The Tribes

The Surge-Riders: A Sociological Evaluation

By Jalines Pelikovchka, Exo-Biologist and Field Officer, Proteus Division

They call it the fringe. It is the area hardest hit by the departure of the Aeon Trinity and the fallout of the Fourth Aberrant War, the region of space where any semblance of unity was lost. Squabbling wolf-packs fall upon each other, fighting for the scraps left behind by the Confederation. Plunderers and bandits are everywhere, seeking to maintain a hold on irreplacable items like teleportation ships. There is no unity; sometimes, one world with have dozens of semi-autonomous nation states on it.

In this region, long since abandoned by everyone else, the only thing rarer than a working FTL ship is a psychomorph. However, where a self-contained population with psy members intersects with a jump ship are the nomadic groups referred to as the Tribes. These extended families are equal parts Genghis Khan's Golden Horde, the American Pony Express and Orgotek's Option-8, working to create some kind of order and contact between scattered worlds. They do this not out of the good of their hearts, but rather out of a sense of enlightened self-interest. My mission was to make contact with one of these Tribes, and after a great deal of effort, I managed to find one.

They call themselves "Nialamquar." Loosely translated, it means "Surge-Riders." They are Aberrant hunters, news and mail carriers, cargo transporters, pirate smashers, and occasional pirates themselves. They are but one example of this strange new breed of nomads, forever wandering between worlds, but they shall serve as an object lesson.

And, if their campfire legends can be taken as true, they were born from our own.

My first contact with the Surge-Riders took place on Eisenschoepfer, a small world so far from anywhere important that it was hard to even find it. There was no electricity there, and the people lived in shacks. Running water was a hope for the future.

In what looked to be an old barn, I found a maintenance bay that wouldn't have looked out of place in the most modern spaceport orbiting Khantze Lu Ge. And in that bay squatted an ancient Orgotek Tornado-Wasp Jump Ship, one of the old Tesser Frigates from the Fourth War, being lovingly maintained by a group of people who were moving with ease and obvious expertise.

This is where I met Dafid Jannah. He's the pilot of the craft, the head of his household, and the only one of his immediate family who gets to add the "Nialamquar" suffix to his name. I had expected a mere rogue, from what my sources told me.

Instead, I met a quiet, thoughtful man with green eyes and powerful Psionic abilities. A natural psychomorph who can operate on all three modes of Electrokinesis, as well as Clairsentience and Psychokinesis. He became my guide to the Surge-Riders, in exchange for my offering to serve as a contact between his people and the Aeon Society. It seems that in the time since we departed, his people have kept the Aeon Trinity alive in old songs and half-accurate tales. Jannah is very eager to resume contact, perhaps overmuch; I would hate to have him become disappointed when the reality of the situation doesn't conform to his folk tales.

He begun to answer my quesions that night, as he and his immediate relatives gathered along with the other Surge- Rider groups on Eisenschoepfer. Like the old gypsies of lost Earth, except that their "wagons" were still armed with advanced coilguns and laser batteries. The ship is the family; lose the ship, and the family dies. As a result, everyone in that camp was very conscious of my presence as an outsider.

The roots of the word "Nialamquar" are lost. All Jannah could tell me is that they have been using the word for the past two hundred years, and that it was originally given to them by "Al-Khayand, the Heretic Aberrant." I know little about him; he was apparently one of the few Aberrants who did not succumb to Taint and who served to defend humanity during the Fourth Aberrant War.

Once Earth died, a few Norca, Orgotek and Legion units were stranded with Al-Khayand, away from any contact from Aeon. Al-Khayand himself was hideously wounded from his conflict with his own kind, and died after managing to warp his allies away from the dead world. Unfortunately, he warped them onto a planet heavily battered by the Aberrants, a world without the resources needed to contact the Trinity.

Between 2615 and 2699, these people (who would be the ancestors of the modern Surge-Riders) struggled to re-establish contact and resume their role in the Aberrant War. They had no way of knowing that their "Nova" allies had departed the galaxy entirely in the wake of Earth's loss, or of keeping track of changes in the larger galaxy. This isolated group of psions, cut off from everyone else, had survival first and foremost as its goal. However, their isolation proved a blessing of sorts, as they escaped the attacks other psions had to endure.

"Then," as Jannah puts it, smiling, "the Sixth Fleet got greedy, and we got lucky."

