over all other sophonts.
  •	
  A pair of Vargr talking about the other districts of the 
  City, and how they are not permitted to go beyond the 
  Chosen's Quarter until they are found worthy.
  machines can fast-grow clones of whatever animal or plant you 
  desire; psionic zones where even non-psions gain the power of 
  telepathy and can telepathically converse or even merge with 
  other minds. 
  Most of the City is part of the Droyne District. Hundreds of 
  thousands of Droyne live under SEVEN’s aegis. These are the 
  Ancient’s followers who have remained loyal to him since the 
  Wars of the Ancients. Most of these Droyne are virtually immortal 
  and are heavily modified to better serve their leader. They no 
  longer caste as they once did – the only Leader permitted is 
  SEVEN, and the machines fulfil all the tasks of Workers, so all 
  the rest are Technicians, Warriors and Sports. The characters 
  may not even recognise some of these creatures as Droyne, 
  because of their radical augmentation.
  Near the public quarter on is the Quarter of the Heroes, as 
  the Vargr priests call it. The immortal residents of the City just 
  call it home. This is where SEVEN’s servants like Nvor or Vlen 
  Backett live. SEVEN has around a hundred such agents. Most 
  of these agents are Human or Vargr, but representatives from 
  every Major Race and many Minor Races can also be found 
  here. Only a handful of these agents are abroad in the galaxy 
  at any time. They go out and search for signs of other Ancients 
  – SEVEN believes that the only threat to his ultimate victory 
  comes from his siblings and nephews, so he is determined to 
  scour the galaxy for any survivors of the Final Wars. To maintain 
  secrecy and security, each agent travels the galaxy for only a 
  few decades before returning to Zoe and lying low for a century 
  or two.
  Finally, above the city are the Floating Platforms, accessible 
  only via teleportal or flight. Flying is permitted within the city for 
  the Droyne.
  Navigating the City
  The characters can initially move freely through the Quarter of 
  the Chosen – the Vargr priests assume they are Heroes and 
  treat them with the utmost deference. (If the characters reveal 
  they are not servants of SEVEN or otherwise alert the Vargr 
  to their presence, then they must roll as described below.) In 
  other sections of the City, they have to be more circumspect 
  – call for Social Standing + Deception or Intelligence + Stealth 
  rolls, depending on whether the characters are trying to blend 
  Utopia in Chains
  For the final confrontation with Vlen Backett to work, it is 
  important that the Referee present the City as a genuinely 
  wonderful place. This is not some hellish nightmare city 
  ruled by an evil god. SEVEN may be a tyrant, but this City 
  is the best gilded cage in the galaxy. This is a City where 
  the residents have access to all the benefits of TL25+ 
  technology. They are immortal, fulfilled, joyous. Perfected.
  All they had to do was give up their freedom.
  
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  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  •	
  A pilgrimage of Vargr are preparing to leave the City 
  and return to the starport; as they leave, the building 
  they were staying in reabsorbs their quarters and 
  reconfigures itself for a new purpose.
  •	
  One of the buildings reconfigures itself to grow a 
  teleportal; the portal shimmers open and a Droyne 
  flies out. The portal shuts immediately afterwards. 
  The characters overhear a pair of Vargr talking about 
  the portals; they can only be used by residents of the 
  City, who are implanted with control chips.
  PubliC Quarter
  •	
  A trio of Droyne discuss the lack of news about 
  SEVEN. One is deeply troubled, and chirps that 
  Yaskoydray may have defeated SEVEN. The other 
  two chide him for his lack of faith, and point out that 
  the master will be reborn from his Family Archive. 
  Even if Yaskoydray managed to destroy SEVEN's 
  physical form, the master will soon return.
  •	
  The characters pass through a psionic zone. All 
  the characters need to make an Psionic Strength + 
  Telepathy test to shield their thoughts. (Characters 
  without Psionic Strength may use Intelligence instead, 
  but suffer a -3DM due to their lack of Telepathy). If a 
  character succeeds with an Effect of 2+, he can read 
  the minds of the residents nearby. If a character fails, 
  he broadcasts his current thoughts to everyone around. 
  Ask the players what their characters are thinking 
  about right now – this may give the characters away 
  to the City's residents.
  •	
  The characters find a glowing blue spire that is a 
  monument to SEVEN's plans. It communicates a 
  vision to the characters telepathically – the characters 
  see a whole galaxy united under SEVEN's rule. Every 
  world, every sophont united in a single purpose. No 
  waste, no deviation, no weakness – an invincible 
  monoculture that cannot be turned against itself and 
  can annihilate its enemies with a total combined 
  effort.
  •	
  A group of Droyne watch a presentation by one of 
  SEVEN's agents, a human recently returned from 
  Capital. This human agent has information about 
  affairs at the Imperial Court, and obviously has 
  access to the highest security clearances. SEVEN has 
  influence at the very heart of the Imperium.
  •	
  The characters spot a Hiver debating with a Droyne 
  about SEVEN's next action. The Hiver believes that 
  Yaskoydray is the last remaining Ancient, and that 
  with Grandfather's annihilation, the time has come 
  for SEVEN to move openly. It proposes a series of 
  subtle manipulations to set the Imperium, the Zhodani 
  and the Aslan at each other's throats, to make them 
  vulnerable in anticipation of the time when SEVEN 
  Blending in (Deception)
  Sneaking around (Stealth)
  Quarter of the Chosen
  Difficult (–2)
  Average (+0)
  Public Quarter
  Average (+0)
  Difficult (–2)
  Droyne Zone
  Hard (–4)
  Difficult (–2)
  Quarter of Heroes 
  Impossible (–6)
  Average (+0)
  Floating Platforms
  Impossible (–6)
  Hard (-4)
  
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  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  makes its move. The Droyne counsels caution – there 
  were occasions in the past when it was believed that 
  all the other Ancients were gone, until SEVEN's 
  agents found signs that there were still other Sons out 
  there. SEVEN cannot act openly until all the others 
  are dead. If he revealed he was still alive, he would 
  give the advantage to another hidden Ancient.
