The Reluctant Vassal's Guide to Living in the Frontier (with some Treason)

Character stats are most often used when a character is dealing with a matter personally, with the majority of non-combat turn actions revolving around their usage. If a character is involved in a battle, their stats are an additional modifier to whatever troops they happen to be personally leading. The general rule of thumb is that the higher a character stat is, the better.

Martial: A measure of how skilled the character is at direct combat, battle tactics, or naval strategy. This stat is primarily used by those leading army battlegroups for enabling possible stratagems when on a campaign.
Diplomacy: A measure of how skilled the character is at conversing, persuading, or convincing others. This stat is primarily used by those tasked to converse with foreign powers to exert a measure of soft power.
Stewardship: A measure of how skilled the character is at economic development or industrial exploitation. This stat is primarily used by those handling internal development of a planet's resources.
Intrigue: A measure of how skilled the character is at lurking within the shadows, looking for opportunities wherever. This stat is primarily used by those delegated with seeking information or striking unseen to fade away in time.
Learning: A measure of how skilled the character is of the mind, of both its learned nature and faithful determination. This stat is primarily used by those who are assigned to pioneer new prototypes while guiding societal development.

"Enter," You casually stated and turned away from the door to look out your cabin's small window, hands behind your back in what had to be a great contemplative position, at least in your head. "Seal the door behind you and approach with your report."

"Seal the door-?" The familiar melodic voice repeated teasingly and you stiffened, lips pressing together thinly.

"Seal the door...please," You grumbled begrudgingly and waited for the distinct click that indicated your sworn confident had obliged your request. "Now then, your report?"

"Everybody is settled in and readying for the journey ahead. It wasn't easy making all these arrangements, you must know." Radana shifted to a slightly disapproving tone that bordered on lecturing. "We were all prepared to bunk in on the King's flagship until you suddenly declared you 'wanted a ship to command' and swapped us to one of the colony ships at the very last minute. I would associate such behavior from your older sister instead of you, especially since I know the real reason why."

"I would be too close to the King and have attention drawn to me otherwise!" You protested, posture slackening away from confidence to embarrassment. "Everybody would be seeing me at Father's side, and that's the last thing I want! I need to keep as low-profile as possible, out of attention, so I can already begin to weave a new information network when we reach our new home."

"You're going to have attention drawn to you no matter what, dear Violet," Radana dryly pointed out with a resigned sigh. "You are a Solar Princess in the end. Staying hidden is always going to be neigh-impossible."

"Then I'll still settle for being the hidden manipulator that nobody can trace, and for that, I still need to minimize how often I am seen!"

"You're incorrigible," Your childhood friend concluded, but there was a fond smile still on her lips when she revealed the bag she was carrying. "Especially when you decide to skip out on the pre-launch meal to avoid being seen. Or were you busy doing some other little cloak and dagger affairs?"

You coughed, heat rising to your cheeks, as your stomach growled in assent. "Ah, I did go ahead and install a little information tap on the ship systems. It's nothing too intrusive, just lets me listen in on the internal ship communications along with digital data."

"'Nothing too intrusive,' she says, and casually manages to somehow circumvent some of the best electronic security systems to plant a virus that likely won't ever be found if it doesn't want to be." Radana placed the food down on the fixed table and began to unpack it, revealing an array of sandwiches that had your mouth watering. "Well, enough of that. It's time for a light luncheon and such talk sours the taste."

"Fine, fine. I'll regale you with the full demonstration of my reach later." You took a seat opposing her and frowned when Radana pulled out more food than what one could eat alone. You shot a look of suspicion at your friend. "Did you not eat as well?"

"I may have been more occupied with finding the kitchens to pack up some food for you," She admitted with a slight blush, shaking her head and rolling up the now empty bag. "I also was searching for a tea set, but alas, this ship is not as luxurious as the royal flagship."

"Don't you have plenty of those yourself? I distinctly remember you being gifted several of those over the years."

"I did, once. Then when the move was announced, I decided to give away most of them to friends and acquaintances staying behind. You can only take so much fragile pottery with you." She elegantly picked up one of the small sandwiches and took a bit from it, a measured gesture that also helped you move your hands to start eating. "I only took one with me in the end and it's thoroughly packed away in cargo. I simply accepted we will have to unfortunately make do without tea for the moment."

