This newsletter is something a bit different. I recently wrapped up a nearly 3 year campaign of Mothership. It’s my second one with this group, made up of my partner and dear friends. After 43 sessions, I took a cue from my younger brother and ran an epilogue session. At the end of session 43, I offered the players a chance to share what they thought their characters might get up to in the future. Some took me up on it, while others I extrapolated a bit more.

When the epilogue session arrived, I had a short prompt for each character over several periods of time. I took vigorous notes during the session on how the players chose to move forward, even snagging a few choice quotes (my players are hilarious!). With that, rather than my usual straightforward “after action report,” I instead wrote a short story, meant to read like a diegetic history of the characters. Will it be enjoyable for anyone who didn’t play through the campaign? Who knows! Still, I haven’t written much that wasn’t TTRPGs and history papers over the last couple of decades, so I wanted to share the story with y’all. Hope you dig it!

The scar across Kasparian Moon stretched out below, desolation visible even from orbit. From the bridge of the raider Theseus stood the Crew responsible for putting an end to the destruction. These were the heroes of what historians would later refer to as the Void Revolt of 3325. There were six of them in total, their names blasted across the web from backwater bars on rim colonies to the luxury skysuites on coreworld stations: Azeroth the Beligerent, Argyle McStabbins, Dr. Grey Aspen, Irid Ikaite, Danner Starkley, and Mstislav Closp. They were heroes in spite of, and because of their flaws. 

Perhaps the most well known image in the aftermath focused on Azeroth the Beligerent, his bulky sonic weapon framing his gaunt face and wild, blown-out jet black hair. Standing atop a particularly prominent chunk of the void leviathan in triumph, posing for the cameras and relishing the cheers of the crowd. The scores of those claiming they were always fans encircled him, asking for autographs and a hand in marriage. The rest of the Crew can be seen behind him with various looks of disbelief, disgust, and amusement in equal measure. That photo is still used today in the Kasparian Crater Memorial Museum, solidifying Azeroth’s stardom.

Of course, the scarred soldier Argyle McStabbins quickly became a well-known figure for other reasons. In the immediate wake of the disaster, Argyle explored the depths of the crater, spiralling into an obsession with finding a way to continue pursuing the void leviathan. His studies of the Void (aided by Azeroth) led him to make the public declaration that the battle wasn’t yet finished. The sight of the old soldier, with the battle scar across his face, and the enormous Hammerhead rifle always within reach, became a common sight on news programs, entertainment feeds, and at charity events. Argyle vowed to find and destroy the Void Leviathan.

The two scientists of the Crew took divergent paths. The grizzled, yet oddly beautiful Dr. Grey Aspen couldn’t let the Void go either. While the xenobiologist initially stayed on Kasparian Moon, aiding in the on-the-ground rescue efforts, they eventually split off to further their studies of the universe’s unknowns. The quick-witted, dino-armed Irid Ikaite stayed moon-bound after rescue efforts wrapped up, and would become a star to rival even Azeroth in the not so distant future. Unlike Aspen though, she was happy to leave the terror and violence of the prior years behind her. The two had one last journey together, ferrying the sandsquid rescued from Mani back to its homeworld of Karth.

Msitslav Closp, the scrappy tattooed unioneer, left the Void Revolt looking like a man twice his age. Though new to the Crew, was lauded all the same by the media, and by the new governments that sprung up to replace the corpocracy that had dug its tendrils into so many planets. While he worked on the ground, organizing recovery efforts and helping triage, he used his newfound renown to begin recruiting an army. The return to Last Light Station was a triumphant one, but as the HAWU militia and Mstislav’s army broke through the gate into the Barlow Agro District, the mood quickly soured.

As the smoke cleared, rather than encountering the expected resistance by corpo forces, they found no one. Cautiously moving through the district towards Barlow Tower, it was as if the prior inhabitants, some 20,000 souls, had simply vanished. Inside Barlow Tower they found much the same, but when they made it to the top floor, into what should have been the suite of CEO Shantel Barlow, they uncovered an enigma that would haunt Mstislav for years to come. 

The room was windowless, with a thick layer of soil covering the floor. In the center, a marble slab, with tubes laid slack overtop encrusted with dried blood. At the base of it, in Old Hekatean script, was a name: Sarcovis Barlow. The Union’s militia and Mstislav spent years trying to track down the missing residents (many of them forced labor), and to bring the heads of the Barlow Agro to justice. Yet, it was as if they had faded into the endless dark of space. All the trails ran cold, and eventually, the district was reinhabited by Downstationers and newcomers, the old neighbors too superstitious to even visit the renamed Sovereign District.

Danner Starkley, to no one’s surprise, stayed a resident of Kasparian Moon for their remaining days. It was their home after all. As the moon city began to recover, a new government, free of corporate control was built. With the distinctive metal plate on their shaved head, and full body ink, they struck an image that resonated with the population. Their upbringing on the streets of Slum District C3, along with the massive goodwill generated by their role in the Void Revolt, led to Danner being the first elected governor of Kasparian Moon.