  •	
  The characters come upon a stasis field containing 
  a dormant Dyapyuse (see Section 6: The Secret 
  of the Ancients) – a trophy from the war against 
  that hegemonising swarm. The alien is trapped in a 
  stasis field that freezes it in time. If the players free 
  it, it attacks everyone nearby, which can be a useful 
  distraction.
  Droyne Zone
  •	
  The characters pass a medical facility. There are 
  clone-tanks where new Droyne bodies are grown to 
  replace worn-out ones. In another section, a Droyne's 
  brain is surgically removed from its body, scanned, 
  and the Droyne's mind is uploaded to one of the 
  warships under construction elsewhere in the base. 
  A successful Intelligence + Recon check notices that 
  the newly-cloned bodies are implanted with various 
  cybernetic augmentations, including a control chip 
  for the City's teleportals.
  •	
  One of the buildings grows a face (or extends a psionic 
  field) and courteously points out that the characters 
  are entering the Droyne Zone – as Humans rarely visit 
  this section of the City, their presence is a curiosity. 
  Can the building help them find a particular Droyne 
  or otherwise be of assistance?
  •	
  A swarm of Droyne swoop down and interrogate the 
  characters, assuming they are new recruits to SEVEN's 
  cause. They ask about the characters' skills and 
  backgrounds. If the characters fail to give convincing 
  answers, the Droyne raise the alarm.
  •	
  The characters find a group of Droyne studying a map 
  of the Ancient empire before it fell. Several major 
  Ancient sites within the Charted Space, like Shinothy, 
  Zdent and the rosette at Tireen are highlighted, as are 
  several other previously unknown Ancient sites. 
  Quarter of heroes 
  •	
  Wandering down a narrow alleyway between two 
  strangely swollen buildings, the characters find a 
  200-ton Vargr trader on a landing pad. There is no 
  way for the ship to take off, as the buildings block 
  any flight vector. The characters will need to convince 
  the buildings to move if they plan to use the ship.
  •	
  The characters encounter a pair of Aslan, a male 
  named Ehyao and one female called Sariah, making 
  preparations to leave the Quarter and return to the 
  Hierate. Both these Aslan are heavily augmented and 
  have been in SEVEN's service for hundreds of years. 
  However, they are not familiar with all of SEVEN's 
  agents, so the characters may be able to bluff their 
  way past.
  •	
  The characters find a large hall containing holographic 
  displays of local sectors. Touching a world brings up 
  information about that planet; the user can even zoom 
  in to view individual cities, or individual buildings, 
  and again information pops up about those sites. 
  Another control displays webs of contacts, trade 
  routes, tactical data about a planet's defence systems 
  and fleets, secrets about that planet's nobility and 
  so on – this hall is a treasure trove of data for any 
  prospective invader.
  •	
  The characters spot a bizarre sight up ahead. In the 
  midst of the living city there is a small patch of forest, 
  and in the middle of the forest there is, unmistakably, 
  Vlen Backett's hunting lodge on Alell (see Section 2: 
  Homecoming). This structure is a perfect replica of 
  the lodge, and will show up again in Reunion (see 
  page XX). For now, the lodge is unoccupied.
  Floating Platforms: See Getting To The Floating Platforms, 
  below.
  Welcoming Committee
  While the characters may be able to conceal themselves for a 
  while, they will almost certainly trip an alarm at some point during 
  their exploration of the City. Either go through the following 
  reactions on the part of the City in order, or skip to the most 
  appropriate one depending on circumstances. If the characters 
  start fighting back or otherwise fail to give satisfactory responses 
  to allay suspicion, then move onto greater and greater threats. 
  Moving Buildings: The buildings around the characters move 
  to block off any exits. Streets close and corridors vanish as 
  the living structures exude new walls to contain the suspect 
  characters. One of the buildings then constructs a face to 
  speak with the characters, asking them to account for their 
  suspicious actions.
  The buildings are incapable of attacking directly, and the 
  characters can use their Disintegrator Gauntlets to blow holes 
  in the buildings.
  Automated Security: The City keeps order when necessary 
  using automated security drones. These robots are intended to 
  deal with troublesome Vargr petitioners, and are not a significant 
  
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  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  threat to the shimmersuit-armoured characters. (Those without 
  shimmersuits are in a lot more trouble.)
  Security Drones 
  STR 12 DEX 14 Hull 4 Structure 4
  Traits: Armour 20, Integral System (Floater)
  Skills: Gun Combat (energy rifle) 2, Recon 3
  Weapons: Ancient Plasma Rifle (16d6) 
  Droyne Strike Team: If the drones are unable to deal with the 
  problem, then the City automatically alerts a group of armed 
  Droyne. These Droyne are equipped with TL25 equipment, 
  consisting of light armour, fusion pistols and handheld 
  mesonic rifles that can be set to stun or kill. The Droyne fly 
  across the City and attack the characters from above. Initially, 
  they threaten the characters with fusion pistols that are largely 
  ineffective (1/16th damage) against the shimmersuits; once it 
  becomes clear that these weapons are useless, they switch to 
  the mesonic weapons.
  Droyne Strike Team 
  STR 9 
  DEX 11 END 8 INT 9 
  EDU 9  CHA 7 
  Gun Combat (energy pistol) 4
  Fusion Pistol (16d6), Mesonic Rifle (4d6, special), Ancient Light 
  Armour (18)
  Lockdown: If the Droyne are unable to disable the characters, 
  then the City attempts to restrain the characters until the heavy 
  strike team can be mobilised. The buildings link with each other 
  and try to encase the characters in a dome of solid material. 