You wisely decided to not talk about the fact there was at least a microwave unit in every cabin and instead ate your food with gusto. It was already cold, but it still helped settle your empty stomach and calm it down in anticipation of the interstellar journey ahead. Radana's mention of having to give away most of her tea sets in the move made you pause mid-bite and consider what you yourself were leaving behind.

Honestly, it wasn't much. House Iris was of course your family, but you never really got close to any of your siblings growing up. That became a boon when you decided against following the precedence of a martial upbringing to instead begin forging connections with others, often in less than official functions. That was how you met Radana and some of your other aides, though said highborn woman was definitely the only one who knew the extent of your networking, as well as to what end. You did find something that you would miss far more dearly than the old network though.

Helm. Even if you didn't follow in the steps of your siblings, you were still a Helmsmen at heart and felt a connection to the planet upon which you were born and raised. For the longest time, you had also believed it to be the place where you'd be buried one day.

Then for reasons unknown to you, the Solar King had shockingly included you on the list of individuals to participate in the upcoming colonization effort. It was an unwelcome order but one you didn't protest, seeing an opportunity to get even further away from the spotlight once everything was settled. Your sire would surely return to Helm once the colony was firmly self-sufficient to an extent, leaving your older sister to perhaps prove her candidacy as a potential heir by managing the system in their stead.

Which gave you free reign to set up and become this new colony's form of a shadow master! A grin tugged at your lips at the thought, imagining how your sister would be drawing all the attention and management away from you, probably to consolidate power for herself. That was fine- you'd even allow it if only for her to ponce and preen under all the attention. But as to the one who everybody would unknowingly answer to without knowing it so?

It'd be you, and you looked forward to creating a fresh web upon which your puppets would dance prettily for the public, but at your command.

You couldn't help it with the increasingly loud giggles at the idea, one step away from devolving into full cackling at how brilliant it was. Radana simply raised an eyebrow and took a drink of some water, knowing better than to try and interrupt her friend's delusions of being a shadow eminence. To her, Violet d'Iris was an astounding ball of roundabout effort that sometimes paid off surprisingly well. She wanted to be the one with all the power in the shadows, but unwilling to be the one to accept the duty so publicly, instead going about with convoluted schemes or plots to obscure her involvement. Sometimes it actually made sense, other times, it was quite excessive obfuscation. Perhaps her friend was just a shy individual who didn't like to admit it.

Then again, wasn't I when I was younger? Radana idly considered with a small knowing smile. I just am better with it these days, or so I like to think.

Finally, your laughter petered out and you coughed awkwardly. "Sorry," You briefly offered and your friend accepted it with a simple tilt of the head. Then you turned your attention to a massive shape that was filling the view of space outside and your eyes lit up. "Oh, there she is. The royal flagship."

"The finest ship of House Iris there is," Radana added with a pleased hum. "Such a daunting sight that heralds the coming of the Stellarch's Iron Flowers to bring about a necessary resolution through might. His Majesty is very likely on the bridge right now, judging when to order the jump. Ah, I should clean up and secure the leftovers then."

While she did so, you turned with a curious look to a certain corner in the cabin that was far more richly and regally decorated than the rest. "Perhaps we can have a little peak." You approached surprisingly reverently and respectfully, getting to your knee at one point to acknowledge the sacred armor you were connecting with. Only once did you pay your respects did you gently remove one of the gauntlets from the armor stand, tugging it on and clenching your fist to trigger your circuits.

There was that familiar dull burn and the holy connection was made between the solarium in your body and the solarium you wielded, causing the gauntlet to surge with power and light up with all systems attempting to boot on an attached screen on the underside. Most of it returned in errors which was to be expected without wearing the full suit, but the one you were looking for affirmed the connection to the ship systems, then began receiving information from your little data tap.

You dragged your fingers along the screen, feeling livelier already with your circuits thrumming with the power of solarium. It was a dangerous and intoxicating feeling that allowed you to easily understand why it had nearly brought your people to total ruin when it had been wielded so irresponsibly before. But the ritual you had performed before donning even a single piece helped ground you, remind you of duty and oaths sworn to get this far.

In particular, your duty to make sure even in the shadows, you could protect your people as need be.

After a minute, you found the relevant information and skimmed through it, mostly glossing over the exact technical reports and instead on what active processes were doing. "Looks like we're just finalizing receiving information from the beacon to calculate our jump path," You told a curious Radana. "Ah, there. Calculations underway, drives are warming up across the fleet. We should brace for transition."