Apparently, as is the case for dozens of other "Tribes" that have no relation to the Surge-Riders, it was the destruction of the Sixth Fleet that gave his people access to their Tesser Frigate. Following the conflict between the Sixth, the Second and Seventh fleets, a great deal of chaos allowed for quite a few ships to escape.

"You wouldn't believe how many Tribes come from that event," Jannah says. "Some of them descend from actual Sixth Fleet ships that got out before the hammer fell. Some from people who found and salvaged a Tesser unit and hooked it into a shuttlecraft or a Bio-Lancer. And then there's my ancestors."

The Jannah, as far as family legend is concerned, are descended from the Garbage Reclaimation Officer aboard Verethraghna itself. While the great Carrier Dreadnaught of the Sixth Fleet engaged ten of its sister ships in what was to be the final conflict between the Pirate Fleet and the others, GRO Jannah convinced his fellow scow pilots to "liberate" a frigate with him and run for the edges of known space.

Jannah, not being a psion himself, was forced to trust the Tesser to jump based on a location randomly chosen from its databank. Apparently the previous pilot, a Clear attached to the Sixth, had been scanning for worlds that might have made good hiding places. Jannah ended up on Hopeless, the world the stranded psions had made their own. By now, they were entering their ninth decades, and had children and grandchildren of their own, but away from the Prometheus Chambers of their respective Orders none of their families had developed the Gift.

Jannah and his fellow refugees from the Sixth Fleet provided the nucleus for an entirely different way of life to the refugees of Hopeless, just as others did in a hundred different ways on a hundred different worlds.

It wasn't until 2735, however, that one of the great- grandchildren of the original survivors was born a Psychomorph. That child, Rain Jannah, became the leader of the Tribe and the one who did the most to direct them along their current path.

"It wasn't out of kindness. Others were doing it, too, and we saw that there was profit to be had," Jannah explains. "Plus, unlike the Wanderers, or Hurton's Eagles, we didn't need a big heavily armed ship. We could afford to use the Jump-Frigate, go on solo missions, and frag anyone who decided to try and make easy pickings."

Since that time, the few Psyqs of the Surge-Riders have been dominant. Jannah hastens to assure me that it isn't that way in every case.

"Hell, every single one of what you call 'The Tribes' is different. Some of them are descended from folks what found an old CECAP depot somewhere, some are cast-offs from the Sixth like us, some are clever folks who found an old Orgotek Juggernaut crashed on a mountaintop and salvaged it. The only things we really have in common is the life, vagabonds who move from world to world. We'll be done with Eisenschoepfer soon, and we'll move on."

The ship that is so important to the Surge-Riders would hardly impress anyone familiar with cutting edge technology; it's a battered hybrid, a small craft that barely even qualifies as a frigate at all. 85 meters from end to end, it resembles an ancient Scarab Strike Craft, which would be its linear ancestor. It's not much, but to Jannah's people, it's everything.

There are seven Surge-Rider households on the ship, each headed by a different Psyq who is formatted to a different system. The web of interrelation is complex; practically all of the households are descended from the original refugee psions, but new blood is sought at every opportunity in order to keep inbreeding at bay. (I myself, despite having never exactly been a social dynamo, found a certain degree of scrutiny from male members of the community, but Jannah explained that they wouldn't directly approach me as long as I was in his company.) Despite this, their numbers remain low. There are eighty-six of them, in seven households. This seems to be the case for other Tribes, as well; since they depend on the commercial prospects of their ships, they have to be careful not to overstretch their resources.

Other Tribes

There are literally hundreds of Tribes on the fringe, if not more. The Surge-Riders are a typical one, with some eighty-six members, control over a single Tesser Frigate and some eleven Psychomorphs among their number. Though they might be considered large and powerful in the Fringe, that assessment is relative; their influence would be laughable in the more settled regions of space.

Here is a list of some of the more notable Tribes on the fringe. Keep in mind that for every Tribe listed here, there are probably ten we have no knowledge of.