  The ground beneath the characters softens into a sticky morass 
  of epoxy. The characters need to make Strength + Athletics or 
  Dexterity + Athletics tests to keep moving; the difficulty for these 
  tests starts at Average (+0) and increases by one step each 
  round until the characters are trapped or they escape.
  Heavy Strike Team: The City’s ultimate recourse to a group of 
  intruders like the player characters is to deploy a heavy strike 
  team consisting of one Assassin Drone per player character, 
  accompanied by a Scourge Machine (see Section 7: The 
  Death of Grandfather). These drones are equipped with a mix 
  of meson weapons and antimatter cannons, both of which the 
  suits provide some protection against. 
  Getting to the Floating Platforms
  The ultimate goal of the characters is to reach the floating 
  platforms over the city. There are several ways to reach these 
  platforms and the Family Archive. 
  •	
  Teleportals: The easiest way to get up is via the 
  teleportal network. The teleportals can only be 
  activated by a resident of the City who possesses 
  a control implant. The characters can bypass this 
  security measure by:
  Q	
  Convincing a resident to activate the portal for 
  them
  Q	
  Sneaking into a portal after a resident
  Q	
  Forcing a resident to activate the portal
  Q	
  Obtaining a control implant via the medical facility 
  in the Droyne quarter, or by killing a resident
  •	
  Flight: While flying is banned outside the City, the 
  characters might be able to convince the Droyne to 
  fly them up within the City, or fly up under their own 
  power.
  •	
  Stealing a ship: There are various ships and vehicles 
  in the City that can be highjacked. The best method 
  of getting around the City is via teleporter, but there 
  are vehicles for various purposes, like entertainment, 
  construction or hauling cargo. 
  •	
  Climbing Buildings: The Buildings are capable 
  of extending themselves to a great height, or even 
  extruding bridges or spires that connect to the floating 
  platforms. The characters need to create a need for a 
  Building to grow taller, or override its internal control 
  systems. 
  Once the characters reach the Floating Platforms, they can 
  jump from platform to platform. Some of the platforms contain 
  gun emplacements, but most are automated factories and 
  assemblers used to create parts for SEVEN’s new body. 
  The largest Floating Platform is contains the Family Archive. 
  Grandfather’s Host intuitively knows which Platform he should 
  make for. 
  4. the fAMiLy Archive 
  SEVEN’s archive is a spherical structure bisected by one of the 
  floating platforms. There is a single entrance consisting of an 
  iris hatch leading to a tunnel, and the tunnel leads to the centre 
  of the Archive. Outside the iris hatch are a pair of Scourge 
  Machines. The characters can either sneak past or attack the 
  Machines. These Machines are under orders to attack any 
  intruders. (If the characters are unable to defeat the Machines, 
  then Grandfather can reveal himself at this point and defeat the 
  robots with his psionic powers.)
  Inside the Archive, Grandfather takes complete control of his 
  host’s body. ‘This way!’ he orders the Player Characters, leading 
  them down into the heart of the Archive.
  Here, the characters find a spinning armature of light and 
  psionic energy covered in Droyne glyphs. Grandfather begins 
  to operate the controls. ‘Hold them off!’ he snaps. ‘I need to 
  arrange that SEVEN’s consciousness download into his new 
  body happens at just the right time. Also, hmm, yes. Excellent.’ 
  His hands move over the controls with lightning speed, and 
  then he is lifted into the spinning machine. He sits cross-legged, 
  communing with the device.
  
  GrAndfAther LieS
  8
  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  From outside, the characters hear approaching enemies. 
  SEVEN’s followers cannot risk damaging the Archive, so they 
  cannot deploy heavy weapons. The characters are attacked by 
  waves of Assassin Drones and Droyne Strike Teams. All the 
  while, Grandfather continues to operate the Family Archive.
  One of the walls of the Archives opens, revealing a transparent 
  cylinder. Floating in the cylinder is a newly-cloned Droyne body, 
  identical to that worn by Grandfather when the characters first 
  met him.
  ‘Nearly done’ says Grandfather. ‘Just a quick psionic transfer 
  and -’
  The host suddenly finds himself back in control of his body, and 
  falls out of the machine. Grandfather steps out of the cylinder. 
  ‘There we are, good as new. They were all clones of me, you 
  know. Now, one last adjustment, and we can depart.’
  The Droyne reaches out and touches the controls of the Family 
  Archive again... and there is a flash of light as a previously 
  undetected security system triggers. All the characters, including 
  Grandfather, are knocked unconscious. 
  5. reUnion
  The characters reawaken in weirdly familiar surroundings – they 
  are in Vlen Backett’s lodge back on Alell. More accurately, they 
  are in an exact duplicate of it, created from Vlen’s memories. 
  The characters are still wearing their shimmersuits, but all 
  Ancient technology in them has been deactivated. Similarly, 
  the disintegrator gauntlets have shut down. Any standard 
  technology possessed by the characters still functions.
  Vlen Backett stands before the characters. He looks remarkably 
  healthy for a man whose body the characters brought home for 
  burial all those months ago. He has a gauss pistol at his belt, 
  but he carries a handful of wine glasses and a bottle of spacer’s 
  rum. His eyes are tired and haunted.
  In a corner of the room is Grandfather, now inhabiting the 
  cloned body he constructed in the Family Archive. There 
  is a device resembling a black metal spider clamped to his 
  head; this device is obviously paralysing him and inhibiting his 
  psionic abilities.
