Kesh-Ardun Warrior: Forgers of Ruin
Among the Kesh-Ardun, the Warriors are the unrelenting edge of a people forged in Vesh-Muric’s crimson wastes—a tempest of copper and fury, tempered by the harsh winds of a dying planet. With their bald heads gleaming under the twin moons and their jade or turquoise eyes blazing, they are not the towering savages of untamed wilds nor the weathered sellswords of distant wars. They are the Kesh-Ardun’s steel heartbeat, born from the Kor-Vesh citadels where the air hums with the sacred Pulse. These are not warriors of noble banners or poetic ideals, but brutal craftsmen of survival, their lives a hymn of metal and blood sung to keep Vesh-Muric alive.
Their weapons—retractable swords of memory-metal, glass-daggers that hum with radium heat, or jagged knives pried from the husks of Green Men raiders—are extensions of their relentless will. The Kesh-Ardun shun cumbersome polearms, favoring compact blades that dance in their deft hands, suited to the tight tunnels and shattered ruins they defend. Unburdened by the musings of the Zar-Kesh or the delicate artistry of the Forge Lords, Warriors answer only to the clash of steel and the rhythm of combat, carving paths through foes with raw, unyielding might. They fight not for glory or gold, but to protect the forges, to honor The Pulse, and to revel in the primal thrill of battle beneath a sky that offers no mercy.
Unlike the polished Red Martian warlords, a Kesh-Ardun Warrior wears their scars as a testament, their copper skin etched with the tales of every duel. Their armor, when they deign to wear it, is a patchwork of Overlord alloys and desert-toughened hides—trophies torn from the wrecks of Mindok’s minions or the claws of Amber Men spiders. Hardship has honed their instincts; countless skirmishes have sharpened their reflexes. In battle, they surge forward like a radium spark igniting the dark—unhesitating, unwavering, a force of unbreakable resolve that leaves only ruin in its wake.
Some Warriors rise beyond mere bloodshed. In time, they charge into danger with a fearlessness that defies the desert’s terrors. Their presence becomes a bronze heart, steadying those around them in the chaos. From the relics of The Before, they forge primitive suits of power armor, humming with Overlord tech, a fusion of craft and combat. And the mightiest among them draw others—Warriors, Delvers, craftsmen—to break from the citadels, forging new settlements in Vesh-Muric’s unforgiving expanse, a defiant echo of The Pulse carved into the sand.
Kesh-Ardun Warrior: Special Abilities
Class Overview
Prime Requisite: Strength (minimum 9). Fighting Men rely on raw power to wield their crafted weapons and endure Vesh-Muric’s wastes.
Hit Dice: d10. Their dense, muscular frames and martial training grant exceptional resilience.
Attack and Saving Throws: Use the Fighter matrices, reflecting their honed combat instincts.
Alignment: Any, often Lawful or Neutral—bound by duty to The Pulse yet fierce in survival.
Weapons: Any except polearms, favoring Kesh-Ardun designs like retractable swords, glass-daggers, and radium rifles—tools of close-quarters mastery.
Armor: Any up to plate equivalents (e.g., alloy mesh or Overlord-tech suits); their craft enhances protection without sacrificing mobility
Kesh-Ardun Abilities
Ultra-Vision
Description: The Warrior’s gemstone eyes pierce darkness, a trait evolved from their volcanic homes and enhanced by Vesh-Muric’s thin atmosphere. They see under moonlight or starlight nearly as well as humans in daylight, out to a 10” range. Underground or in enclosed spaces, this halves to 5” (50 feet) due to confined light refraction.
Detect Construction, Sloping Passages, and Secret Doors
Description: Warriors sense the handiwork of builders, natural or Overlord-made. On a 1-2 on a d6 (33% chance), they detect new construction, sloping passages, or secret doors within 10 feet, rising to 1-3 (50%) at Level 5. Their INT bonus (+1 per 3 points above 12) adds to the roll.
Direction Sense Underground
Description: In labyrinthine depths, Warriors never lose their bearings. They automatically sense cardinal directions underground and can retrace their steps with a successful INT check (d20 under INT). Outdoors, this drops to a 1-2 on a d6 chance due to Vesh-Muric’s disorienting wastes.
Saving Throw Bonus
Description: Warriors gain +2 on saves vs. poison and magic (including spells, wands, or Overlord devices), their copper skin and sharp minds resisting toxins and arcane energies.
Class Abilities
Level 3: Fearless Charge
Mechanics: When the Warrior initiates combat by charging at least 10 feet toward an enemy, they gain a +2 bonus to their attack roll for their first strike in that round. This bonus applies only once per encounter and requires a clear path (no difficult terrain). If the attack hits, the Warrior can attempt a free Strength check (d20 under STR) to push the target back 5 feet, reflecting their momentum.
