The Armada

Absalom Station’s unofficial fifth sector isn’t actually on the station at all—it’s the so-called Armada, a vast and shifting swarm of ships, both transient and permanent, that constantly orbits the station. By spurning the station’s docks but still remaining nearby, the crews of the Armada’s ships can gain many of the benefits of living on Absalom Station without being subject to more than the most basic laws and taxes. Ships constantly raft together to make black-market deals, and some of these conglomerations have become permanent, forming tiny space stations in their own right. Still, the majority of Armadans are simply independent ship crews who feel safer keeping to themselves or aren’t interested in paying recurring docking fees. The government of Absalom Station is content to let ships remain in the Armada indefinitely so long as their crews don’t cause trouble, as they appreciate the convenience and safety of having some of their less savory elements separated from innocent citizens by a mile of hard vacuum.

Points of interest

King Curney’s Kasbah

A combination casino, drug den, and brothel, King Curney’s Kasbah consists of an ungainly amalgamation of several large freighters and assorted smaller ships permanently welded together, their engines only barely able to keep them in orbit around the station. Legend has it that each of the myriad ships in Curney’s collection was repossessed from clients who failed to repay their loans and that even now their severed heads remain in Curney’s private chambers, kept alive and conscious by elaborate alien technology. Despite being singularly ugly in both body and soul, King Curney (NE male dwarf envoy/operative) nevertheless maintains the most popular recreational facilities for the Armada’s less savory residents. Even Absalom Station’s most powerful government and corporate officials have been known to organize illicit deals at the surveillance-shielded tables of his cantina, lose fortunes gambling in his “scrupulously fair” orbits games, or narrowly avoid interplanetary scandal in the synthetic flesh walls of his Pleasure Pits.

Simar Communion

The human women of the Simar Communion rarely allow outsiders beyond the reception area of their floating commune—and it’s easy to tell who’s an outsider, for every member of the Communion is technically the same person. For the last hundred years, this station has been home to an unknown number of identical clones, who span a full range of ages from infant to elderly. While the technology to create an adult clone is both restricted and incredibly expensive on most Pact Worlds, members of the Communion get around this by simply raising their clone-sisters from “birth,” training them in the art of being Simar. Though they’re often sought for their knowledge of human genetics, psychic magic, and implant-free biohacking, it’s also an open secret that the Communion’s intense training regimen and near-religious dedication to self-control make them impressive operatives and assassins. As the old Armadan adage goes, when a Simar leaves her home, someone is about to have a very bad day.

Valor’s Heart

A more or less permanent fixture in the Armada, this carrier serves as a training vessel where the church of Iomedae trains novice priests in the arts of holy combat. Valor’s Heart is no mere school, however; it remains a fully operational warship that has added its might to the defense of Absalom Station on more than one occasion.

Location under

Absalom Station