  This room is an exact duplicate of the lodge on Alell – attentive 
  players may remember important details like the closet full of 
  weapons (one pair of gauss pistols, a plasma rifle, an ACR with 
  underslung RAM grenade launcher, a FGMP (TL15), an aerosol 
  injector with four doses of combat drug, and a TL14 Tailored 
  Vacc Suit), the computer system, the collection of fake identity 
  papers, and the secret passage that should lead to a cavern 
  containing the Star Hunter. 
  Homecoming Redux
  Vlen greets the characters, especially his nephew. ‘They rebuilt 
  this place from my memories. It makes the transition to a new 
  body easier. Dying’s not easy, not even for me.
  ‘And it’ll be a lot harder for you. The others wanted to kill you 
  for helping Yaskoydray. I’ve convinced them to hold off until our 
  master returns. He’ll be reborn soon – your tampering wasn’t 
  enough to stop his rebirth. Which means we’ve got about fifteen 
  minutes to save your lives.’
  Vlen explains the following:
  •	
  For more than a thousand years, he has been a servant 
  of the entity that the player characters call SEVEN. 
  Q	
  By the way, Yaskoydray has been lying to the 
  characters all along. Yaskoydray did not build 
  their civilisation single-handedly or clone the Sons 
  from his own genetic material. SEVEN was never 
  a Droyne. For that matter, neither was Yaskoydray. 
  The Droyne were just another experiment in 
  creating a slave race, like the Vargr or Humans.
  •	
  All this time, his duty has been to watch for signs 
  of Ancient tampering with Humaniti. He has lived 
  hundreds of lives. Part of his role includes recruiting 
  other agents for his master. He had his eye on the 
  Inheritor player character for years, and intended to 
  recruit him one day.
  •	
  He was killed back on Regina by his own servants to 
  avoid Imperial investigation.
  •	
  Soon, the master will be reborn from the Family 
  Archive.
  •	
   SEVEN's mind has survived the collapse of the pocket 
  universe and will soon be reassembled in the Family 
  Archive. Yaskoydray's tampering has been undone.
  Q	
  The characters were knocked unconscious by an 
  emergency defence system that was keyed to 
  detect advanced Droyne like Yaskoydray.
  Do not monologue to the players; let them ask questions or 
  argue with Vlen.
  When playing Vlen, emphasise his humanity. He may be an 
  immortal agent of a vengeful god, but he is also the beloved 
  eccentric uncle of one of the Player Characters. Have him offer 
  the characters a stiff drink; show them how tired and worried he 
  is. He still genuinely cares about his nephew.
  Once Vlen explains how he is still alive, he moves on to the 
  question of the characters’ future.
  
  GrAndfAther LieS
  9
  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  ‘Our master will soon return, and when he does, this trickster is 
  going to die slowly. You, though, you’ve got a choice. I can save 
  your lives, but you have to trust me.’
  The Choice
  Vlen outlines SEVEN’s goals and his own beliefs.
  •	
  The Ancient is going to take over Charted Space. 
  The only thing stopping him doing so was the threat 
  of the other Ancients, and Yaskoydray should be the 
  last of them. In the next two decades, the master will 
  conquer every system from the coreward reaches of 
  the Consulate to the borders of the Solomani Sphere. 
  Soon after that, he will conquer the other Major 
  Races. 
  Q	
  None of the races have the technology to stop the 
  Ancients.
  Q	
  This is right and proper. The Ancients are a higher 
  form of life. Humans and the other races are like 
  pets to them. We are made to serve them. There 
  is no shame in bowing to them, like a child must 
  obey its parents.
  •	
  There are other threats in the galaxy and beyond. The 
  Dyabyuse, for instance, are still out there. The master's 
  instruments have detected a slow-moving psionic 
  wave emanating from the heart of the galaxy, which 
  might be their doing, or the work of the Primordials, a 
  race that preceded even the Ancients.
  Q	
  The only way to survive these threats is to serve 
  the Ancients. Only a galactic empire united under 
  the master’s reign will be able to resist such alien 
  forces.
  Q	
  Life under the Ancients is not slavery. It is glorious! 
  When Charted Space bows to the master, he will 
  distribute his advanced technology. Those who 
  serve him will be immortal. There will be no more 
  suffering, no more poverty, no more war, no more 
  injustice. The master will rule justly and kindly 
  over his servants.
  •	
  Those who resist the master must be destroyed for the 
  good of the galaxy. There can be no dissent, no doubt, 
  no weakness. Any such hesitation would be a gift to 
  the master's enemies.
  Q	
  Yaskoydray is no friend to the characters. He cares 
  nothing for the other races; all he is interested in 
  his own scientific research. He would sacrifice the 
  player characters or the whole Imperium just to 
  obtain another data point for his experiments. 
  Q	
  The characters visited Grandfather’s domain, with 
  his abandoned experiments and civilisations in 
  bell jars, and they have now seen how the master 
  treats his followers. Which Ancient would they 
  prefer to serve?
  Now, the characters have a choice. If they completely and 
  wholeheartedly agree to serve the master, then Vlen will arrange 
  for them to join SEVEN’s followers. There can be no deception 
  on this matter – the master will probe their minds using psionic 
  technology and lay bare their souls. If the characters try to 
  deceive SEVEN, they will be destroyed along with Yaskoydray.
  If they cannot bow to the master, then Vlen will have no choice 
  to execute them here and now. 
  What do the characters say?
  We Serve The Master
  It is unlikely that any player characters will change sides 
  and join with SEVEN, but if all the players do decide to take 
  Vlen up on his offer, then you have a radically transformed 
  Traveller game on your hands. When SEVEN returns, it can 
  stablise the star and prevent the Star Trigger from causing 
  any more chaos. The reborn Ancient will then kill Grandfather 
  (again). 