Level 5: Heart of Bronze
Mechanics: Allies within 20 feet of the Warrior gain a +2 bonus to saving throws against fear effects and morale checks (e.g., fleeing from overwhelming odds or magical terror). This aura lasts as long as the Warrior remains conscious and in combat, radiating their unyielding resolve. The Warrior themselves gains immunity to fear effects from non-magical sources (e.g., intimidation, natural hazards).
Level 7: Armor Crafting (Overlord Power Armor)
Mechanics: The Warrior gains the ability to craft a unique suit of Primitive Power Armor using salvaged Overlord technology (e.g., radium filaments, alloy plating). This requires 1d4 weeks of work, access to a forge, and materials worth 1,000 gp (e.g., scavenged from ruins). The armor grants AC 16 (equivalent to plate mail), +1 STR (max 18), and resistance to fire damage (half damage). It weighs 30 lbs., hums faintly with The Pulse, and imposes disadvantage on Stealth checks due to its clanking servos. Repairs take 1 day and 50 gp after heavy damage (below half HP).
Level 9: Forge a Settlement
Mechanics: The Warrior attracts a cadre of followers: 2d4 Kesh-Ardun Warriors (Level 1-3), 1d4 Delvers (Level 2-4), and 1d6 craftsmen (non-combatants skilled in forging). They leave the citadels to establish a new settlement under the Warrior’s leadership, requiring 1d6 months and 5,000 gp in resources (e.g., salvaged tech, water caches). The settlement starts with basic defenses and a small forge, growing with time and effort. The Warrior gains a +2 bonus to Charisma-based checks when leading or recruiting within this community.
Core Warrior Abilities
Forge-Honed Reflexes
Description: Years at the anvil sharpen their senses. Fighting Men gain a +1 bonus to initiative rolls and a +2 bonus to saves vs. traps and mechanical devices, their gemstone eyes spotting danger in the dimmest light.
Crafted Blade Mastery
Description: Proficiency with Kesh-Ardun weapons—retractable swords or glass-daggers—grants a +1 to attack and damage rolls with these arms. At Level 5, this rises to +2, reflecting their bond with forged steel.
Pulse Resonance
Description: Attuned to The Pulse, they gain +2 to morale checks and saves vs. fear when underground or near Kesh-Ardun forges, their will echoing Vesh-Muric’s heartbeat. Outdoors, this drops to +1.
Radium Shot
Description: Skilled with radium rifles, they fire glowing darts. At Level 7, they craft 1d6 rounds/day if radium is available.
Forge-Bound Vigor
Description: Their copper skin and training grant +2 HP at 1st level and +1 HP per level thereafter, reflecting endurance honed by heat and hammer. They heal 1 extra HP/day when resting underground.
Level Progression
Role in the Campaign
Fighting Men are the backbone of Kesh-Ardun defense, ideal for parties facing Vesh-Muric’s perils—Green Men raiders, Amber Men slavers, or Mindok’s rusting minions. Their abilities excel in combat, guarding Delvers in ruins or leading assaults on enemy outposts. Their crafted gear and Pulse-fueled resolve make them stalwart allies, though their fear of Mindok’s corruption (e.g., -2 to attack rolls near his constructs, save vs. Spell to resist) adds tension.
The Delver: Seekers of Vesh-Muric’s Lost Age
Among the Kesh-Ardun, the copper-skinned dwarves of Vesh-Muric, the Delvers are a rare and revered caste—explorers who brave the planet’s crumbling ruins to reclaim the relics of The Before.
With their jade or turquoise eyes glinting in the dark, they plumb the depths of extinct volcanoes, shattered sky-docks, and drowned cities, driven by an insatiable curiosity and a duty to preserve their people’s future. Unlike the Forge Lords who craft or the Zar-Kesh who hoard wisdom, Delvers are wanderers, their metallic skin etched with the scars of their perilous quests.
Yet, their greatest secret lies in the sorcerous powers they awaken—gifts torn from the alien machines and forbidden energies they encounter, powers they conceal from their kin lest they be branded heretics.
Class Overview
Prime Requisite: Intelligence (minimum 9). Delvers rely on cunning and knowledge to navigate traps, decipher glyphs, and wield their hidden sorcery.
Hit Dice: d6. Their resilience stems from experience, not brute strength, fitting their compact, wiry frames.
Attack and Saving Throws: Use the Fighter matrices, reflecting their honed survival skills in Vesh-Muric’s hostile wastes.
Alignment: Any, though most lean Neutral—balancing duty to the Kesh-Ardun with the personal ambitions their secrets fuel.
