Techsmith's may come from any race or archetype, aren't native to our sector. They baffle and scare most engineers, because they utilize alien technology pioneered by a lost race. The only remaining link is the Techsmith's sector of origin, which is ruled by the bloodthirsty Ganog Imperium. Little is known about the Ganog, but the Confederacy avoids their territory.
Every Techsmith in our sector descends from an original group of invaders who conquered a swathe of worlds core-ward past Virkon. Over a period of less than two decades they exploded outward, and conquered our neighboring sector, adding to their vast empire.
Techsmiths utilize an arcanotome to tap into something very similar to Quantum, a vast repository of knowledge they are forbidden to share. The tome is connected to their temple via a black cable, which transmits pulses of purple data. It can be detached at will.
Techsmiths also command warp technology, which is something that Ternus desperately seeks to get their hands on. Rumors abound that they've quietly put out bounties on tomes, and some say techsmiths have been kidnapped in broad daylight, though the Ternus program has yielded little in the way of results.
Warp technology allows techsmiths to mimic some of the powers of a void mage in the form of short range teleports, and if they can get access to a vessel with a warp drive it will allow them to use and maintain it.
Note that while other species have found vessels with warp drives they lack the technical skill to keep them operational. This is by design, and the techsmiths are a failsafe to prevent the tech from being stolen.
All techsmiths must choose one of two allegiances upon accepting their tome. Either they join the Void Wraith collective, or the Ganog Imperium. For practical purposes all players are assumed to belong to the Void Wraith collective.
Techsmiths serving the Ganog Imperium are designed as non-player characters, and seek to attract the gaze of the nameless ones at any cost.
Mastery
The techsmith gains Engineering, Hacking, and Linguistics as Masteries.
The Arcanotome
Techsmiths have a vast repository of skills and knowledge at their disposal, which grants edge on any technical skill. This bonus only functions so long as the tome is attached.
In addition, the user may instantly communicate with anyone possessing an arcanotome.
Further, they may spend a luck to summon an appropriate force of Void Wraith to assist them in combat. Up to five judicators are warped in, and while they will aid a techsmith in need, they will not obey them, nor stay after the danger has passed.
Note that anyone may attach an arcanotome, and that ability may be purchased by any character with experience if they've obtained one.
The Collective
A Techsmith may use the arcanotome to connect to the collective. This connection utilizes a magic or technology that even the smith doesn't understand to allow them to access to a shared reality that overlays this one.
While in this reality they pass among the shadowed stacks, where scrolls and books from countless cultures in different universes have been gathered. This library has no beginning or end. It simply is.
The Techsmith may search for any piece of information using an investigation check, with a DT assigned by the game master. Need a door code? Someone in the collective knows it, DT 2. Need someone's darkest secret? There's a reality where that's trending, and somewhere someone recorded it, DT 5.
Each round the character is in the collective they must make a stealth check DT 1. Failure attracts the notice of a Ganog Seeker or a Void Wraith Strike Team, which will then begin hunting the players down. This acts as a flaw, and if the PC successfully overcomes the attack they will gain a luck.
Warp Mastery
The techsmith is well versed in warp technology, but is sworn to the nameless ones never to reveal these secrets to anyone. Ever. No exceptions. Anyone authorized to know such things learn it when they receive their own tome.
This skill allows them to repair warp drives, but not to build them. Such technology has long been lost, and would require access to a lostech facility within the Ganog Imperium. In that event the techsmith may make standard crafting checks, but if they record or distribute a schematic of a warp drive the network will be notified and all nearby Void Wraith will be dispatched to hunt them, and destroy the plans.
All techsmiths possess a personal warping device, passed from smith to smith. When they near the end of their life they will find another to pass tome and bracelet to. Thrice per day they may spend an action to warp to any location within reason * 10 meters.
This ability requires a functioning arcanotome to purchase with experience.
The Judicator
In the depths of history the techsmiths were entrusted with the care of their master's servants, the Void Wraith. These cybernetic life-forms are a sentient nervous system bonded into a potent robotic body. Techsmiths may repair their Judicator over the course of two hours with a successful engineering check, each success restoring one hit point.
If their judicator is fully disabled in combat, then they may repair it with 1,000 credits in raw materials, and ten hours of labor. The judicator obeys the techsmith without question, however judicators are sentient and do possess a personality. They may not like their masters, depending on how their masters treat them.
A techsmith may choose to award experience to the judicator instead of themselves. If they do so the judicator my purchase skills, attributes, masteries, or defenses. Note that the Judicator's skills and attributes begin play at 0.
Judicators are considered to have a harness, and may receive up to 5 cybernetic implants.
Brace: 2
Dodge: 3
Skepticism: 1
Initiative: 2
Movement: 12
HP: 25 + 5 points per fortitude
Armor: 5
Resistance: 2
Abilities
Plasma Rifle Arm
Range: 12
Dice Pool: 8 + Agility + Ranged
Damage: 8 Physical (3 Armor Penetration)
Defense: Dodge
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