  The Player Characters will become agents like Vlen. Their 
  mission will be to destabilise the Imperium by whatever 
  means possible, to weaken it in advance of SEVEN’s 
  conquest. Their first task is to engineer hostilities between 
  the Imperium and the Zhodani. The characters will be 
  equipped with advanced technology and provided with a 
  ship, much like Vlen was. The player characters are now 
  super-augmented spies working for an Ancient. Good luck!
  Nova Time 
  While all this is going on, the characters’ ship is still in orbit of 
  Zoe, and on board that ship is the Star Trigger device obtained in 
  Section 9: The Dark Gate. Before leaving the ship, Grandfather 
  activated the trigger. It targets the protostar in the middle of the 
  huge cavern. Its initial effects are undetectable, but now huge 
  flares are building within the artificial sun.
  Grandfather intended to be long gone before the star became 
  unstable, but he had not counted on the Family Archive’s 
  defences. Therefore, the first flare happens while the characters 
  are in Vlen’s lodge. The ground shakes, the lights flicker, and 
  there is a ghastly groaning noise from the surrounding buildings. 
  An eerie red light floods the windows. 
  Vlen is momentarily distracted; if the characters are going to 
  act, this is the moment. They can either tackle Vlen, or grab a 
  weapon and shoot him. If Vlen’s ‘nephew’ attacks, then Vlen 
  surrenders and lets the Player Characters kill him. 
  
  GrAndfAther LieS
  10
  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  Vlen Backett 
  STR 10 DEX 12 END 12 INT 10 EDU 14 SOC 8 
  Advocate 1, Admin 1, Astrogation 2, Broker 2, Carouse 2, 
  Comms 1, Computers 3, Deception 3, Diplomat 2, Drive 0, 
  Engineering (all) 3, Flyer 1, Gambler 2, Gun Combat (energy 
  pistol) 3, Investigate 2, Jack Of All Trades 2, Leadership 2, 
  Mechanic 4, Medic 2, Navigation 1, Persuade 2, Pilot (starship) 
  4, Sensors 2, Stealth 4, Steward 2, Recon 3, Vacc Suit 2, Zero-
  G 3
  Ancient Plasma Pistol (16d6), Shimmersuit
  Freeing Grandfather
  Once Vlen is dead, the characters can remove the inhibitor 
  device from Grandfather’s head. The Ancient thanks the 
  characters for their aid. ‘We must return to the Archive! The 
  Star Trigger will not nova for another few minutes, and we must 
  ensure that SEVEN is not around to prevent it. Quickly!’
  Again, the characters need to find a way back to the platforms. 
  As this is a perfect copy of the Lodge, there is indeed a secret 
  passage underneath it leading to a hangar. Instead of the Star 
  Hunter, though, the hangar contains a TL25 scout ship that looks 
  like a silver dart – see The Dart on page XX. The characters 
  can hijack this ship and use it to get to the Family Archive. 
  Alternatively, Grandfather can fly them there using psionically-
  augmented strength, or the characters can use Vlen’s corpse to 
  control the teleportals.
  City in Chaos
  Outside of the Lodge, the City is in chaos. The solar flares are 
  intense enough to disrupt the internal systems of the living 
  buildings, so they grow at random, metastasising like cancer 
  and spawning impossible architectures and sloughing off walls 
  like snakeskin. The residents of the City are in a panic, especially 
  the Vargr fanatics. The Droyne flee to bunkers underneath the 
  City; they have prepared for thousands of years for an attack 
  by another Ancient. Overhead, Scourge Machines and other 
  robots circle in confusion, their delicate sensors scrambled 
  by the flares. The Floating Platforms smash into each other, 
  sending debris falling like meteors.
  The City is being spared the worst effects of the Star Trigger for 
  the moment. It is protected by a force shield which, for as long 
  as it stands, reduces the damage caused by the flares. Outside 
  the field, the cave walls melt to magma and slag under the 
  assault. Gravity generators in the cave floor explode, restoring 
  conventional gravity and creating streams of molten rock that 
  fall skywards. 
  This is the apocalyptic, everything-explodes scene of this 
  adventure. Spend large chunks of your special-effects budget 
  here. Make the players feel like the world is ending.
  Cut Scenes & Boxed Text
  Several parts of this adventure (especially Judgement) 
  involve a lot of action on the part of non-player characters. 
  The Referee has to describe Grandfather’s struggle against 
  the Family Archive, the slow reactivation of SEVEN, 
  the chaos in the City and the impending supernova. In a 
  computer game, some of these events might be depicted 
  in a non-interactive cut scene. In a roleplaying game, the 
  Referee might be given boxed text to read to the players.
  Never read directly to the players. Instead, take the 
  suggested text and put it in your own words. Describe things 
  round-by-round, and always ask the players what they are 
  doing. Their characters do not necessarily stand stock-still in 
  mute witness to major events. Even if they have no obvious 
  way to influence events, the Player Characters should still 
  be the focus of the game.
  For example, once the artificial sun is destabilised by 
  the Star Trigger, the characters have no way to stop this 
  happening or to avert the devastation of the city. However, 
  the Referee should keep the players in the middle of the 
  action by relating everything in terms of how it challenges 
  them. Instead of reading a florid description of the solar 
  flares and the damage to the City in a monologue to the 
  players, the Referee should ask the players how they are 
  taking shelter, ask for rolls to dodge falling debris, note down 
  radiation exposure for characters not wearing shimmersuits 
  and so on. Keep the players involved at all times.
  7. JUdGeMent
  Once the characters return to the Family Archive, Grandfather 
  flits ahead of the group. ‘I must delay SEVEN’s resurrection!’ He 
  enters the Archive.