She nodded and made sure that all the leftovers were securely tucked away, on the off chance that the suddenly jolt to FTL would throw everything about. Transitions were normally fairly smooth, but even the most advanced model would advise a small chance of extreme turbulence before stabilizing once the ship systems had adjusted. You idly gripped a handrail now, using the hand with active circuits for a better grip. It was a good choice you unconsciously made, especially when there was a rather conspicuous beep coming from your gauntlet's wrist readout a moment later.

You frowned and reversed the grip to have a good look at what your bugs were saying. Your eyebrows shot up when you spotted the highlighted discrepancies. "The drive temperature, it's going higher than normal," You mumbled, then your head shot up in panic. "Way higher. Radana, something's not right-!"

You barely managed to catch the flare of her own circuits in response to your warning before the world decided to have a violent seizure in reality above you in a massive bang. The lights suddenly flickered and dimmed, a sign of the power throughout the ship being drastically disrupted by something. Everything, secured or not, went flying everywhere, including the leftover food which messily splattered over the window to obscure what was happening outside. But judging from the multiple other roars coming from far off, it sounded like what was happening to your ship was happening across the fleet.

Explosions, a small part of your mind identified. But you barely registered it with how you put everything into gripping the handrail tightly, so much so that you were pretty sure your fingers were leaving an imprint on the metal. Radana was the same way but looking a little worst for wear, having to use both hands to tightly hold onto the fixed table. The world continued to shudder around both of you, with secondary detonations going off now.

Then there was one final large jolt and the handrail couldn't take it anymore. It ripped out from the wall and you slammed hard into your cabin ceiling with a pained grunt, barely reinforcing your head in time to avoid cracking your skull. As it still was, the impact still made you blackout for a minute or so.

You came to with flickering emergency lights flashing through your cabin and let out a groan at the wicked headache you felt. Some circuit manipulation allowed it to recede faster, allowing you to grasp the situation far quicker than a regular human's response time. "Radana?" You called out, gritting your teeth. "You there?"

"Battered, bruised, and ruffled beyond acceptable standards," She weakly called out from the once secured eating area. "I'm a mess."

"I think this entire ship is." You realized that the gravity systems have failed judging by the way you didn't immediately fall to the floor and quickly pushed off to approach your armor stand. It felt so wrong getting close to the sacred icons of your faith without making the proper signs of devotion, but an emergency meant you needed to put it on as swiftly as possible, especially in a zero-G environment. You'd spend twice as long on the rites of putting it away afterwards to make up for it.

For now, speed with care was needed and you quickly slid on most of the parts, letting the solarium within harmonize with that in your veins to power up. Thankfully as per standard wear for all blessed with circuits, you already had your undersuit on and needed only to let energy course through it to engage the vacuum seals. Now, you were almost ready to tackle what was going on.

Almost. Radana let out a polite cough and you spotted her holding the final piece you were missing. She must have grabbed it when it fell loose and held it tightly to make sure it didn't break, though you were sure the infused glass wouldn't crack so easily. But you accepted nonetheless with a grateful nod and grasped the helmet, holding it there a brief moment to observe the rites. Then you put it on and felt your neck burn with circuits linking to it, feeding it with the necessary power to turn on.

Now, you were ready with your body and suit having achieved the sacred union, all systems reading ready now unlike before. The technical information from your wrist screen was transferred to your helmet and you could see the exact status of the ship, the inside of your helmet being able to display the information far better than your gauntlet.. "Both drive and engine sections are just gone," You numbly told a shocked Radana. "Cargo is also destroyed, but I think its destruction shielded the living quarters from being caught up as well."

"...my luggage," Radana sorrowfully mumbled and placed a hand over her distraught face. "It...it had the first tea set you ever gifted me."

You felt a pang of loss too at the memory and, using your suit's mini-jets to propel her close into a hug. "What matters is that I can get you another set. I can't get another of you," You firmly stated and then looked over to the wall. "Your cabin is next to mine." It was a said so as a simple confirmation and matter of fact, based on past patterns and behaviors. Her nod was all you needed to gently release from the embrace and fly over, landing with both feet against the surface and considering how best to do this.

The living areas were safe, but the hallway outside was depressurized still and any who stepped out without adequate protection was risking exposure. You paused and quickly sent out an alert across all internal ship channels to stay put if not in a dangerous environment, at least until you got to the bridge to take stock of the situation. With that settled, you pulled your fist back and let the circuits burn hotter, almost as if feeling the power of the stars themselves.