The Cedari

The Cedari are unusual among the Tribes in that instead of using a jump ship to travel about, they rely on their group's unusually high genetic tendency toward psychomorphic Clairsentience and Teleportation. Cedari cells tend to range from 30 to 60 members with at least one Psy skilled in Warping and one skilled in Farsight. There are currently 6 known cells, one of which is the original cell that consists of around 100 members (8 of whom are psychomorphs). They make their living by trading and by acting as guides to those willing to pay for their unsurpassed first-hand knowledge of the outer rim worlds. The cells spend their lives traveling from one world to the next, usually spending no more than a month on a planet before moving on. Though they have high levels of skill in the Warping and Farseeing modes, they express only rudimentary knowledge of other modes and aptitudes. The original cause behind this seemingly lucky combination is not known. The Cedari have a tradition that considers the marriage of a Gatekeeper (the Cedari term for a psionic teleporter) and a Navigator (a clairsentient) to be an auspicious occasion. Though such a marriage is suposed to bring good luck to the cell (and anyone who brings a gift to the couple) in the coming year, the real effect is to maintain and propagate the psy potential within the group -- a lucky thing, indeed.

Sons of Vidar

Members of this Tribe are noted for their taciturnity and fearlessness. Most members are not only human, but fair-skinned and haired. Membership to other species has only occurred in recent decades. Extremely war-like, this Tribe sells its services as security and mercenaries. Physically proud, the Sons of Vidar, or "Berkers" (probably a derivative of "Berserkers") are generally highly trained in combat. Those rare Berkers who show talent in areas of Biokinesis are prized warriors, and can ascend the ladder to become "Chieftain" easily. Those who show aptitude in Psychokinesis tend to become "Warlocks," personal advisors to Chieftains. The Sons of Vidar have one Jumpship, captured during a daring raid of another Tribe. However, passage to other systems is usually traded for escort, or paid for. Bands of Berkers are easily identified when traveling because of their loud, war-like yet jovial, songs. The name "Sons of Vidar" comes from members" belief that the Ragnarok has descended upon their original home, the Earth, and they are living the after-effects. Because of their combat orientated society, there are not many Berkers over the age of fifty. When encountering old Sons of Vidar, be wary. An individual reaching such an age is very competent indeed, and generally is no fool. Stay on their good side.

Manitharthans

There are a few hundred of these "Stalwart Explorers" left in the Three Million, traveling from fringe world to fringe world in an attempt to live up to the message of their semi-mythical founder, Elyana Shanti Duboczywk. "The Shanti," as the Manitharthans call her, was a firm beliver in exploration for its own sake, in nonviolent resistance to oppression and tyranny, and in Shinto, the animist religion that originated in the Nihon islands of Earth (also known as Nippon or Japan). Manitharthans combine Shinto with Taoism, Jainism and the Pragmatism of Western Philiosophy, as well as a few cobbled together Animistic beliefs from all over the old Confederation. They believe that all things, organic and inorganic, have a spirit; that energy, especially fire and the power emanating from stars, is the seat of purity and the most sacred spirits in nature; that all things exist to help illuminate The Path, a single unifying existance that flows through all that lives; and that one must take the actions that bring about the least amount of pain for all involved. Many members study and practice a fluid, relaxed martial art that owes much to Pakua and Tai-Chi, an art that concentrates on not forcing actions or reactions. Manitharthans have no rigid heirarchy, as such; those that display Psy abilities are considered "beloved of the Manitou" and their voices carry weight, but are not exactly the leaders. There is no tendency towards certain aptitudes, and no accurate count of how many of the Manitharthans have such abilities. Manitharthans travel in "Schools" around a "Zhenhai" who is accepted as the leader, or teacher, of that school. Schools range in size from a few members to as many as fifty (in the Nihongi-Kri School, the oldest).

Azuriath & Krimsath

The Blue and the Red, as they call themselves, are different than other tribes in a few regards. The first is their emphasis on psy abilities; there are none among their number who do not have some rudimentary gifts. Members are discovered and recruited, rather than born into the group; family members who do not display Psi abilities are not considered full members. The second is their emphasis on specific activities. The Azuriath, also known as the Born Bretheren, are masters of Biokinesis and Telepathy, seeking to learn how to incorporate the thoughts of all into themselves and thus become one with all life and using their physical bodies as mirrors of the nature now lost to them. The Krimsath, the Smiling Killers, are the reapers or assassins of the order, doing their best to ensure the survival of their more contemplative "cousins" with gifts like EK, PK and Vitakinesis. (A Krimsath with Vitakinesis is usually a master of its darker applications.) All Azuriath have "The Azuri Ristic," a mark on their bodies in deep blue that identifies them as members. The Krimsath have a similar mark, the "Curse of Rizion," which takes the form of a bloodstain somewhere on their bodies. The form these marks take and what, exactly, they are is seldom revealed to outsiders. It is unclear exactly how the Azuriath and Krimsath travel, how numerous they are, and what exactly they hope to accomplish. Oddly enough, both groups are prized as assassins and spies by those powers who cannot afford to maintain such themselves (The Azuriath's focus on telepathy and biokinesis means that they can often kill without leaving a clue and detect the thoughts others seek to suppress, while the Krimsath are more blatant but by no means less effective.) Azuriath and Krimsath travel in pairs, usually one of each, and when in larger groups they can almost always be divided in this way (so they travel in groups of two). Sometimes, however, a "lone" Azuriath or Krimsath will be encountered. This usually means his "Tir" has been killed and he seeks revenge.