  While Grandfather is meddling with the Family Archive, the 
  player characters can be occupied with:
  •	
  Stealing a vehicle to escape the City
  •	
  Fighting off Assassin Drones
  •	
  Looting Ancient technology
  •	
  Trying to flee the City
  Again, the psionic defence system detects Grandfather's 
  presence, but this time he is ready for it. Grandfather struggles 
  against the onslaught of the Family Archive. Step by step, inch 
  by inch, he drags his mutant form towards the control console. 
  Any character who approaches the Archive feels an agonisingly 
  painful psychic pressure.
  Above, the armature surrounding SEVEN's robot body begins 
  to fall away. The Archive is active, uploading a copy of SEVEN's 
  mind to its new form. The robot body twitches and quivers. 
  Lights flicker along its flanks. Gunports slide open and closed. 
  
  GrAndfAther LieS
  11
  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  On board, reactors come to life, sending the energy of a star 
  surging through the ship.
  Grandfather reaches the control console and makes his final 
  adjustments. The Archive's frenetic activity slows to a crawl. In 
  effect, the upload speed of SEVEN's mind has been throttled; 
  the Ancient is still being reborn, but at a much, much slower 
  rate. SEVEN is trapped, half in the Archive and half in his new 
  body, while the dying star wreaks havoc. Without Grandfather's 
  tampering, SEVEN would have uploaded into its new body 
  and escaped, but now it is dying on a rack of solar flares and 
  crippled data transfers.
  The Choice
  Grandfather staggers out of the Archive. He is obviously utterly 
  exhausted by his struggle with the Archive’s defence mechanism. 
  He reaches out a spindly claw towards the characters, begging 
  them for help in this moment of weakness. Soon, Grandfather 
  will recover. His mutant physiology, augmented by hundreds 
  of thousands of years of technological, genetic and psionic 
  manipulation, will swiftly restore his health. His unparalleled 
  intellect will reassert itself; his psionic shields will be rebuilt. 
  Soon, he will be a demigod again.
  But right now, at this one instant of his triumph, he is uniquely 
  vulnerable. Right now, he is just an exhausted and battered 
  Droyne.
  Any player characters present have a choice. A single shot 
  from a fusion gauntlet or a gauss pistol could put an end to 
  Yaskoydray. The characters could even just break his neck or 
  throw him off the floating platform. He has no remaining Family 
  Archive and lacks the strength to telepathically transfer his 
  consciousness. The Player Characters can kill Grandfather.
  In this one moment, the Player Characters control the fate of 
  the galaxy.
  The Death of Seven
  Meanwhile, a second Ancient dies. For SEVEN, there is no 
  escape, no hope of mercy. A solar flare licks out lazily from the 
  disrupted star, blasting into the still-paralysed robot body. It is a 
  testament to the incredible science of the Ancients that SEVEN 
  survives the first flare. The radiation scars his robot form, the 
  heat leaves his hull glowing white-hot, the kinetic force smashes 
  his drives, but he endures the first flare.
  And the second. And the third. And the fourth. 
  The fifth flare drives SEVEN into the cave wall like a ship driven 
  onto a reef by a typhoon. The sixth solar flare cracks the ship 
  from stem to stern, shattering the super-dense hull. SEVEN 
  claws at space-time with relativity beams, it tries to erect white 
  globe shields and force screen and radiation dampers, but to 
  no avail. The seventh flare catches it amidships and blasts the 
  Ancient into cinders.
  8. eScApe
  While Ancients die, the characters still have to escape the City. 
  The difficulty of this is up to the Referee; while it would normally 
  be even harder to get out of SEVEN’s base than it was to get 
  in under these chaotic circumstances, the Referee may wish to 
  bend plausibility to give the Player Characters an easy exit from 
  the exploding fortress.
  •	
  The characters can flee back to the starport and steal a 
  ship, then fly up the shaft. (Conveniently, the protective 
  force bubble functions long enough to protect fleeing 
  ships from the pressure of the ocean depths.)
  •	
  For that matter, the shimmersuits can adjust their 
  buoyancy. The characters can just float to the surface 
  the same way they came in.
  •	
  If Grandfather is still alive, and the characters protect 
  him until he regains his strength, then he can teleport 
  the characters to their ship in orbit.
  •	
  A merciful Referee might let the characters find a 
  convenient teleportal to the surface in the midst of 
  chaos.
  Fortunately for the inhabitants of Zoe, the Star Trigger's chaos 
  does not result in the micro-star exploding. One of the flares 
  destroys the Ancient machinery that permits the star to exist 
  in the first place, and it gutters out in a burst of expanding 
  hydrogen. The devastation does send a plume of heat rising 
  through the ocean, wiping out all life in a thousand-kilometre 
  cone above the entry shaft. Earthquakes wrack the planet, 
  and a tsunami surge drowns the Vargr shoreline factories (co-
  incidentally liberating the enslaved sea-slugs).
  Oh My God, You Killed Yaskoydray
  Old-school Traveller players may be alarmed at the thought 
  of Player Characters killing one of the most important figures 
  in the entire Traveller universe; other may be positively 
  gleeful at the idea. If you want to keep Grandfather alive 
  despite the players’ murderous intent, nothing could be 
  easier – assume Grandfather has another secret Family 
  Archive in another secret base. He only took refuge inside a 
  human host to hide from SEVEN’s agents – now SEVEN is 
  dealt with, he can reincarnate as himself safely.
  
  GrAndfAther LieS
  12
  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  Once the characters are back on the surface, they can obtain 
  a ship or a shuttle to take them back to their own ship in orbit. 
  Again, if Grandfather is still alive, the Ancient can temporarily 
  act freely and resolve almost any problem with the application 
  of super-science or psionic mastery.
   
  A Return to the Imperium
  The return voyage to the Imperium is uneventful (unless 
  Grandfather is still aboard, in which case see Inherit the Stars, 
  below).