As the years went on, the Crew continued to make their own way through the universe, though not always together. Danner continued their governorship, wishing the rest of the gang luck on their various adventures, but always opting to stay behind. Between the hostile political environment, the revival of old criminal organizations, and the unending recovery efforts from the Void Revolt, they had plenty of reason to stay put. If a few extra credits fell their way in the process of governing, so be it.

Likewise, Irid remained moonbound during this period. Her first business idea was the short-lived Leviathan Park. Early in the planning phase, a chance look in the mirror at their dino-arm brought memories of Cretaceous Moon flooding back. She reminded herself who she really was: “a scientist first, a fighter second, and a sketchy motherfucker third.” She stayed true to all 3, synthesizing leftover organic material from the Void Leviathan into strange and exciting new drugs. This time, the money went to funding childhood science education, namely her kid’s TV program: Ms. Claw’s Playtime. Despite these lighter days, Irid couldn’t shake the fear that things weren’t resolved with the Void, and secretly continued to prepare for the day the leviathan might return.

Outside of Kasparian Moon, a strange friendship blossomed between Dr. Grey Aspen and Azeroth the Belligerent. The experience within the Void Leviathan changed Dr. Aspen. Their interest in the void, and the other creatures they’d encountered in their travels, drove them to learn more. They weren’t alone in this. Azeroth too felt the pull to keep investigating the unknown, and hell, why not film it? For a few years there, Irid and Azeroth’s shows traded spots as the most watched program in the galaxy, despite the vastly different content and audiences. Of course, they stayed in touch with the rest of the Crew who had departed Kasparian. When they learned Argyle was now captaining a vessel and attacking corporate stragglers, they had to tag along.

The raids continued on, with the trio of Argyle, Aspen and Azeroth gathering intel in fringe research labs, while burning out the last of the Tannhauser and Pure Transmission holdouts. As the last of the board members were captured on a generation ship set rimward, Barlow Agro remained an unknown. None of the prisoners claimed to know anything about the fate of Barlow Agro, and the mystery only grew as it became clear that it was the truth. Not even a single shuttle turned up during those years of “corpo cleanup” unfolded. While most became content with the idea a rogue experiment or convenient accident had taken out Barlow, folks like Mstislav continued to obsess over this missing puzzle piece.

Meanwhile, Argyle’s focus remained on the Leviathan. Just under a decade after the creature fled back into the void, the culmination of his research led to the creation of a small fleet capable of pursuing the creature on its own turf. By this point, Danner had fully settled into their role as governor, rolling out the red carpet for the fleet, contributing resources but declining to join the assault. They weren’t yet aware this would be the final blow to their political career. Mstislav too stayed behind, by this point touring for his book “Anarchism and Me: The I in Anarchism.” In the year 3333, Irid, Azeroth and Dr. Aspen reluctantly boarded Argyle’s flagship to finish what they’d started.

Using Cassette X, the void tear was reopened within the same crater the leviathan had previously emerged. Argyle led the charge back into the Void, yet all the willpower and vengeance in the universe couldn’t avert disaster. The mission went awry quickly, with not only the Void Leviathan to contend with, but scores of other void creatures they’d been unaware of. Ship after ship fell in the long battle that followed. Argyle did his very best to go down with his ship, the last one standing as the Void Leviathan at last succumbed to its injuries, and its final defenses rapidly approaching. The mad captain had to be dragged into the emergency shuttle where the Crew then made their narrow escape.

The subsequent years were dark ones. Dr. Aspen drifted away from the Crew. They spent their time helping those who had suffered void incursions and other anomalies. Every time they hoped for some sense of peace. Yet, it was never long before the next call for their help arose. They kept answering the call, travelling further to the edges of charted space. 

Mstislav tried to pursue a regular life after successfully ushering in the formation of the new Last Light government, and riding the fame from the Void Revolt. Old habits are hard to kick though. The war days remained ever present in his mind, and his relationships crumbled. Divorced, and estranged from his kid, the darkness that fell over his life led to a heart attack that he only barely survived. 

Danner lost their bid for re-election. The losses suffered in the assault on the Void were laid firmly at his feet by the citizens of Kasparian Moon, the memory of the disastrous endeavor staining their political career. The bribes didn’t help their case either. They shifted to producing Irid’s TV show, and Danner’s news segment became the focus and outlet for the bitterness they held inside.

Irid by now had been years into experimental therapies, and dinosurgeries, many of them publicly televised. She spent these years promoting the groundbreaking operations, and promising to usher in a new age of man. Her championing of this transhumanistic movement would be one of her deathbed regrets. As her body rejected the new anatomy, an unknown illness began to seize her.