The Manaxadra

Everyone on the fringe has better sense than to deal with the Manaxadra, yet they continue. Probably because of their tendency to take the property of others, and those others as well if they can get away with it. The Manaxadra are a small Tribe, but they make up for that in sheer cockroach-like refusal to die and leave the Three Million a nicer place than they found it. No one, not even they, have bothered to tell of their origins. One day they popped up, attacking shipping on the fringes of Confederation space and doing their level best to avoid the Space Fleets, and that seems to be all anyone knows of them. They control several ships capable of Tesser or Starfall travel, and seem to be led by a warlord called "Manaxad;" whether that is her name or her title is unknown, as is the open question of who she is. As many descriptions of her exist as do those who report them. She is rumored to be a Qin in an ancient biosuit, a Coaltion phyle of Aberrant origin, and a descendant of the Pai de Norça himself, but the most commonly accepted description is that she is an ambitious Psychomorph with a talent for lying.

Tenso Byrath

Contractors frequently move newly-constructed orbital stations to their new locations via massive Tesser drives that attach to the exterior of the construct, and are disconnected once it is in position. In the case of Space Orbital Habitat 10 (10SOH), though, the Tessers were never disconnected. The station, built to defend Earth during the Fourth Aberrant War, teleported into orbit just in time for the destruction of the planet. Seeing what was going on below, crew leader Jash Byrath -- an Earther himself -- radioed the planet to offer his services. Selema Wyitt, a teleporter working to rescue civilians from the impending doom, opened a transportal onto the station, through which poured a handful of wounded psions and hundreds of refugees. When Byrath radioed Wyitt that Aberrants were firing on the station, whose defenses had not yet been hooked up, Wyitt stepped through and closed the portal, and Byrath activated the tesser. The station ended up in the only other location it knew, Sol's asteroid belt, where it had been constructed. With a Clairsentient now among their number, Byrath and the station's new inhabitants decided to jump the station somewhere safe and try to rebuild their lives. The Clair guided the station to a newly colonized world on the fringe, whose colonists begged them to stay and help defend them. The original inhabitants have since passed away, but the station is still in the hands of the descendants of those psions and refugees. There are currently 13 psychomorphs of widely varying power levels -- most rate only as Talents -- among the 200 or so current inhabitants. The station currently orbits Hansha 2, an unpleasant desert world that nonetheless has an abundance of useful mineral resources. When food stores, repair parts or other supplies run low, the station will move on to someplace where they can trade those materials they've harvested for what they need. The station has six working shuttles of various sizes, but only two of its original complement of 36 fighter craft remain; none of these craft are jump-capable, only the station itself.

Lesser-known Tribes

The Wanderers

Sixty-six members in three family groups; an unknown number of psys; control over one Orgotek Juggernaut Jump-Freighter.

Hurton's Eagles

One hundred and twelve members in nine "Squads;" an unknown number of psyqs (at least three); control over two Banji Pteradon Jump Frigates.

V

Seventy-two members in four family groups; four known psys, one per family group; control over several salvaged Jump Shuttles of various makes.

Hachiman

Ninety-three members organized in a corporate hierarchy; an unknown number of psys; control over nine small jumpships apparently of their own design. Where they got the resources to construct jump ships is unknown.

Gnatuw

At least 50 members, organized in an unknown manner; an unknown number of psys; control over salvaged Qin Starcraft of unknown type.

Nyota

Roughly 50 members organized in one family hierarchy; an unknown number of psys; control over three Ruan-Ti Opal and one Ruan-Ti Carboran Jump Shuttles.

Additional material by Steven Otte, Josh Soless and Jarrod Penfold.

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