  If the characters agreed to report to Imperial intelligence for 
  Arisa or Galen (see Section 8: In The Emperor’s Name), then 
  they are met by an Imperial scoutship at Triad and escorted 
  back to the Imperium. If the characters were acting as free 
  agents throughout their recent adventures, then they can go 
  where they wish after leaving Zoe.
  9. inherit the StArS
  The characters’ choices over the course of this campaign 
  have changed the galaxy. The future course of their Traveller 
  adventures will inevitably be affected by the passage of the 
  Ancients.
  The Reign of SEVEN
  If the players sided with SEVEN and Vlen Backett against 
  Grandfather, then your game has taken a turn for the apocalyptic. 
  Without the threat of other Ancients to check him, SEVEN 
  is virtually invincible. It may recruit the Player Characters as 
  agents alongside Vlen to prepare the galaxy for the invasion 
  to come. Soon, its forces will emerge from Zoe and its other 
  fortress worlds and overwhelm Charted Space. All sophonts will 
  be forced to bow to the reborn Ancient Empire, ruled over by the 
  immortal God-Emperor-Machine that was once called SEVEN, 
  but is now referred to only as Grandfather.
  Grandfather Dies
  If both Ancients perished, then the war of the Ancients is finally 
  over. A conflict that lasts 300,000 years has finally come to 
  an end – assuming, of course, that SEVEN and Yaskoydray 
  were the only remaining survivors. Certainly, there are no other 
  Ancients operating near Charted Space, which means that for 
  the foreseeable future, Humaniti and the other Major Races are 
  on their own. They can determine their own destiny – and that 
  may be more dangerous than it first seems.
  Both Grandfather and SEVEN have their own spy networks 
  throughout Charted Space. Up until now, these spy networks 
  have primarily gathered information about other Ancients, but 
  they have also tracked the development of new technologies. 
  At times, they have even interceded to stop one race or another 
  creating something dangerous. The Darrian Maghiz, for 
  example, shows that the Imperium is on the verge of creating 
  technologies that threaten the stars themselves. Without the 
  invisible hand of the Ancients guiding Humaniti’s development, 
  it is possible that some bizarre new threat could be created by 
  the Imperium or another stellar nation.
  The death of Grandfather also throws the future of the Droyne 
  race into doubt. Yaskoydray reintroduced the coyns to the 
  Droyne comparatively recently, allowing them to caste again. 
  Without Grandfather, are the Droyne doomed to decline further, 
  degenerating first into a species of Chirpers, and then into sub-
  sentient savages?
  Agents of Yaskoydray
  If Grandfather survived and is on good terms with the characters, 
  he may offer them a place in his retinue. Defeating SEVEN was 
  a huge risk for Yaskoydray; to entrap SEVEN, Grandfather had 
  to give up his pocket universe and risked his own existence. 
  He needs to rebuild immediately – he needs to establish a new 
  base and a replacement Family Archive, as well as a whole new 
  spy network, before he can restart his scientific research. 
  If the characters become Grandfather’s agents, he gives them 
  the same benefits as SEVEN gave Vlen Backett. They will be 
  augmented using Ancient technology, making them effectively 
  immortal, and equipped with gear suitable to their various 
  missions. Sometimes, they will need the Ancient equivalent of 
  battle dress and heavy weapons, and Grandfather will provide 
  such deadly firepower, but most of their missions will be covert 
  ones. The characters’ tasks will include:
  •	
  Finding a new secret base for Grandfather .
  •	
  Helping Grandfather with his experiments (especially 
  when they go out of control).
  •	
  Scouring the galaxy for traces of surviving Ancients.
  •	
  Retrieving Ancient technology.
  •	
  Gathering information about the affairs of the Imperium, 
  the Zhodani, and the other great powers.
  •	
  Manipulating galactic events.
  •	
  Helping other agents and spies working for 
  Grandfather.
  This style of play is much more high-powered than normal 
  Traveller play; the Player Characters may still look like a 
  scruffy band of free traders and mercenaries, but they are the 
  secret agents of a demi-god and hold the lives of trillions in the 
  balance.
  Grandfather’s Farewell
  If Grandfather survived, but does not recruit the players, then 
  he vanishes from the campaign after SEVEN is defeated. 
  The characters may simply never see Grandfather again if 
  they were separated during the chaos on Zoe. Alternatively, if 
  Grandfather escaped with the characters, then he leaves them 
  in jumpspace between Zoe and another planet. The characters’ 
  ship is in transit when they detect a bizarre distortion in the jump 
  
  GrAndfAther LieS
  13
  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  bubble. A bizarre ship pushes through the wall of jump bubble, 
  defying everything Humaniti understands about how the jump 
  drive works, and comes alongside the characters’ ship.
  Yaskoydray bids them farewell. As a parting ‘gift’, he remotely 
  disables the characters’ shimmersuits and any other troublesome 
  pieces of Ancient technology that might be problematic in future 
  adventures. Grandfather explains that working examples of such 
  technology would draw too much attention to the characters 
  and their association with him. He needs to vanish into legend 
  once more.
  A kind Referee may have Grandfather offer the characters a 
  reward. He might tell them the location of an Ancient supply 
  cache that is of no further use to him, awaken their psionic 
  abilities, or give them another Ancient relic. Grandfather’s gifts 
  are always part of some greater scheme of his, so his gifts will 
  inevitably lead to further adventures.
  For colder Referees, and for a Grandfather more in keeping 
  with his portrayal earlier in the campaign, just have Yaskoydray 
  depart once the Ancient ship arrives. The characters have 
  served their purpose as his tools, so now he discards them 
  without a moment’s regret.
  The characters will never see Grandfather again. He may depart 
  from Charted Space entirely, withdrawing into another pocket 
  universe to continue his research, or he may take a more active 
  – but still undetectable – role in shaping the fate of the galaxy. 
  Either way, the Ancient is done with the Player Characters.
  Unanswered Questions
  •	
  The player characters have been on the run since 
  they delivered Vlen Backett's corpse to Alell all those 
  months ago. What is left of their former lives?
  •	
  If the characters escaped the Gaesh prison hulk, 
  then they are wanted fugitives. Do they return to the 
  Imperium, or seek a new life in the Vargr Extents? If 
  the characters want to buy the IISS off, they could 
  trade some of their salvaged Ancient technology and 
  the location of the Zoe base for a pardon.
  •	
  At this point, the characters know more secrets of the 
  Ancients than anyone else – this would make them 
  invaluable assets to the Imperial Scout Service, to 
  the University of Regina or to anyone else with an 
  interest in the Ancients. What will the characters do 
  with these secrets?
  •	
  What becomes of the Zoe base? Most of SEVEN's 
  technology has been reduced to molten slag, but there 
  could still be something worth salvaging in the ruins. 
  If both the Vargr and the Imperium learn of the base, 
  then Zoe could be a flashpoint for war.
  •	
  What of the rest of SEVEN's servants? Will they want 
  revenge on the characters? Will they go renegade, 
  using their Ancient-granted power to carve out their 
  own empires?
  •	
  What was SEVEN's intent? Was the Ancient thirsty 
  for power, or was there some truth to his paranoid 
  ramblings about the need to unite the galaxy? 
  Are there unseen enemies out there that even the 
  Ancients feared?
  •	
  How much of the history of the Ancients can the 
  characters believe? Grandfather showed them one 
  version of the rise and fall of the Ancient civilisation, 
  but if there is one thing the characters should have 
  learned by this point, it is that Grandfather lies. Even 
  after all their adventures, do the characters really know 
  the Secrets of the Ancients?
  LibrAry dAtA
  Ancient Augments
  Those who serve the Ancients are given a suite of augmentations 
  and upgrades that transform them from human into something 
  much more powerful. Different agents are changed in different 
  ways, but the ‘standard package’, if such a thing can be said to 
  exist, is as follows:
  Strength: +4 
   
   
  Intelligence: +2
  Dexterity: +4 
   
   
  Education: +4
  Endurance: +6  
   
  Psionic Strength: +4
  •	
  Natural Armour 5.
  •	
  Automatica healing at the rate of one point per hour.
  •	
  No natural ageing.
  •	
  Ability to produce slow or fast drug from augmented 
  glands.
  •	
  All upgrades are concealed from detection; to most 
  scans, the character appears normal.
  Mesonic Rifle
  Another Ancient weapon, designed to more precise and less 
  devastating than a disintegrator, the mesonic rifle fires a small 
  packet of quick-decaying mesons at the target. The mesons only 
  interact with matter when they decay, and the gun automatically 
  calibrates the mesons’ energy so they decay within the target’s 
  armour. In effect, the meson gun bypasses all defences except 
  meson screens and black globes. 
  The mesonic rifle can inflict 1d6 to 4d6 damage per shot, at the 
  choice of the user. It ignores armour, applying damage directly 
  to the target’s Characteristics. When used on vehicles or robots, 
  the mesonic rifle inflicts a maximum of 1d6 damage, but ignores 
  both Armour and Hull.
  Meson Guns use the Gun Combat (energy rifle) skill, have no 
  Recoil, and use the Rifle range profile.
  
  GrAndfAther LieS
  14
  The SecreT of The AncienTS
  The Dart 
  The Dart looks like an ovoid of silver metal when at rest; it reconfigures itself into a sharp-nosed dart when in flight. It is the Ancient 
  equivalent of a scoutship. It has a jump drive, but it draws both power and hydrogen fuel from an onboard supply teleportal, so 
  most of the ship’s hundred-ton mass is taken up with cargo space, staterooms and sensors. The ship is operated primarily using a 
  psionic interface; it bonds with its primary pilot and responds to his thoughts while he is aboard.
  Tons
  Hull
  100 Tons
  10 Hull
  —
  Streamlined
  10 Structure
  —
  Armour
  —
  15 Points
  7.5
  Jump Drive
  C
  Jump 6
  10
  —
  Fast Cycle, No Fuel 
  —
  Manoeuvre Drive
  C
  Thrust 6
  3
  Power Plant
  C
  —
  4
  Bridge
  —
  Holographic Controls
  10
  Computer
  Model/15
  Rating 50
  —
  Electronics
  Very Advanced
  Enhanced Signal Processing, Survey Sensors, 
  5
  Weapons
  Hardpoint #1
  Double Turret
  1
  Accurate, Variable Range High-Yield Particle Beam
  —
  Accurate, Variable Range High-Yield Particle Beam
  —
  Fuel
  0 Tons
  Unlimited jump-6 and Indefinite operation
  —
  Cargo
  9.5 Tons
  —
  —
  Ammunition
  —
  —
  —
  6 Staterooms
  —
  —
  24
  0 Low Berths
  —
  —
  —
  Extras
  Luxuries
  —
  6
  Launch
  —
  20
  Software
  Manoeuvre/3
  —
  —
  Library/0
  —
  —
  Jump/6
  —
  —
  Evade/3
  —
  —
  Fire Control/3
  —
  —
  Maintenance Cost (monthly)
  6,000 cr
  —
  Life Support Cost (monthly)
  12,000 cr
  —
  Total Tonnage
  100
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Traveller/08 - Mongoose Traveller/Third Party Materials/Campaigns & Settings/Secrets of the Ancients Campaign/sota10grandfatherlies.pdf