Weapons: Any, favoring light, versatile arms like retractable swords, glass-rifles, or daggers—tools suited to exploration.
Armor: Any up to chain mail equivalents (e.g., lightweight alloy mesh); heavier armor hampers their agility in ruins.
Class Abilities
The Delvers’ innate talents are honed by their subterranean lives and the alien landscapes they explore, augmented by their secret sorcery.
Ultra-Vision
Description: The Delver’s gemstone eyes pierce darkness, a trait evolved from their volcanic homes and enhanced by Vesh-Muric’s thin atmosphere. They see under moonlight or starlight nearly as well as humans in daylight, out to a 10” range. Underground or in enclosed spaces, this halves to 5” (50 feet) due to confined light refraction.
Identify Ore
Description: With a touch, a Delver can discern the nature of metals and minerals —copper, radium, iron, or rare Overlord alloys—gauging purity and potential use. Roll under INT on a d20; success identifies the ore and its basic properties (e.g., “radium-infused, unstable, suitable for power cores”).
Detect Construction, Sloping Passages, and Secret Doors
Description: Delvers sense the handiwork of builders, natural or Overlord-made. On a 1-2 on a d6 (33% chance), they detect new construction, sloping passages, or secret doors within 10 feet, rising to 1-3 (50%) at Level 5. Their INT bonus (+1 per 3 points above 12) adds to the roll.
Direction Sense Underground
Description: In labyrinthine depths, Delvers never lose their bearings. They automatically sense cardinal directions underground and can retrace their steps with a successful INT check (d20 under INT). Outdoors, this drops to a 1-2 on a d6 chance due to Vesh-Muric’s disorienting wastes.
Sorcerous Powers (Gained in Secret)
Description: Exposure to Overlord relics—radium cores, neural amplifiers, or the Pulse itself—awakens forbidden sorcery in Delvers. These powers manifest at Levels 3, 5, 7, and 9, kept hidden from the Kesh-Ardun, who would see them as a corruption of The Pulse.
Saving Throw Bonus
Description: Delvers gain +2 on saves vs. poison and magic (including spells, wands, or Overlord devices), their copper skin and sharp minds resisting toxins and arcane energies.
Sorcerous Powers
These secret abilities blend sorcery with Vesh-Murician super-science, reflecting the Delvers’ perilous discoveries. Each power’s origin hints at forbidden knowledge—neural tech, radium exposure, or the Pulse’s echo.
Level 3: Mind Flicker (Scale 1, Fog the Mind Variant)
Origin: Gained from a cracked neural emitter looted from a ruin, its whispers seeping into the Delver’s mind.
Effect: Targets one foe within 15 feet. Roll 1d6: 4-6, foe moves 10 feet away, forgetting their action for 1 turn (Save vs Gaze resists). Costs 2
Endurance Drain: -1 (a faint hum lingers in their skull).
Level 5: Kinetic Pulse (Scale 2, Push Variant)
Origin: Awakened by a gravitic shard embedded in their gear, its energy bleeding into their will.
Effect: Targets one foe within 20 feet. Roll 1d6: 4-6 pushes 15 feet, deals 1d6 damage on impact (Save vs Touch resists). Costs 4
Endurance Drain: -1 (their limbs ache with phantom recoil).
Level 7: Plasma Spark (Scale 3, Blazing Sphere Variant)
Origin: Born from handling a radium filament too long, its heat fusing with their essence.
Effect: Targets a point within 30 feet. Roll 2d6 damage to all within 5 feet; on 11-12, targets burn (1d6/turn, douse on 4+). Costs 6
Endurance Drain: -2 (their skin blisters faintly).
Level 9: Neural Lash (Scale 4, Mind Whisper Variant)
Origin: Unlocked by a neural amplifier’s pulse, its forbidden song merging with their mind.
Effect: Targets one foe within 15 feet. Roll 2d6: 7+ compels truth/command for 1 turn, 11-12 stuns (CHA 11+ save resists). Costs 8
Endurance Drain: -3 (their vision blurs with static).
Level Progression
Notes: Hit Dice cap at 9, adding +1 HP/level thereafter. Sorcerous powers unlock every odd level from 3 onward, reflecting gradual corruption by Overlord relics.
Role in the Campaign
Delvers are explorers and scavengers, ideal for a Vesh-Murician party seeking lost tech or thwarting Mindok’s schemes. Their abilities shine in ruins—spotting traps, navigating labyrinths, and identifying loot—while their secret powers offer clutch utility or combat edge. Yet, their sorcery risks exposure: a Kesh-Ardun ally might demand answers, or Mindok could sense a rival wielding his own tech.
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