Then you slammed it into the steel wall and punched straight through, gritting your teeth when you felt the burn intensify from how much energy was being consumed. You had to do this quickly. You withdrew and punched again and again, creating a rough outline of a small hatch before needing to let the circuits in your wrist cool off. It wouldn't be long, only a short period before you could safely use those circuits again without risking permanent nerve damage.

You had others to use though and lashed out with an enhanced kick. The piece of all gave way and you peeked into Radana's cabin and spotted her own armor stand in the corner, looking thankfully in one piece. "Go and suit up. I'm going to try and tap into the rest of the fleet," You told and she wiped away whatever little despair she had left, putting on a determined expression.

"I will be quick," She promised and drifted through the small gap between rooms to make her way over. Meanwhile, you took the time to redirect your attention to processing the information in your helmet, surreptitiously tapping the fleet-wide bugs you had planted to get an idea of what was happening without drawing attention.

Of course you didn't just settle for bugging your own ship, but had done it across the entire fleet while everybody was enjoying a pre-launch meal. It did mean you miss out on the last serving of fresh hot food before the voyage across stars especially given the less austere living standards, but that seemed rather moot at this point. You had already given up such fine living by not bunking on the royal flagship.

The thought made your hand tense up for a moment, wondering the extent of damage done to your sire's ship. But information between vessels, even in close proximity, took time to pack, send, and unpack so you had little choice but to wait for those taps to finish their processes. In the meantime, you checked on your own ship's flow and was relieved to see your other companions had made it. They were people you've picked up along the way who were still sworn to follow you, but had no idea that at this very point in time they were being monitored as well.

In short, they were puppets unlike Radana. Useful ones of course, but ones kept an arm's length and unknowing of your hidden self. You sent them a message inquiring both about their well-being and to order them to the bridge if they could make it. You knew that both were already true, but you did have a facade to keep up around those two.

You also took the time to check the ship's navigation data and saw that somehow, despite what had sounded like a failed FTL transition, you had already arrived at your destination! An...oddity, given that the voyage should have taken a few days especially. Then again, the time clocks the ship were printing out made absolutely no sense either and you chewed your lip in thought before shoving it off to 'I am not smart enough to figure out what just happened.' You'd leave it to the more learned experts to decide.

For now, you passed the time waiting for information by bringing up information about the system you were in, your possibly new home.

Choose two (2) subordinates. These people are more in line with the ordinary companion and do not know your true self, only seeing a duty to serve House Iris as requested.






Select a system to start in. Note that due to outstanding circumstances, some planets may not be available for immediate colonization.

-[ ] [System] Magvelt. The yellow star this system revolves around radiates so much solar heat that even the cold expanse of space feels slightly warm under its harsh glare. The planets themselves are incredibly hot as a result, with only one odd exception that seems to be where chill retreats to. However, it is not on this planet but another within the system upon which stands rich resources in orbit along plenty of space for development.


-[ ] [System] Andernia. An odd star that radiates warmth from one side while exuding chill on the other. The result is that half the system is relatively cold, while the other is incredibly hot with few exceptions of a mild climate all around. As if that wasn't fantastical enough, the largest of the hot planets somehow has reports of organic life down there while a frozen comet orbits around a frozen planet.


-[ ] [System] Shenvile. Despite the presence of binary stars, the solar radiation given off from them isn't that much and has resulted in a relatively mild planetary system. The outer two planets are cold while the two inner possess fairer climates. It is surprising then that these warmer climates possess less than ideal habitats, while those on the border have environments more suited to unaltered human settlements.


-[ ] [System] Anstock. All the mass in this system has seeming gone into forming the two stars that are on the opposite spectrum, radiating heat and cold respectively. Only one planet orbits the colder star directly and is bitterly frozen as a result, while the other three have much milder temperature ranges. That being said, only the outer two are considered viable for natural human habitation with the one closest to the hot sun being composed of ash, tar, and soot.


- Rolling up these planets was...interesting. Glad I decided to go with a space fantasy theme to give me a lot more wiggle room for imagination to work with. I hope that there's a good spread for you here.
- Note that thanks to general advancements in habitation technology, humans can live wherever they wish if they have enough resource/aid on hand. So don't worry about what's actually habitable/habitable with aid, it's mostly fluff. The outstanding circumstance I mentioned is something else entirely.
- This is just choosing what system you start in, not yet which planet you begin on. But I welcome discussion for that, I still need to make planetary maps as well.