Argyle, ever the warrior, but without a battle, spent those years looking for a new one. Flitting from rim station to rim station, he’d pick fights with anyone who would take the bait from an old, sad soldier. Unbeknownst to him, Azeroth continued to keep an eye on their friend, often paying folks to take a punch, lest Argyle end up dead in a docking bay. 

Azeroth was the outlier of the Crew. While worries about his aimless crewmate sometimes entered his mind, his life during this time was the best it’d ever been. Embracing the Void Musician Guild once again, it wasn’t long until he had his own chapter. With a “Chris Gaines”-esque alter ego, his music found a fresh audience. Unfortunately, Irid’s producers rejected the unhinged theme song he wrote for her children’s program. Azeroth’s career did okay in spite of it.

In the year 3348, some 2 ½ decades after their disappearance, Barlow Agro made their move. What felt like lifetimes ago, Argyle McStabbins obtained cybermodification services on Last Light Station. Dr. Tressa Reign had assured him it was standard procedure to do blood work before any operation, and he didn’t think about it again. What he didn’t know, was that Reign was a Barlow agent, and his DNA had been secretly flagged. Something had led to those at very top of Barlow seeking out Argyle ever since that day. The events of the Void Revolt had delayed their plans, but not scrapped them.

One night, sleeping off a fist fight and a case of Hekatean swill, Argyle woke to a team of armed Barlow agents throwing a hood over his head. His instincts hadn’t left him, and he put up a good fight, but a quick pinprick and a long sleep later found him coming to inside a cell, deep within a meteor serving as Barlow’s deep space redoubt. It would be a vicious imprisonment.

Azeroth caught wind that something was wrong first, when the teamster he’d paid to check on Argyle found a dead Barlow agent instead. The rest of the gang reunited, pulled together their resources, and began the search for their lost crewmate. Over the next months, Argyle was regularly drained of blood to the point of death, for reasons unknown, before being carefully nursed back to health on an arcane cocktail of chemicals. The experiments were esoteric, cryptic, and painful. It was Sarcovis Barlow himself, thought dead a century ago, that finally explained his purpose: Argyle was to be made into a thrall to be used against his old Crew.

It was at the end of a recovery cycle, as the guards came to bring him in for the next draining, that Argyle made his move. As the first of his captors leaned forward to unlock his cell, Argyle, using his nipple-concealed spikes, gouged out their eye and snagged the keys. The carnage that followed was only spoken of, all evidence of it destroyed in Argyle’s escape. He faced down Sarcovis Barlow, vaccsuit on, giving the vampire lord a big “fuck you” before detonating the charges on the station’s reactor. When the Crew arrived just shortly after, they found a spread of rocks and Argyle floating where the base had been.

The deaths of our heroes were that of legend. Azeroth’s xenoesotericism, and Dr. Aspen’s xenobiology kept the two adventuring for the remainder of their lives. By 3351, the duo had begun making a series of black hole field recordings. On one of these trips, Azeroth went too far. His last words as he was pulled across the event horizon was “you’re recording this, right?” Dr. Aspen lived another 4 years beyond this, returning to their work helping those affected by void incursions. It was her death, reported later without fanfare, that turned a mass casualty event on Echo Station into an oft-repeated cautionary tale.

Danner’s political career was reignited later in their life, once again finding themselves the leader of Kasparian Moon. Their assasination provoked outrage and numerous investigations, but no one claimed credit, and those who planted the bomb were never found. Mstislav, despite their health, thrust themselves back into organizing. A young recruit to the union, Perrin, became enamored with the HAWU legend, and for a time Mstislav felt he had a family again. He met his end in a union scuffle in 3360, dying in the arms of Perrin, who’d later discover himself to be the union hero’s grandson.

Irid’s disease rapidly accelerated. Many of their last days were spent in the hospital, where they received fruitless treatments for the newly discovered autoimmune disease caused by the dino-drugs and body modifications they’d touted for decades. The final episode of their show was recorded on Void Revolt Day 3363 from their hospital bed. It was a hastily assembled PSA about not attaching dinosaur body parts to yourself. “Keep it at 50%... max!” were her last words as she died graphically on air. Her body exploded, covering the supporters and doctors gathered around their bed in gore, as a baby raptor emerged from the pile of viscera where Irid once laid.

Argyle was the last to depart the land of the living at the tail end of 3370. Spending his remaining fortune to retrofit the ship Theseus. When the upgrades were complete, he took the raider to a part of space even past the Hecate Sector. Donning a heavily patched vaccsuit, and gathering one of Irid’s claws, Mstislav’s union patch, Azeroth’s pocket synth, Danner’s lucky coin, and Dr. Aspen’s notebook, he activated the device he’d used on Kasparian Moon. Cassette X burned out as the tear flickered just outside the airlock. With an exhale, Argyle stepped through.

TIDAL PLAYLIST: https://tidal.com/playlist/e62cb2bc-73b2-4469-8c74-004546cfade4
YOUTUBE PLAYLIST: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMKFpKDxaE64