Disclaimer

Credits
Author: Donato Ranzato
Cover Artwork: Scott Johnson
One Roll Engine: Greg Stolze
Necromunda Setting: Games Workshop Ltd.
Playtesters
Jasper van Eeuwijk, Samuel Ranzato, Marc Asselman, Jeffrey Mulder.
Special Thanks
Disclaimer
This document is a unoficial and unlicensed roleplaying game based on Games Workshops
Warhammer 40,000 and Greg Stolzes One Roll Engine. The author is in no way afiliated with
Greg Stolze, Games Workshop or its subsidiaries. The mention of, or reference to any
original material, company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or
copyright concerned. All material copyrighted by other authors and referenced in this
ocument remains copyright of its respective owners. Under no circumstances does this
document seek to invalidate the material within any of the mentioned books, instead it aims
to increase their value to the customer. To sum it up: Buy their books!
Copyright
NecrOREmunda is 2008 Donato Ranzato.
All rights reserved. The exception to this are element of the ORE, REIGN or Warhammer
intellectual properties. This document may reproduced for personal use only and it may
neither be distributed for proit nor in large quantities. One Roll Engine and REIGN is 2007
Greg Stolze.
All rights reserved. Warhammer is a registered Trademark of Games Workshop Ltd. All
rights reserved.
This is not a complete game!
It only ofers guidelines and rule modifications on how to run Necromunda using the One Roll
Engine of REIGN. It also assumes a certain degree of familiarity with both the ORE rules
system
and the Warhammer 40,000 setting. To effectively use this document you should have
access to at least three books: the Dark Heresy roleplaying game, The Necromunda Living
Rulebook and the REIGN corebook.

Introduction
The hives of Necromunda rise from the ash wastes like sheer mountain peaks.
Spire upon spire, tower upon tower, the hives climb so far above the poisoned
clouds they pierce the planets atmosphere. To its millions of inhabitants each hive
is a diverse and complete world as isolated from the surrounding ash wastes and
adjoining hives as from deep space and the distant stars.
No-one knows how old the hives of Necromunda are.
Their very size is testament to many thousands of
years of growth, sprawling layer upon layer, climbing
ever higher above the planets polluted surface. The
deepest and oldest layers now lie far underground,
buried by the corrosive ash that piles around the
hives base. These parts of the hive were abandoned
long ago, and now they are dark and dangerous
places inhabited only by mutant things spawned by
chemical pollutants, disease and madness. Where
the hive breaks the surface its broad base spans ten
miles or more from edge to edge. From ground level
the man-made mountain rises ever more steeply
upwards. Weathered walls of adamantium climb
through the phosphorescent layer of undercloud, a
pall of acidic dust which clings to the surface of
Necromunda like a shroud. The hive reaches
skywards through ghostly shadow, until it eventually
penetrates the cloud base and emerges into the hard
light of the sun. At cloud top level the hive walls
stand almost five miles above the ash waste.
Above the dust layer the hive narrows into a single
tall spike, a tower studded with a million lights. It
stretches almost vertically above the sickly glowing cloud
and reaches towards the stars. The spire is covered with armourplas blisters of many
shapes and sizes. Domes on its surface shield carefully nurtured vegetation from the thin
and arid air.
Slim towers break from the outer shell, palaces of massive and elegant proportions yet
barely significant in comparison to the hive. Cantilevered balconies hundreds of metres long
jut
out into open space forming the base for new construction sites. Broad circular landing
platforms hang from the spire walls, and higher still gaping dark holes lead to spaceports
inside the hive.
Such are the hives of Necromunda, from their dark roots to their glittering tips. Each hive is
a complete, self-contained world as varied and complex as any planet in the vast Imperium.
A man born in the middle-layer of a hive can live and die without seeing Necromundas sky
or setting foot upon the surface. He can labour in the guild factories or perhaps ply the
trade of his family. In this way the vast majority devote their lives and their endeavours to
creating the massive wealth of the world.

Not all men are content to serve in the timeless fashion: a small minority dream of better
things. Some crave wealth, power, or simply to escape from bludgeoning poverty. Others
seek to escape the restrictions of the guilds or the crippling social order of House and Hive.
Whatever their reasons, there is no shortage of young adventurers willing to chance all for a
taste of wealth, prestige and power.NecrOREmunda is a SF-setting for Reign based upon the
Necromunda tabletop skirmish game. Necromunda is a game of fierce rivalry between
powerful Houses in the Necromundan hives. Houses must fight to gain territories, wealth
and renown.
In NecrOREmunda, the characters arent only gangers fighting for survival in the nightmare
undercity, but they also take on the roles of the leaders of their House. This divide allows
players to focus on the story elements they choose. If they dont care for blow-by-blow
combat, they can simply send their gangs to besiege an enemy settlement. On the other
hand, if they lead the attack in person, they can drastically improve the chances of
success or doom their House through foolish choices. The benefits of ruling are great, but
the consequences of failure are drastic.
The System
The O.R.E. system uses a dice pool of d10s equal to the character's Stat and Skill similar to
that used by Storyteller system, but the method to determine success is different. In the
O.R.E. system, success is determined by die result matches, such as a pair of 8s. The Width
of a roll, the number of matching dice, determines the speed (and damage, if in combat) of
a roll, while the Height of a roll, the face up result on the matched dice, determines how
successful an action was and location of a hit in combat. Shorthand notation for writing
results is Width x Height, so a pair of 8s would be written 2x8 and three 2s would be
written, 3x2.
NecrOREmunda is meant to be used with the ORE-game Reign. But a GM can find plenty of
inspiration in free ORE-variants like Nemesis (Madness Meters and modern weapons), Star
ORE (SF-weapons) and ORE Mecha (giant robots). All these free variant can be downloaded
from the Project Nemesis website.

IMPERIAL HIVE WORLDS

The Imperium of Man stretches across the galaxy from rim to rim, encompassing
over a million habitable worlds and untold billions of people. It is the most
extensive and populous empire that has ever existed in the history of humanity. It
is ruled as it has been for the last ten thousand years by the Divine Champion of
Man and Protector of the Human Race, the Emperor of Mankind.
The Emperor is the greatest of all human psykers, his mental energies are godlike and his
powers incomprehensible to ordinary humans. It is his mind alone which projects the
Astronomican throughout the galaxy, the psychic homing beam which enables spacecraft to
navigate through the fabric of warp space. Without the Emperor the Imperium would
collapse and human unity would be destroyed, leaving the remaining pockets of civilization
isolated and vulnerable to the infinite enemies of mankind; creatures that seek to destroy or
enslave the human race.
The Emperor has long since ceased to
live in any normal sense. Ten thousand
years ago, following his titanic battle
against the rebel Warmaster Horus,
Primarch and Arch-Champion of Chaos,
his mutilated and barely alive body
was installed inside a sophisticated
life-support machine known as the
Golden Throne.
The Emperor can no longer speak and
it is doubtful if he comprehends events
which take place in the material
universe, as his powerful mind stalks
through that nefarious region of pure
energy known as the Realm of Chaos,
hunting the enemies of mankind. The
actual administration of the Imperium
is therefore undertaken by a vast
bureaucracy known as the Adeptus
Terra - or Priesthood of Earth.

WORLDS OF THE IMPERIUM

Even the Adeptus Administratum, the administrative branch of the Adeptus Terra, does not
know for certain the exact number of worlds within the Imperium. There are approximately
a million, but the treacheries of space-travel, the process of time distortion, and the effects
of warp storms which can isolate worlds for centuries, make an accurate count impossible.
In addition, the galaxy is a dangerous and warlike place, whore worlds are constantly under
threat from alien invaders, internal rebellion, and treachery by governors. Also, new worlds
are constantly being added to the Imperium: virgin worlds ripe for colonisation or old
human worlds which have been rediscovered after long periods of isolation.
The worlds of the Imperium take many different forms. Some are sparsely populated
agricultural worlds whose sole purpose is to provide food for less productive and more

highly populated planets. Other worlds are dedicated to specific functions, such as mineralrich mining planets, barren research stations, military observation planets, and so forth.
Most worlds of the Imperium have a reasonably mixed economy and are in most respects
self- sufficient. The Adeptus Terra has very little to do with such worlds so long as their
governors continue to pay their tithes and impose the Imperial laws which control and
contain the emergence of mutant psykers.

HIVE WORLDS
Hive worlds are another extremely important type of world. Hive Worlds are planets which,
in all but a few cases, were settled thousands of years ago, often before the time of the
Imperium, during the Dark Age of Technology when mankind first spread throughout the
galaxy.
A Hive World has a population which far outweighs its own ability to feed or support it, often
exceeding a thousand billion people on a planet the size of Earth. Such vast numbers of
people exert such pressure upon the environment that few hive worlds can sustain life
naturally. Many have no free ground surface left because they are entirety built over, with
new buildings constructed on top of old ones, to the extent that the planet is no more than
a huge urban conglomeration.
Hive Worlds are tough places: little value is attached to human life and air, light and food
are often precious and rare commodities. Because the populations or Hive Worlds are so
large they are almost impossible to control. As a consequence it is generally the case that
hive societies are extremely brutal and dangerous. Violence is often institutionalized and
accepted, and upholding the law is commonly a matter of exerting personal power and
influence. In such a situation a man depends upon his friends and family, those whose
livelihoods depend on him and those to whom he can promise support.
Every hive world has its unique environment, history, and circumstances. Confrontation is
set upon the hive world of Necromunda. This volume contains copious details about the
planet of Necromunda, its hives, and its teeming population. Necromunda is merely one of
the hundreds of such worlds scattered throughout the galaxy.

NECROMUNDA
Necromunda was founded 15,000 years ago as a mining and manufacturing colony. The
ensuing millennia have not changed its basic purpose very much; Necromunda is still a
world of mines, factories, refineries and processing plants. The planet is a vast powerhouse
of industry, making thousands and thousands of different items for use throughout nearby
planetary systems.
Nothing which can contribute to the planets output has been left untouched. From the tops
of the highest mountains to the depths of the oceans, the wealth of Necromunda has been
ripped out. Mountains have been reduced to rubble for the ore they contain; oceans have
been turned into little more than chemical sludge ponds. The once fertile plains have
disappeared under huge urban developments of great housing and factory blocks, forming
new ranges of manmade mountains every bit as tall as the long since flattened natural land
features. These huge towering urban complexes are known as city hives, or simply as hives,
and their individual peaks or towers are called city spires or spires. A close group of hives is
known as a hive cluster.

Between the hives deserts of industrial ash cover the surface of the planet with a mobile,
corrosive skin. Over this desert lies a cloud layer of airborne pollution, so that the great
spires of the city hives rise from a drifting mist of tainted vapor like islands out of the sea.
Despite being reduced to such a hellish state, Necromunda is still a valuable world to the
Imperium. Although little of Necromundas original resources remain, the waste-heaps of
previous generations have become a new source of riches. Necromunda lives on the
accumulated wastes of its past: its people have learned to scavenge, reclaim and recycle
everything in order to squeeze a living from their exhausted world.
Over the millennia, the population of Necromunda has increased well beyond the planets
capacity to support it. As a consequence it is wholly reliant on synthetic and imported food.
Each hive has its recycling plants which convert used organic matter into synthetic food.
Real food is imported from off-planet, but is an expensive luxury which only the most
wealthy and prestigious Necromundans can afford.
As generation after generation adds to the building and rebuilding of the hives, new layers
of habitation are created and the hives continue to grow upwards. These towering hives
dominate the wasteland around them like clusters of impossibly gigantic termite hills.
Beneath the hives and extending around them under the wasteland itself lies a honeycomb
of ancient disused factories and a labyrinth formed from the sewers and service tunnels of
an earlier age.
Necromundas population has never been counted and the chances are that it never will be
because the number of people involved is simply too large. There are probably more people
on Necromunda than have ever lived in the entire history of Terra up until the end of the
twentieth century. An attempted census of Trazior Hive four thousand years ago revealed
an estimated population of a billion in the upper habitation levels alone - no further attempt
has been made to count Necromundas population in Trazior or any other of the several
thousand hives on the planet.
The society of Necromunda is reasonably typical of larger Hive Worlds. No attempt is made
to enforce central administration upon the entire population; indeed such a thing would
prove impossible on a world where most people remain unrecorded by any authority.
Instead, a kind of feudal system has evolved by which individual people owe loyalty to
others, who in their turn owe their loyalty to other increasingly more powerful members of
the hierarchy. Among the more stable elements of the population these loyalties are owed
on a family basis, and closely related families all support each other under the hegemony of
the most powerful member of their family group.
This form of urban feudalism tends to be self regulating. Weaker clans naturally seek the
protection of more powerful neighbors whose powerbase then expands until it reaches the
limit whereby its numbers and resources are simply too few to allow it to expand further.
Where rival clans meet it is inevitable that their power will be tested in combat; the ability
of a clan to exert its power being the only true measure of its influence. The endless feuds
between the warrior gangs of these clans are the setting for the game of Confrontation.

LORD HELMAWR
The governor and ruler of all Necromunda is Imperial Commander Lord Helmawr. His
ancestors are known to have reigned for the past seven thousand years at least, records of
government before that time having long since disappeared. Even the archives of the
Adeptus Administorum, the bureaucracy of the Imperium, are remarkably silent on the

history of Necromunda during the early days of the Imperium.

Lord Helmawr occupies the very top of the Necromundan feudal hierarchy. The society he
rules over is divided into many factions which continually compete and co-operate with each
other, giving rise to endless changes in the feudal hierarchy. Lord Helmawr is completely
unconcerned with the activities of lesser powerbrokers. He deals directly with the most
powerful factions, offering them support in return for their loyalty. If a major player in the
power game proves weak or treacherous it is a simple matter for Helmawr to withdraw his
support. The very rumor that he might be about to do this is often enough to encourage a
feudal inferiors enemies to turn against him and destroy him.
The Adeptus Terra leaves Lord Helmawr to govern his domain as he pleases, as it leaves all
Imperial Commanders free to administrate their worlds. The Imperial Commander forms a
link in the feudal chain which extends throughout the galaxy to the heart of the Adeptus
Terra. So long as Helmawr fulfils his feudal obligations to the Imperium his position remains
secure.
Helmawrs main obligation to the Imperium is to provide a tithe which takes the form of a
percentage of all the goods Necromunda produces. As the entire production capacity of the
world is given over to providing manufactured goods for the Imperium the tithe is taken as
a straight discount on the revenue earned. So long as Necromunda continues to meet these
responsibilities, and so long as its production capacity is sufficiently high, the Imperium
remains quite satisfied. Of course, should the Necromundan economy begin to show signs of
flagging then Lord Helmawrs position would be very different indeed.
Hive worlds like Necromunda provide the Imperium with another useful resource namely
its people. Necromunda produces generations of tough youths with a strong sense of selfreliance. They are highly valued as recruits for the Imperial Guard and even for some of the
Space Marine Chapters. Providing recruits in vast numbers is another of Lord Helmawrs
feudal obligations. Recruitment brings officials from the Imperium to Necromunda to inspect
and in some cases conduct recruiting drives amongst the fighting gangs. Helmawr himself is
obliged to provide troops from his personal guard, usually a whole regiment at a time.
Because the planet supplies so many troops for the Imperial Guard the name of
Necromunda is known throughout the galaxy, even by people who know nothing about the
planet itself. Over the centuries Necromundan Regiments have fought with distinction in the
Imperial Guard and have earned a fearsome reputation on many battlefronts.
Another important obligation is that Lord Helmawr successfully controls the numbers of
dangerous psychic mutants. These psykers, or witches, are a mutation which is becoming
increasingly common on all worlds in the Imperium. On most worlds they can be dealt with
fairly easily, but on a hive world like Necromunda with its vast population the matter is
much more difficult.
Psykers are very dangerous indeed probably more so than even they realize. Although
some are able to control their powers and use them for the benefit of society, the majority
are unable to control their powers properly with disastrous results. Some become host to
daemonic powers from warpspace, while others attract psychically sensitive aliens or
psychic diseases which can then hop into the minds of ordinary people. If psykers were to
go unchecked throughout the Imperium human society would soon collapse. Indeed, this is
one of the reasons why the Emperor clings so tenaciously to life, as only he understands the
true dangers of possession and psychic destruction.

LANDSCAPE
Necromunda is very similar to many other hive worlds of the Imperium. It is a planet devoid
of any remnant of its original natural beauty; its surface reduced to a wasteland of
windblown ash and accumulated industrial waste. Throughout this wasteland lie the hive
cities which give such planets their distinctive character and their collective name of hive
worlds.
The hives are grouped into clusters comprising up to a dozen or so individual hives all linked
by a network of overground travel tubes and subterranean passages. These clusters are
scattered over the cloud-strewn surface of the planet. From the top of any hive it is possible
to see the tips of distant hive clusters projecting from the seas of poison mists like far-flung
islands.
Hive clusters are connected together by roads across the wastes and transportation tubes
supported on pylons and suspended from cables. With its forest of towering hives
interconnected in a network of tubes, the landscape resembles a petrified forest entangled
in the web of some enormous spider. Indeed, the spider and the spiders web are very
powerful symbols to the inhabitants of Necromunda.
The hives are the result of thousands of years of constant demolition and rebuilding. The
original cities of Necromunda lie beneath the hives, many hundreds of yards below the
current surface of the planets ash wastes. Dark, forbidding ruins, often crushed by the
weight of the hives above them, these old cities preserve the layered history of
Necromunda. It is a popular tale that the lowest layers of some hives are built from the
original transport barges which brought humanity to Necromunda all those millennia ago.
Each hive takes the form of many huge spires which rise from the base of the city. From a
distance, a hive resembles a mass of stalagmites rising from the cloud strewn wastes. Each
hive covers an approximately circular area some fifty to a hundred miles in diameter. The
tops of the spires can rise to a dozen or more miles above the ground surface, piercing the
festering clouds that surround the lower levels of the hive. The spires usually merge into
each other at their bases, and smaller spires will sometimes grow out and upwards from
just above the base, branching like a cactus and forming multiple spires.
The spires are only the top part of the hive, comprising the upper hab zones with factory
layers on or above the current ground surface. The older and partially ruined factory and
hab layers still exist, although they are buried beneath the ash wastes. Though they are
hidden, Factories and habs are rarely abandoned until they are utterly derelict or polluted
beyond use even by Necromundan standards.
The hive-cities of Necromunda retain the ancient names of the cities and settlements from
which they grew. Each spire within a hive is also known by a local name. There are
approximately a thousand hive clusters on Necromunda. A few of the most important and
some typical examples of the various kinds are described below.

SOME NECROMUNDIAN HIVES

Hive Primus
The largest and oldest surviving hive on Necromunda is the dynastic home of Lord Helmawr,
Imperial Commander of Necromunda, known across the planet as Hive Primus. The cluster
it belongs to is known as the Palatine Cluster. The central and tallest spire of the hive forms

the palace of the Imperial Commander Lord Helmawr.

Hive Primus boasts some of the most grandiose and magnificent architecture on
Necromunda, and also has the only shipyard and landing field large enough to take orbital
carriers. It is thus the planets only spaceport, a physical expression of Helmawrs monopoly
in off-planet trade. The fortress monastery of the Adeptus Astartes contingent and the
headquarters of the Adeptus Arbites on Necromunda are also located in the Palatine Hive.
On the edge of the hive is a special spin, - set aside for the aliens and abhumans who come
to Necromunda from time to time in order to trade. Both Squats and Eldar are among these
visitors and they are housed on separate levels of this spire. Hive Primus is thus by far the
most cosmopolitan of all the hives of Necromunda.
Trazior Hive
Trazior means Three Sisters in the local Necromundan dialect. It is so called because of its
three huge spires which can be seen from a long way off by any traveler coming across the
wastes from the south. Trazior is located on the edge of the Great Equatorial Waste and is
the southernmost frontier hive of the great Palatine Cluster.
Many important merchant clans are based in this hive and it is the main trading depot for
convoys going to or arriving from the southern hive clusters. The nomads who live out in
the wastes and raid the convoys are a constant source of annoyance to its inhabitants. The
clans and gangs of Trazior are described in detail later.
Trazior was also the scene of one of the most prolonged and vicious gang wars in the recent
history of Necromunda.
Acropolis Hive
This is another old and elaborate hive in the Palatine Cluster. It is located at a very
important intersection of several great road tunnels and has always been a major centre of
trade on Necromunda. The Acropolis hive is home territory for some of the most powerful
merchant clans, whose widespread trading network extends across many of the hives of
Necromunda. The Acropolis Hive attracts a number of large and sprawling shanties clustered
around its base.
The Temenos
This is another hive in the Palatine Cluster. One spire forms the headquarters of the
Ecclesiarchy on Necromunda, while another spire forms The Temple of the Emperor Deified.
Colleges, libraries and chapels occupy parts of the other spires. A priory of the Adepta
Sororita is located in one of the outer spires. This spire is often called the Sisters Tower as a
consequence.
The population of Temenos hive are among the most pious and devout followers of the
Imperial Cult. Many of the resident clans manufacture ritual items for the priesthood while
others work in the scriptorium, translating the wisdom of the priesthood into the many
dialects of Necromunda.
The Temple spire is an architectural wonder: its interior is a warren of naves, chapels and
crypts, vaulted ceilings and pillared halls. The diffused light is stained by refraction through
crystal. Incense and the sound of chanting drift across the chambers. Here and there
statues and holograms of the Emperor reside in secluded shrines. From here Confessors and
missionaries are sent off to frontier worlds in the nearby systems.
Quinspirus Cluster

The Quinspirus Cluster is situated on the edge of a virtually solidified sludge sea called the
Worldsump Ocean. At one time, when the sea was still navigable, the area included vast
dockyards. These now remain buried deep within the undercity of the centrally located
Quinspirus Hive. This hive has five great spires - hence the name which means five towers
in the local dialect and which gives its name to the whole cluster. The cavernous
warehouses of the ancient waterfronts have been the scene of many savage gang wars.
The Skull
This derelict hive is the largest of a cluster of three remote ruined hives. It is pierced by
great holes and from a distance looks like a great skull lying in the wastes. It is a famous
landmark and perhaps even worshipped by the local nomads.
These three gigantic ruins are all that remains of the hives that were captured and occupied
for a time by Ork raiders. All contact with the cluster was lost for several years before the
rest of Necromunda realized what had happened. In the end a campaign was mounted to
clear them. This was the original reason for dispatching a Space Marine contingent to
Necromunda, which has since become a permanent establishment.
The hives were besieged and destroyed during the campaign. Now the tops have caved in
and they lie abandoned and choked with dust. No one knows what fearful things have made
their home amid the ruins, and even the nomads and scavvies fear to go near them.

THE ASH WASTES

The hives of Necromunda are separated by the forbidding ash wastes: areas of land covered
in an abrasive and highly corrosive ash, the end product of fifteen thousand years of
industry. This desert covers every inch of Necromundas land surface that is not protected
within a hive. In densely populated parts of Necromunda, hives may be separated by only
fifty or a hundred miles of waste. On other parts of the planet the wastes may stretch for a
thousand miles between hives.
In some places the ash is miles deep, forming shifting ranges of dust dunes which can bury
roads and transport tubes, and erode the base of a hive when swept along in one of the
frequent dust storms. The funnel-shape of the hive spires is designed to strengthen the hive
against the worst ravages of the dust, but even so they are often buried to half their height
or more by ash. This is stabilized and held in place by the fresh wastes which pour from the
drains of the hive factories.
The ash wastes are mostly composed of metal oxides, powered plastics and inorganic
chemicals which take millennia to reduce. As with many hive worlds, the wastes are an
inhospitable environment. The ash corrodes equipment and poisons organic life, although a
surprising variety of creatures do survive. No unpolluted air, food or water can be found in
these dead lands, although there are fungi, algae and bacteria which live on the waste itself.
These are believed to be responsible for the limited free oxygen content of Necromundas
atmosphere.
The ash wastes are a striking and colorful if somewhat lurid environment. The nomads of
the waste and even most hive-dwellers who see them would call them beautiful. The ash
occurs in many different, often vivid hues such as sculpture yellow, citric green, cobalt blue,
pink, mauve, as well as various shades of grey, and it varies in texture from fine dust to
crystalline clinker. The creatures and nomads that live there are equally colorful, the better
to blend into their surroundings.

The most dangerous hazard of the wastes is the ash storms. These terrible storms can blow
their payload of toxic ash from the equator to the poles. A moderate ash storm will strip an
unprotected man to the bone in seconds, and then reduce his bones to a handful of dust. A
serious storm is something that everyone on Necromunda fears. These can be so strong
that they have been known to destroy entire hives. Ruined spires are occasionally revealed
in the wake of one storm only to be covered over again by shifting waste in the next. In
some areas, ash has been blown away to reveal the scarred bedrock of the planet. During
Necromundas calmer season, which coincides with the planets long extinct summer, liquid
pollutants rise to the surface, forming slick- lakes and short- lived blind-rivers. Streams
meander across the land, vanishing into sinkholes in the dust only to rise elsewhere.
Imperial scholars who have studied dust ecologies believe that there may be currents and
tides within the ash surface.
These transient rivers and lakes can dry out, forming a hard pan on the surface of the dust.
These dangerous areas conceal deep seas of fine dust beneath them. The nomads who
travel the wastes avoid such places, because to fall through the crust of a pan is certain
death. Anyone who does so is suffocated and then corroded to nothing by the ash.
In hotter weather, when Necromundas sun breaks through the planets cloud cover,
noxious vapors rise up and form poisonous mists and fogs. Mists are invariably followed by
toxic rain storms, laden with particles of deadly ash dust and other contaminants.
However, despite their perils, the ash wastes of Necromunda conceal treasures. Much
remains hidden beneath the surface, ready to be reclaimed and used: derelict spires from
lost hives; buried convoys; wrecked stratoplanes, aircrafts and spaceships; long-abandoned
mine workings; and even, in places, raw materials from the bedrock of the planet. There are
a few places where, thanks to some mysterious natural sorting of the wind and ash itself,
veins of pure oxides and chemicals have accumulated. Such concentrations, or ash pockets,
are worth mining in themselves. They are a rich raw material which can be reprocessed.

THE SLUDGE SEAS

Necromunda never enjoyed large expanses of open water, but now the planets original seas
and rivers are filled with liquid chemical waste. Choked with ash, thick with chemicals and
poisoned by heavy metals, Necromundas sludge seas are all that remains of the ancient
oceans. The consistency of the sludge varies from a thin, chemical soup to a viscous
polluted mud. Near the equator, the seas surface has solidified into a crust of sludge, baked
hard by the sun. Conventional ships are useless in such conditions and only flyers or hover
vehicles cross the seas. It is even rumored that some mutants even live in these areas,
utterly isolated from the rest of Necromunda.
The sludge seas, however, also support their quota of hives. Some are built on massive
piles, driven deep into the sea floor. Other, relatively small hives have been constructed on
massive floating islands which are anchored in position. On more than one occasion a
floating hive has broken free during an ash storm and sunk or capsized. Survivors of such a
disaster are rare.

HIVE PRIMUS
The most important hive on Necromunda is called Hive Primus or Hive One. Hive
Primus is the largest and oldest hive. Within its walls there are thousands of
structural cells or domes, often many miles across and hundreds of metres high.
Such a space can be built up with constructions as varied as sumptuous palaces
and sprawling industrial complexes. The hive is honeycombed with domes both
small and large, each built upon the other, linked by tunnels and shafts carrying
traffic, power and other vital services through the hive.
The hive is divided into vertically ordered zones. From its top to its subterranean depths
these are: the Spire, Hive City, Underhive and the Hive Bottom.

THE SPIRE
The Spire extends upwards from cloud top level,
rising above the mass of the hive and piercing the
planets atmosphere. This is the domain of seven
great clans called the Noble Houses. The Noble
Houses are huge consortiums of galactic merchants
and financiers whose leaders control the immense
wealth of the planet. The most powerful of the Noble
Houses is House Helmawr, also known as the
Imperial or Ruling House. The leader of this House is
Lord Gerontius Helmawr, Adeptus of the Imperium
of Man, and Guardian of Necromunda in the Holy
Name of the Undying Emperor. He rules not just
Hive Primus but all of Necromunda.
The Spire contains broad airy spaces and splendours
unimaginable to those who dwell in the darkness
below. Its people enjoy the fruits of a civilisation
that spans the galaxy. From spaceports sunk deep
into the spire walls ships carry the products of
Necromunda all over the Imperium. In return, the
riches of the galaxy flow into the hive exotic foods,
sensuous
slaves, exquisite artwork and rare materials from distant stars.

HIVE CITY
Below the lowest level of the Spire is a layer of solid adamantium called the Wall which
divides the towering upper hive from Hive City. Heavy gateways through the Wall enable
carefully controlled passage between the two parts of the hive. Beneath the Wall lies the
vast bulk of the working hive, the five-miledeep Hive City that extends from cloud top level
to the ground.
Hive City is divided between six manufacturing empires known as Houses. Each House
exists in its own part of the hive and governs its own affairs quite separately from the other
Houses. The hivers, as the population is called, live in dark, cramped and polluted
conditions, never seeing the sun from the day they are born to the day they die. The air
they breathe is recycled from above and grows ever more bitter and poisonous as it filters

downwards. Even the water is distilled from the discharge of the upper hive and their food is
factory produced chemical nutrient, algae-based or spun from corpse starch. Conditions are
crowded and insanitary, and, as the
hive deepens, the darker and the less habitable the environment becomes.

Underhive
In the depths of the Hive City it is common for power or water to fail or access tunnels to
collapse, creating unproductive toxic wastezones. The lower the region the worse is its air,
power and access and the more unstable its structure. As the hive deepens normal
habitation becomes impossible, and this region is known as the Underhive. There is no
formal barrier
between Hive City and Underhive because the border is constantly changing. Even as areas
of Hive City are abandoned parts of Underhive are resettled and rebuilt. As a consequence
Underhive is an everchanging frontier where people are constantly seeking new
opportunities or fleeing from sudden catastrophe.
Underhive is a frontier in more ways than one. Not only is it a barrier between Hive City and
the
unimaginable horrors of the Hive Bottom, it is also a region outside the formal law and order
of the hive. The people of Hive City live carefully regulated lives. They are protected by the
strict social codes of House and Hive, dominated by family patriarchs, and obliged to work in
the guild factories. The sprawling Underhive is lawless and anarchic, and its stockaded
settlements form the only havens of relative order. Even in these refuges, murder and
violence are everyday facts of life. Gun law is the common law of Underhive, and selfprotection is the best and only reliable defence.

The Hive Bottom

At the base of the hive buildings become so structurally dangerous that the region takes on
a
different and even more inhospitable character. This is the final and deepest zone called the
Hive Bottom. Hive Bottom is so decayed and crumbling that the original domes and
foundation piles have long since collapsed, forming a layer of almost solid rubble. Within the
rubble are enclosed pockets linked by holes and tunnels worn by liquids leaking from above.
These pollutants and effluents, the discharge fluid of the entire hive, form a vast lake of
radioactive putridity called the Sump. Nothing can live in the Hive Bottom other than the
most monstrous mutants. Its denizens are the spawn of darkness and pollution. Some of
these foul creatures find their way into the Underhive, or even into the lower parts of Hive
City, but their natural domain is the darkness of the Hive Bottom.

ANATOMY OF A HIVE
From a distance, when the clouds lift from around a hive, its spires look like a
cluster of tall, tapering termite mounds. They rise from a broad base of outlying
structures to near-vertical towers. Their gigantic scale is such that it almost
denies human involvement in their construction and they look as though they
might have sprouted up out of the ground by themselves, like some great organic
growth. Few human constructions can rival their awesome size. Although no two
spires are exactly the same, they all share common characteristics and are
constructed in a similar fashion.
A section cut through a spire is not a whole circle. A spire is divided into a series of
segments, like wedges of a cheese, which are joined at the centre. Deep gullies or slits in
the spire, crossed by communications tubes, separate the segments. These gullies are
supposed to admit light and air to the spire, but their size makes this impractical. Every
added communications tube also adds its shadow to the darkness of the interior.
The areas close to the core are far removed from the outside world. Their only illumination
is provided by glow globes and massive cables of optic fiber or flexible glass, which run
down into the core of the hive from the sunlit pinnacles of the spires. These create weak
shafts of light that penetrate the dim catacombs of the hive and light it in the same way as
the nave of a Gothic cathedral.
Fresh air enters the inner recesses of the hive via great ducts from the upper layers. It is
drawn in through huge wind intake fans and filtered through dozens of purification plants to
remove the fumes accumulated as it passes down the height of the spire. In the deepest
parts of the hive and especially in the old factories and undercity layers, the air ducts no
longer function. Here fumes and stale air accumulate and personal respirators must be worn
at all times.
The many air ducts and vents are infested by strange creatures called caryatids. These are
small, blue, winged humanoids which exist in great numbers throughout the hives of
Necromunda. Many hive-dwellers see them as good luck charms because they often attach
themselves to powerful and successful individuals, and in fact seem to be particularly
attracted to the soon-to-become-powerful. Conversely, the departure of a pet caryatid is
seen as an omen of doom - its former companion is then regarded as a man waiting for
death.

THE SHELL
The outer shell of a hive is its skin and defense. Though the cliff- like shell of a spire
appears to be quite solid, its surface is pierced with deep vertical and angled shafts. These
shafts are small compared to the bulk of the spire, but are important because they admit
additional light and air into the core of the hive. They are all protected by a series of
massive covers which can be moved into place when required.
The shell is where the majority of the inter-spire travel tunnels and tubes begin and end.
Tunnel stations and gateway fortresses, convoy parks and garrison blocks are all located in
it, where they can contribute to the regulation and defense of traffic between and within the
hives.
The shell is also the first line of a hives active defenses against planetary invasion. Giant

defense lasers, each capable of hitting an orbiting target, are mounted at many points.
These are used to defend the hive against human or alien spacecraft. However, against the
fierce ash storms that sometimes ravage Necromunda, the shells surface forms its only
defense.
Although some people do live within the hive shells, the storms are an excellent reason to
find accommodation deeper within the spire. Being able to experience direct sunlight or feel
a fresh draft of air from the duct is a status symbol almost as important as having a good
diet, but a single ash storm can make such status symbols meaningless.
A heavy storm is quite capable of stripping off the shells outer layers, including a spires
laser defenses, travel facilities and shell-dwellers. Shells must be constantly refurbished by
work-gangs, otherwise the next ash storm could easily penetrate the tunnels, shafts and
catacombs of the main spire and rip it apart.

HEAT SINKS
At the heart of every spire there is a single vertical shaft known as the heat sink. From the
topmost levels of the spire the heat sink reaches far below the lowest levels of the hive,
down through the geological crust of the planet itself. A heat sink can be several miles
across. It is a vast, hollow, sealed tube made from dense plasteel. Along the length of its
thick plasteel walls there are buildings, chambers, shafts and service tunnels.
The sink takes heal from the planets core and turns it into power for the spire. At intervals
throughout the length of the heat sink there are generator stations which convert the raw
heat into usable energy. The power is then transmitted to the factories and hab layers
around the core. There are no power stations in the lower levels. The heat sink passes
through these levels and provides only a constant warmth. This, however, is infinitely
preferable to the damp chill of the remainder of the lower hive.
As is the case with all things Necromundan, the power generation systems are controlled by
the clans into whose territory they fall. These clans receive a considerable income from all
who use their power, so possession of the heat sinks is one of the chief marks of a powerful
clan of the inner core. Other clans might control territory between the power stations and
the users, and they often extract their own tolls from both factories and power producers to
protect the transmission lines. In this way the feudal clans of Necromunda operate as
producers, suppliers and consumers in a thriving economy. Only in the upper hab layers of
the spires is there a regulated service. There, power is drawn from stations controlled by
the government - in effect by the troops belonging to Helmawrs own clan.
Access to the heat sink is usually very difficult. Many levels have no access at all, and on
others access ports are sealed and guarded. On some of the older levels, however, many
seals are ruined or insecure and access is possible although dangerous.

HAB LAYERS
The upper layers of each spire are called habitation areas or hab layers. Here the bulk of the
hives human inhabitants live in conditions which range from relative luxury to dismal
squalor.
Where a family lives in a spire reflects its social standing and importance. The topmost
layers of the spire are populated by the elite households of the hive. This hive nobility live in

relative comfort enjoying the luxury of natural light, fresh air and real food imported from
nearby agricultural worlds. Below lie the twilight levels, inhabited by the rest of the
population. Conditions on the twilight hab layers are considerably less pleasant than in the
habs above. Natural daylight is dim, fresh air is unknown, and most of the food has been
eaten and recycled many times before.
Below the twilight layers is the darkness of the undercity. Here, the only light comes from
artificial glowglobes. Everything, even the air, on these levels has been used before and
reprocessed several times. On a typical hive world air and water pass through, on average,
287.3 other people before reaching the lips of those who inhabit the undercity. The proteins
and minerals in the universal synthdiet are reclaimed from human bodies that no longer
have need of it. On Necromunda, everything that can be recycled is recycled, including the
people themselves.

THE FACTORY LEVELS

The industrial complexes built into the spires produce all kinds of different items which are
traded to other planets in return for the food which Necromunda so desperately needs to
feed its teeming millions.
In the hives, the factory levels extend from below the lower habs down to the surface of the
ash wastes and beyond. Over the millennia, the waste exuded from the factories has
solidified around the base of the hives, affecting the ever-rising layer of ash waste which
covers the surface of the planet. As the level of the ash wastes rises, so the lower factories
find themselves buried below the ground. So long as it remains possible to pump effluent up
to the surface, these factories can still continue to function.
The new factory levels are a network of waste pipes, gutter-shafts and gas-drains which
bleed poisons and noxious wastes away from working areas. These drains stick out of the
lower flanks of the hives, flaring off dangerous gas, belching out fumes into the filth-ridden
air, or pouring poisonous liquids and solid waste onto the polluted ash below.
Industrial production is controlled by the many clans. Each producer fits into a pattern of
feudal obligation - supplying other clans and taking raw materials, components and power
from others. Large, powerful clans act as clearing houses for the goods and services
provided by their feudal inferiors. This industrial feudalism of Necromunda regulates
demand and supply in a thoroughly efficient manner.
Clans will often rise in power and importance, as lesser clans in related industries come
together in uneasy alliances. Sometimes conflict of interests, territorial rights and clan
rivalry lead to inter-clan feuds. This is one of the main causes of gang warfare on
Necromunda.
Workers usually live in or very near the factories where they work, and are as much a
resource as the machines they tend. In some cases, workers, especially Techs, are
surgically adapted to perform specialist functions. Such physical and mental enhancements
are expensive to finance, which makes such workers very valuable.

OLD FACTORIES
As the surface of the wastes rises it becomes increasingly difficult to service the factories on
the buried levels. Huge vacuum pumps lift the countless tons of filth up above surface level

for venting outside the hive, but even these have their limits. There is a point in each spire
below which disposing of the factories rubbish is impractical. When the cost of disposing of
a factorys waste is no longer outweighed by the value of its output, it is closed down and
abandoned.
As the lower levels fall below the level of the ash waste and are abandoned to low- life
scum, lower hab layers are converted into new factories, and the upper hab levels are
extended upwards. In this way the spires of the hive world are being continually renewed.
The old factory layers are filled with abandoned, machinery and hab levels and often reach
as far below ground as the spires stretch up above it. The lowest parts of the old factory
levels are little more than rubble, having collapsed under the weight of the hive, or been
deliberately filled in to make foundations for later building work. The abandoned factories
and hab levels arc infested by scavvies, gangs who roam the dead layers of the hive
scavenging for anything they can use or trade.

THE UNDERCITY
Below the hives foundations lies a honeycomb of ancient tunnels, ruins, and buildings from
Necromundas long-dead past. Those ruins lie at the very bottom of each spire, far below
any factories and the ash wastes: they are the undercities, the oldest and deepest parts of
Necromundas hives.
Undercity zones predate the hives by many centuries, even millennia. They are remnants of
Necromundas true cities, built before the planets natural ecology was destroyed, when
there were no encroaching ash wastes. It is quite possible that the remains of the colony
barges that first brought mankind to the planet still lie beneath some hives.
The undercities are infested with fugitives, outcasts and mutants who are regarded by the
upper hive-dwellers as little better than the animal vermin which are also found there. Life
in the undercity is even more violent and difficult than life in the spires above. Many of the
most ruthless hive gangs have origins in the undercity. At the bottom of the hive, upward
mobility is more than an abstract concept. The strong, the lucky and ruthless can rise to the
top, in terms of actual location in the hive as well as in status. It is not unknown for
survivors of the undercity to reach high status as officers in the Imperial Army, schooled
and tempered by the terrible necessities of survival.

THE FORBIDDEN CITIES

The military tunnels which link the hives of Necromunda run deep beneath the ash wastes,
cut into the very bedrock of the planet. This travel network was constructed so military
forces could be moved quickly around the planet, enabling them to concentrated wherever
they are needed.
Access to the hive is via great rampshafts guarded by gatehouses, but unauthorized
persons are able to gain entry through the heat sinks and air-vents. Under the hives, and
linked to this underground tunnel network, are cavernous storage depots and bunkers, used
for stockpiles of synthetic food and raw materials in anticipation of war or some other
disaster.
The tunnel system and its associated bunkers are very ancient, dating to a time before the
hives had grown to the massive size that they are now, As the system is continually being

renovated or enlarged, many tunnels and bunkers have been bypassed or disused and
sealed up. Over the millennia, these unused tunnels and bunkers have been forgotten and
lost.
Since the discovery that these places are the only source of the valuable drug spook, they
have been secretly re-colonized and are now known as the Forbidden Cities. If theyve
heard of them at all, most Necromundans dont believe theyre real, thinking their existence
to be yet another urban fable.
It is in these ancient bunkers that the decayed synthdiet deposits are found which are used
to make the psychic drug spook. It is likely that officials of the Lord of Necromunda
discovered the distinctive green deposits while they were supervising work on the tunnel
network. Since then, the nobility and the ruling dynasty of Necromunda have always had a
hand in the production and trade in spook. Only the nobles, with their ability to call on the
services of subordinate clans, techs and paramilitary forces have the diverse resources
needed to process the decayed synthdiet into spook.
The cavernous vaults of the Forbidden Cities are extended and embellished with the wealth
brought in by spook. Pillared halls are cut from the rock, polished stones and mosaics adorn
the floors, ceilings and walls. They become palaces of archaic decadent splendor.
The cities workforce is recruited from the scum of the undercity, supervised and guarded by
savage undercity gangs. If they cannot find enough willing workers they will incite undercity
gangs to make slave raids into the lower hab layers or offer to buy captives from nomad
slavers. Once introduced to the decadent life within the Forbidden City, most slaves are
reluctant to ever be free again.
Spook exploitation brings in incredible wealth. This wealth helps to maintain the privileged
lifestyle of those noble families secretly involved in its manufacture and trade. These are the
so called Lords of the Forbidden Cities. Some are of noble origin, others are adventurers of
obscure origin who have connections with the nobility. Frequently they are members of
noble households who have gone into exile because they are suspected psykers or wish to
escape from political enemies. They simply disappear from the upper spires, setting up
court in the hidden bunkers where the spook is processed.

SPOOK
While there are many decaying foodstuffs down in the bunkers, only a certain type
degenerates into the spook lode: the vestigial remains of the oldest kind of synthdiet made
on Necromunda. The decayed synthdiet deposits are now nothing more than a lurid green
powder, having been acted on by mutant fungi for thousands of years. It contained a high
proportion of recycled human protein, and it is this human essence which is likely to account
for its dramatic effects on the human psyche.
The drug spook is taken in liquid form the ultimate magic potion. When drunk in small
amounts, it awakens the imbibers psychic abilities. When drunk in quantity it opens the
channel between a persons physical body and their soul in the warp. If the individual has a
strong soul, it will be drawn into his material body; if he has a weak soul, all psychic energy
will be instantly sucked out of him and lost in the void. It is for this reason that spook is a
very dangerous substance, and its use viciously repressed by the Imperium.
In hive-world society, people are constantly seeking ways to exploit anything they discover.
The people who stumbled on the unusual green deposits investigated ways of turning them

into wealth, as they would have done with any substance, and in the process discovered
spook. Being ignorant of matters of the human soul and the danger inherent in mankinds
metamorphosis into a psychic race, spook was seen as just another substance to be
recycled and exploited for profit.
There has always been a massive demand for drugs in hive-society, mainly to supplement
the diet and ward off sickness. Spook became popular among the nobility who reveled in its
exotic effects and it has slowly filtered down throughout hive-society.
The noble households which exploited this resource naturally kept the trade secret and
confirmed to grow rich. The household of the Lord of Necromunda himself was involved in
the business and was able to organize off planet trade of spook. This had to be
accomplished using smugglers, since the Imperial fleet conducts all legal trade in space.
No-one knows or can predict where the spook deposits are to be found, but whenever one
comes to light, the officials of Lord Helmawrs officials who are part of the spook ring are
informed, and mining and processing can begin. Trusted noble households with a close
connection to the ruling dynasty will get the concession to exploit the deposit.
Small quantities of spook are also found and traded by scavvies who stumble on eroded
deposits during their delvings. This accounts for a small amount of wild spook that is traded
in the undercity and shanties. Imperial agents trying to track the spook to its source usually
end up following the scavvy spook and thereby miss the main source. Of course, there is
nothing to link the nobility or the Lord of Necromunda to the scavvy spook.
The most significant outlet for spook is the secret cults that lurk in many hives. These
cultists need a regular supply of this psychic-enhancing substance. The Immortals in
particular require vast quantities for their rites and the expansion of this cult is certainly the
single greatest factor in the growth of the spook trade. Most of the spook lords who rule the
Forbidden Cities are probably already members of this cult.
Spook is easily distributed via the various undercity, scavvy or nomad gangs who ask no
questions and only know of the next link in the chain.

THE SHANTIES
Shanty towns are built outside the hives, clustered at the outer edge of the shells of the
spires. They are inhabited by all kinds of hive world scum who cannot cope with life within
the hives. The spires, at least, offer a limited protection against the poisoned rains and
corrosive ash. The best shelter a shanty dweller can hope for is one or two layers of packing
material, or an abandoned vehicle. To make matters worse, much of the factories toxic
effluent pours directly down onto the shanties.
If a shanty remains in existence for any length of time and somehow escapes being swept
away by a storm, the inhabitants will excavate caves and cellars into the solidified sludge
and compacted dust. These dwellings can be reinforced by sludge baked by the sun into
crude bricks. By retreating into those refuges, some shanty dwellers survive the ash storms
that sweep away the more flimsy parts of their homes. When the storm abates, they force
their way through the wind-blown dust to the surface and attempt to rebuild the shanty out
of the wreckage of the old one.
Conditions in the shanties are worse than anything in the hives, yet for most shantydwellers even their crude home is preferable to wandering the ash wastes, where they

would fall victim to the creatures and nomads if the heat, corrosive dust and freak storms
did not get them first.
No-one from the hives bothers shanty-dwellers very much - they have little worth taking.
Furthermore, the sprawling settlements are home to vicious gangs of shanty-dwellers,
scavvies and nomad bands that have come to the shanty to trade.

GANG WARFARE
The number of gangs on Necromunda almost certainly runs into millions, ranging
from small gangs which control no more than a section of corridor to the private
armies of large and powerful clans which dominate whole spires.

The Imperium does not dictate to the Imperial

Commander how the planet should be run as long
as it is loyal to the Emperor, its factories produce
what they should and it pays its tithes they do not
interfere. The retinue of Lord Helmawr is in effect the
largest gang on Necromunda. His status as Lord of
Necromunda is hereditary and his household controls
all off planet trade, including the import of real food
from nearby agricultural worlds.

General Characteristics of Hive

Gangs
The word gang describes many different types of
armed bands on Necromunda. Gang is a generic
term which includes clan warriors, bands of ash
nomads, savage gangs and mutant bands from the
undercity, scavvies from the shanties, armed bands
of techs, bands of fugitive psykers, unruly brat gangs
of the upper hab layers, as well as sanctioned gangs
and professional bounty-hunters, guards and retainers such as the Venators and
Custodians.
Although gangs may be drawn from large groups such as a hive clan, noble household or
nomad tribe, a typical gang will include around a dozen members. This is an ideal strength
for skirmishing and raiding in the corridors and tunnels of the hive. Gangs must be able to
infiltrate the territory of rival gangs undetected to mount successful raids. In order to set
ambushes they will have to hide in the dark recesses and among the pipes and conduits of
the road tunnels. Small groups are simply much more effective in this environment than
large armed mobs which are far too conspicuous and easy to track down.
Each gang is led by the warrior with experience, skill and considerable powers of leadership.
Other warriors are naturally attracted to these strong and inspiring individuals. Each
territory has its own gang drawn up from the toughest youths of the clan. The gang leader
and his henchmen, often several years older than most of the warriors and due to settle
down as respected clan members will select the best of the youths and let them prove
themselves through the gang initiation rite. Most initiations are pretty tough and brutal and
in this way the gang recruits the toughest among the youth to be the clan warriors.
The ambition of most young clan members is to run with a gang, similarly most young

nomads in the ash wastes are expected to fight for the tribe as warriors. The youth of a hive
-clan will tend to group together for protection, and might well become involved in
skirmishes in defense of their home territory.
Other types of gangs recruit suitable new members into their ranks in a similar way.
Scavvies, Brats, Mutants, Techs and Psykers will naturally only consider their own kind or
those sympathetic to them. Undercity gangs will only accept savage masters of the art of
survival who can prove their eligibility by combat.
All gangs impose some sort of initiation rite on their recruits, intended to mark gang
members for life and weed out those who might be a liability. Recruits must often prove
themselves by taking a trophy in their first skirmish with the gang. This usually means
cutting off a finger, ear or taking a scalp from a fallen enemy. Attempting to take a trophy
from a living enemy is even more admired, but reckless in the extreme. The practice of
trophy-taking is generally known among the gangs as 'scragging'.
The habit of taking part of an enemy corpse as a trophy is related to a common
Necromundan ritual. Clan members who fail in their duties and obligations atone by cutting
off one of their own fingers or, more rarely, one of their ears. This severed piece of flesh is
then presented to the clan leader as a token of reborn loyalty and commitment.
This custom is practiced by gangs in hives all across Necromunda. It is also common for
good fighters to hold up their hands in greeting, palms outwards and fingers spread. By
doing this, a fighter shows any potential opponents that he has all his fingers. By extension,
he has never been defeated or made a mistake. He is, therefore, a man to be feared.
Gangs trade among themselves for weapons, ammunition and equipment. Anything they
cannot obtain by trade they will capture from enemies or raid arms depots. If the gang is
hired by Helmawr's officials, a noble household or a powerful clan, they may be rewarded
with sophisticated weaponry. Techs can make advanced weapons and wealthy social groups
can purchase or obtain them by corrupt means. Many scavvies, undercity warriors and
nomads have to make do with crude improvised weaponry until they can capture or loot
something better.

CLAN WARRIORS
The most common type of gang on Necromunda are the gangs of young clan warriors.
In the hives every manufacturing process, industry, service and transaction is the concern
of one clan or another. The pressures of competition for limited resources - even such
basics as good food, air and water - mean that every clan must sometimes resort to armed
force to secure its survival.
Every clan, and groups of related families within each clan, has their own territory or
concession, often carved out and defended by their own gangs of young clan warriors. In
this way, forests have been replaced by a jungle of metal and concrete, and society is
ordered along tribal lines.
For many ordinary Necromundans running with a gang comes as part of the life cycle.
Young members of the clan are expected to play their part in defending the clan territory
and upholding the honor of the clan. Youths in their early teens are initiated into the gang

by various rites of passage. From then until their mid twenties they fight for the clan in the
same way that young warriors would fight for their tribe in, a primitive feral world society.
After several years with the gang, a warrior gains the respect and status of his family and
other clan members and gains the right to found his own family and take part in the clan
business.
The struggle for supremacy between clans is ceaseless and often violent. Clan gangs fight
each other openly, gang leaders are assassinated and kidnapped, or, most commonly, a
clans resources, its techs, workers and factories, are destroyed in endless raids. Lord
Helmawr and the nobles of Necromunda do little to interfere. They simply wait and then do
business with the winners.
Neither Helmawr nor his officials concern themselves with inter clan rivalry, as long they
fulfill their quota of goods and deliver them on time. Lord Helmawr extracts tolls on all
business through off world shipping and handling charges, recruits the best gangs into the
Planetary Defense Force and leaves the hives to manage as best they can. It is an
arrangement that suits everyone of consequence.
The co-operation between the clans and Lord Helmawr is an accepted part of life. It
operates at many levels, with gangs recruited into the Planetary Defense Force, given semiofficial status as Venators and Custodians, or secretly used for Helmawr's hidden dealings.
The gangs are necessary for the governments dirtier tasks, and they are glad to do the
work at the right price. The commonest use for hired gangs is to profit the nobility and
Helmawr, as ruler, takes the lion's share. He charges high rates for his monopoly on off
planet transport, and he enforces his monopoly by troops and sanctioned gangs. Helmawr
maintains his power by a subtle policy of divide and rule over the rival households, clans
and gangs of Necromunda.
Social Croup - Young clan members aged between early teens and mid twenties. Most of
the population of Necromunda belongs to a clan and clan warriors form the most common
type of gang. Each group of closely related families living in a distinct close-knit territory will
have a gang to protect them. A typical clan can include hundreds of such gangs.
Territory - the workshops, factories and associated living areas of the families in the clan
are the territory of the local clan gang. Other clans, gangs and strangers will be challenged
if they violate the gang territory without permission or payment of tribute.
Ritual - Youths are initiated into the gang by various initiation rites. Some must prove
themselves worthy by acts of reckless bravery such as scragging an enemy (cutting off an
ear or finger as a trophy), others must endure ritual scarification without flinching. Most
gang warriors receive ritual scars or tattoos of some kind. After a time running with the
gang, young warriors will have gained enough respect and status to found their own families
and take up the clan business.
Armament - Clan warriors can often be quite well armed through trading with other gangs.
Motives - Gangs of young clan warriors protect the clan territory and other members of the
clan as they go about their work. These gangs also make it their business to uphold clan
honor, which will often lead to long standing feuds between rival clans. Gangs wish a good
reputation may be hired by other clans, noble households or Lord Helmawr's officials for
various tasks. Exceptional clan warriors may be recruited into the Planetary Defense Force,
Imperial Guard or even the Adeptus Astartes.

BRAT GANGS
Although the noble households are outside the Clan structure of Necromunda, they are not
immune to the influence of the pervading tribal culture of the hive world. Like clans, noble
households have their own ancient and bitter rivalries which sometimes explode into
violence. The root causes are often more to do with honor, traditional enmity, and dynastic
disputes than the mainly economic and territorial causes of gang warfare in the lower levels
of the hive.
The idle and decadent youth of the nobility emulate the young clan warriors by forming their
own Brat gangs, which make it their business to look after the honor of their household.
Many young nobles run with the Brats for a time before they succeed to holding office and
can then continue to further the interests of their own household by more subtle means.
The Brats are always in the forefront of any new fashion or cult that sweeps through the
upper levels of the hive. Young nobles are privileged, wealthy, inquisitive, rebellious and
open to wider influences than are available in the lower levels of the hive. Brat gangs sport
fantastic, elaborate costumes and hairstyles, and flout the conventions of hive life as openly
as possible.
In the upper hive layers Brats run together in packs but they do not limit their predations to
their home territories. They frequently drop down the spires into the lower habs, where
their wealth can be used to obtain any drug or weapon. Once in the lower habs, the Brat
gangs terrorize the Techs and workers, safe in the knowledge that they can return to the
upper habs whenever they want to.
Social Group - Brats are recruited from the unruly, discontented and rebellious youth of
the nobility.
Territory - The estates of the noble households in the Upper Hab layers.
Ritual - Brats go in for bizarre tribal rituals imitating those of other hive gangs. Initiation
rites, scars, tattoos, hairstyles and extravagant rather than practical clothing characterize
these gangs.
Armament - Brats can be quite well armed due to wealth and access to imports. Exotic
weaponry is especially favored.
Motives - Brat gangs are mainly concerned with upholding the honor of their households.
They also assume responsibility for 'protecting' their territory from uncouth lower hive
dwellers. Brat gangs like to create a reputation for themselves by raiding other gangs. They
also get up to various rebellious, subversive and anarchic activities including involvement
with cultists and psykers.

TECH GANGS
Tech gangs and associations are more common than supposed. Techs often form collectives
to protect themselves from exploitation by other groups. From passive protection and
defense, such associations often mature into gangs that are as aggressive, in their own
fashion, as any other in the hives. Tech gangs have a pool of skills which means that they
can often trade for materials from the factory levels. They deal in drugs, chemicals and
weapons, trading these goods for interesting technological relics and rare raw materials
scavenged from the undercities. Tech gangs are not noted for crude ferocity but they are
widely respected for their expertise with weapons and equipment, and it is foolish indeed to

cross a Tech gang without reason.

Social group - Techs belong to clans, either forming a distinct group within a large clan or
forming separate tech clans. Techs form gangs to protect themselves and their business
interests.
Territory - Tech gangs protect the workshops, industrial plants and associated living areas
of the tech families that work there.
Ritual - Tech gang warriors undergo initiation rites which might involve technological
implants or advanced forms of tattooing.
Armament - Techs have access to unusual and technically advanced weaponry due to their
skills and great bargaining power.
Motives - Tech gangs are concerned with protection of their territory and tech business
interests from the predations of envious rivals. There are many who will resort to lawless
means to obtain advanced technology. Tech gangs are often hired by Helmawr, noble
households or other clans for tasks which require their expert technical skills and
sophisticated weaponry.

SCAVVIES
The shanties and derelict factories of the undercity are homes to the Scavvies, who scrape a
living from scavenging materials and trading them with clans who can make a profit from
recycling. In the old factories there are rich pickings to be found among the rubbish and
abandoned machinery for those who are desperate enough to hunt there.
The Scavvies trade what they find - machines, scrap, raw materials, even spook caches in
return for food and weapons. The relationship is uneasy at best, because many Scavvies are
diseased.
Scavvies develop sores and scabs on the skin due to delving among dangerous pollutants.
This has earned the Scavvies the alternative name Scabbies, and like mutants they are
often persecuted as subhuman beasts. Wherever they are found, Scavvies are driven from
levels occupied by normal humans.
Many Scavvies make a good living as spook hunters, prospecting for the precious lodes of
raw narcotic spook. For the Scavvy gangs this is a valuable substance, worth many times its
weight in real food and fresh water. A carefully guarded lode of spook can keep a gang in
relative comfort for years, if they manage to avoid becoming addicts in the meantime.
Naturally, much raw spook makes its way to the secret factories of Lord Helmawr. For this
reason, if for no other, Scavvies are a necessary part of Necromundas economy. Without
them to find and mine the raw spook, one of Lord Helmawrs principle sources of income
would vanish.
Other Scavvy gangs specialize in preying on fugitives and patrols from the upper spires, and
those who fall victim to them are lucky if they are slain outright. It is even said that
Scavvies eat their prisoners. Such fresh meat supplements their normal diet which includes
the verminous creatures of the undercity and the shanties.
Social Group - Scavvy gangs include all kinds of fugitives, outcasts, refugees, members of
dispossessed clans and scum shunned even by the undercity gangs. Many shanty-dwellers
are hereditary Scavvies.

Territory - Scavvies carve out gang territories in the Shanties, among the old derelict
factories and heavily polluted parts of the undercity.
Ritual - Scavvy gang ritual is similar to undercity gangs. Human bones are often used as
decoration or primitive amour. Trading with Scavvies is a ritualistic and frequently risky
business.
Armament - Scavvies use crude improvised weapons supplemented by captured and
traded items. Rare scavenged materials can sometimes be exchanged for quite
sophisticated equipment.
Motives - Survival by means of scavenging is the prime motive of most Scavvy gangs.
Good scavenging grounds will be fiercely protected. Scavenging, looting and all forms of
furtive theft are highly respected talents.

NOMADS
Nomad bands wander the ash wastes which lie between the hives. Their skills to survive in
the hostile ash wastes mark them as special among the people of Necromunda. They
manage, much to the horror of hive dwellers, to live in the open, unprotected by the walls
and ceilings of a hive or the amour plate of a convoy carrier. Indeed, few true nomads use
vehicles, preferring to carry only as much as they can load onto their own backs. In this
way, every nomad is a fighter and a bearer, ready to defend his own part of a caravan.
Nomad gangs ambush convoys from the hives and other nomads when they can. They
frequently attack travel tubes and disrupt trade between the hives. The nomad routes cross
the planet and bands migrate from one hive cluster to another, following the good weather
and trying to stay ahead of the fierce seasonal ash storms. A gangs long wanderings can
take it to many hives and their surrounding shanties, and the nomads make a living
carrying trade goods between the hives. The goods they carry are small, usually exotic and
always costly: rare drugs, special ammunition, strange things found in the ash wastes and
secret messages from distant hives. Many gang leaders prefer to use nomad couriers,
valuing secrecy above the speed and ease of using road tunnels.
The nomads are seen as dangerous undesirables by hive dwellers. Helmawrs soldiers and
merchant gangs attack nomads on sight because of the danger they pose to road tunnels
and convoys. Nomads have also been known to raid the hives themselves on occasion,
infiltrating deep beyond the spire shells and retreating into the ash wastes before any
resistance could be organized. Nomads sometimes get into the undercity via derelict tunnels
uncovered in the ash wastes, and any storm that breaches the shell of a hive will give rise
to anxiety in expectation of an imminent nomad raid.
Social Group - Nomads form a distinct social group on Necromunda. It's possible that they
were the descendants of rural settlers who were long ago reduced to nomadic scavenging
existence due to the pollution of their lands. They dislike and despise hive-dwellers, and the
feeling is mutual.
Territory - Territory tends to be wherever the nomad band are at the time, although
certain caravan routes, ruins, expanses of waste and water holes may be regarded as the
territory of a specific band.
Ritual - Nomads have their own ritualistic and tribal society which is distinct from the clans
of the hives. Rites of passage, ritual scarification and tattooing, scragging and trophy-taking
are all known in various forms. Some nomads make extensive use of body-painting as a
means of protecting their skin from the sun and the dust as well as decoration.
Armament - Simple weaponry supplemented by captured and traded items. Sophisticated

weapons are a status symbol.

Motives - Nomad gangs are naturally concerned about protecting their territory or trading
caravans. Tribal and personal honor are extremely important. Nomads indulge in continual
warfare and inter-tribal feuding for amusement and gain. Raids on merchant convoys
crossing the wastes are commonplace, but some nomad bands are audacious enough to
make slave-raids on shanties and even hives, if they can get in through damaged transport
tubes or the ravaged hive shell after an ash storm. Nomads obtain sophisticated goods by
trading and prospecting in the ash wastes for valuable raw materials and relics.

UNDERCITY GANGS
These gangs are made up of the many types of scum that inevitably end up in the undercity
of each hive. Such gangs are small, tightly knit and very territorial. They fall outside the
clan system and are independent, ruthless and resourceful.
Undercity gangs soon learn that to survive they must raid the factory and hab levels above
them. If a gang is successful, it may even carve out a territory in the higher levels. By
taking over a single factory or part of a hab level, the gang could begin its climb out of the
undercity.
The undercities are among the toughest environments on Necromunda and the undercity
warriors are often regarded as the best fighters in the hives. Survival of the fittest is the
rule and the survivors grow stronger and tougher. Many undercity gangs will only accept
competent warriors into their ranks.
A prospective recruit will be expected to prove his worth by scragging an enemy - tearing
off an ear, a finger, part of a scalp or some other part of an opponent. The bloody trophies
gained are worn as a sign of gang membership: a necklace of dried ears or fingers is
sometimes favored by undercity gangs.
When such marks are combined with distinctive costumes, ritual scarring, insignia and
tattoos, gang members present a collective identity to their rivals, friends and enemies.
Social Group - Fugitives and outcasts from hive society, often those who have dishonored
their clan, offended their clan leader or simply foil out with their original clan gang.
Criminals and rebels wanted by Lord Helmawr or the Imperium frequently turn up causing
trouble in the undercity.
Territory - Gang territories are carved out among the dark labyrinthine catacombs of the
undercity and the derelict factories.
Ritual - Undercity gangs are perhaps the most ritualistic of all gangs. Initiation rites,
scarification, tattooing, and body decoration are taken to extremes. These gangs are the
urban equivalent of feral world savages. Leadership disputes are decided with brutal ritual.
Scragging of enemies and trophy-taking is common practice.
Armament - Undercity gangs use crude improvised weaponry supplemented with captured
and traded items.
Motives - Gangs of undercity scum band together to savagely defend their territory from
outsiders and indulge in regular raiding and pillaging of Factory levels and even hab levels.
Indeed, those clans holding territory adjacent to the undercity are literally defending the
'frontier' of the hive against the barbarians of the undercity. This frontier zone is subject to
constant raiding and skirmishing.

MUTANT GANGS
Mutants are feared by everyone on Necromunda, from the highest administrator in
Helmawr's court to the lowliest unskilled worker in the process vats. Most hive dwellers do
not understand that mutation is an inevitable part of life on a planet as irredeemably
polluted as Necromunda. Mutants are branded as evil, corrupted by their own wickedness
and greed, and tainted by witchery of the foulest kind.
As a result mutants are persecuted and driven into the undercities. In the depths they fall
victim to the undercity gangs and the Scavvies. Most mutants do not survive for very long
once they have been discovered. Those that manage to run and hide often band together in
gangs of their own, usually in the most inaccessible and heavily polluted sections of the
undercities.
Once established, mutants interbreed and their offspring, often more mutated than their
parents, replenish the gang. Over the course of generations new mutations arise in the
gangs, some of which may even be survival traits. The bottoms of the hives are unhealthy
places, and any mutation which helps its owner to live is naturally passed on to his
descendants.
Social Group - Mutant gangs include fugitive mutant outcasts from normal society and
their mutated descendants.
Territory - Mutant gangs lurk in the worst parts of the undercity.
Ritual - Ritual is crude and savage. Scarification, scragging and cannibalism have been
reported.
Armament - Crude improvised weaponry supplemented by captured items.
Motives - Survival and spiteful revenge against non- mutants.

PSYKER GANGS
On Necromunda, as elsewhere in the Imperium, psykers are persecuted and feared. Their
witch-talents and unnatural ways make them dangerous: they are open gateways for
darkness and wickedness. Folk tales of psykers confirm the worst: they can cause madness
with a touch and summon daemons. In turn, many psykers, tormented beyond endurance,
lash out at the persecutors, using their powers to destroy. The legends are merely proven
by such actions.
Life is hard for psykers on Necromunda, as it is throughout the Imperium. Some fall prey to
daemonic possession. More fall victim to the witch-hunting Venators and bounty-hunting
gangs. The remainder may manage to escape detection, or flee to the undercities. Everyone
in the undercities has something to hide, so the secretive behavior of psykers attracts little
attention. The 'witches' form their own gangs for mutual protection, always making sure to
recruit only their own kind, or true sympathizers. Most psyker-gangs include a few nonpsykers, relatives or close friends who have chosen to share the psykers exile.
By far the most dangerous psyker gangs on Necromunda are the secret covens of the cult
known as the Immortals. The background of this sinister cult and the tale of its founder are
narrated in detail later on.
Social Group - Fugitive psykers who have fled from persecution and relatives who have

accompanied them. Those who seek arcane power by associating with covens and
worshipping Chaos may also be found in some psyker gangs.
Territory - Psyker-gangs can be hidden anywhere in the hive, even in the upper hab layers,
though most lurk in the undercity.
Ritual - Psyker gangs practice bizarre occult initiation rites. Captives may be taken for
sacrifice in cult rituals and a sinister occult aspect pervades all gang activities.
Armament - Psyker gangs use simple weaponry augmented by more sophisticated
equipment captured, traded or obtained through influential contacts.
Motives - Psyker gangs are motivated by survival and the protection and continued secrecy
of any cult they may practice. Many psykers are obsessed with revenge against their
persecutors, while others secretly try to spread their insidious influence throughout the
hive.

The Rules System

NecrOREmunda is an attempt at creating a toolset that makes it possible to use
the One Roll Engine (or ORE) from Greg Stolze with the Necromunda setting
published by Games Workshop.
Most in-game actions are handled in one of two
ways: Either the GM (the Game Master, or referee;
the person running the game) tells you whether or
not it works and thats that, or you roll a few dice to
see if it works.
For an action thats not particularly challenging or
important, or if you have plenty of time to work on it
until you get it right, you dont need to roll. The GM
will tell you what happens based on the
circumstances and what your character can do.
For an action thats both challenging and important,
roll the dice to see if you succeed. In most cases, the
action is based on a stat rated from 1 die
(abbreviated 1d) to 5 dice (abbreviated 5d) added to
a skill rated from 0 dice to 5d.

Stats and Skills

Each character has six stats: Body, Coordination,
Sense, Knowledge, Command, and Charm. Each stat
has at least 1d and (in humans) no more than 5d.
Each character also has a number of skills, which are
specialized applications of stats. Each skill has an
associated statthe Piloting skill with Coordination, for instance. Add the stat and skill dice
together to get your dice pool, or how many dice to roll.

Resolving Rolls: Height and Width

When you roll, look for matching sets: dice that come up the same. If you have any
matching sets in your roll, the action succeeds. If you dont roll any matching sets, your
attempt fails.
You can gauge how well your action succeeds by looking at the matching set: the higher the
matching number, and the more dice that came up matching, the better.
What number is on the matching dice? Thats the height of your roll. The higher the roll, the
more effective your action. The lowest possible height, 1, means you just barely succeeded.
The
highest possible roll, 10, means you succeeded spectacularly well.
How many matching dice did you roll? Thats the width of your roll. The wider the roll, the
more speed and power you put into the action.
We abbreviate the results as width x heightso if three dice come up 5, thats 3x5. If
two dice come up 7, its 2x7.

What Kind of Failure?

A failed roll is worse than usual if you roll all low dice; instead of just missing the turn, for
instance, you might crash your speeder into a building. The results are up to the GM.
Expert Dice and Master Dice
NecrOREmunda uses one die type (the d10) for all rolls. But there are also two special ways
of rolling dice: Expert dice and Master dice. A character can only have one Expert Die or
one Master Die in his dice pool.
Expert dice and Master dice are significantly more powerful than regular dice. Use regular
dice to resolve regular actions; Expert dice to resolve highly skilled actions and Master dice
to resolve legendary actions. As such, Expert dice and Master Dice are available only in
skills.
Expert dice are abbreviated ed,. An Expert die is special. You can either assign it any
height you want, before you roll all the other dice in the pool; or choose to roll it regularly
as a normal die. Expert dice represent a level of ability not easily achieved by the normal
man.
Like every other die, Expert dice count towards the ten-die maximum. Expert dice also have
another advantagethey automatically buy off dice penalties. Each Expert die buys off a
-1d penalty. And they have another bonus, even after buying off the penalty, the Expert die
is not lost, but instead is rolled as a regular die. This is mandatory. If you face a dice
penalty and you have Expert dice, you must use an Expert die to buy off a penalty.
The downside of Expert dice is that while theyre effective at directing dice pool rolls to a
certain outcome, theyre blind. You wont know what roll youre getting when you pick the
numberyou could roll a match, or not.
A Master die is like a wild card in poker: You assign it any number you want, after youve
rolled all the other dice in your pool during the resolution phase in combat. This makes
Master dice even better than Expert diceany dice pool roll with a single Master die
succeeds! You can even choose not to succeed or to succeed up to a certain level, if you
wanta luxury that other dice dont have. Like every other die, Master dice count towards
the ten-die maximum. Theyre abbreviated td,.
Difficulty
If an action is particularly challenging, it may not be enough just to make a successful roll.
You may need to roll higher than a certain number to succeed. This is the Difficulty of the
action. If your rolls height doesnt equal or beat the Difficulty, it fails.

Penalty Dice and Bonus Dice

Sometimes when circumstances make an action particularly difficult and uncontrolled, or
when you attempt a particularly difficult action, you dont have to beat a Difficulty
numberyou actually lose a die from your pool. This is a serious penalty for most
characters, especially those with small dice pools.
If you have hard dice or wiggle dice, you lose them in this order:
Drop hard dice first (theyre inflexible, remember), then normal dice, then wiggle dice.
By the same token, if an action is easier than usual but still requires a roll, you might add
1d or even 2d to the dice pool

Dynamic Contests
Sometimes your action is directly opposed by another characters action. Say youre running
a raceonly one can come in first. We call that a dynamic contest.
In a dynamic contest, the wider roll goes first and takes effect as normal. The roll that goes
afterwardwas less widemust beat the wider rolls height as a Difficulty number. If it
doesnt matter who goes first, or if width is a tie, just look at the height of the rolls; the
higher roll wins.

Multiple Actions and Multiple Sets

Want to do two challenging things at the same time? Easy. If you roll an extra matching set,
you can use it on an extra action with no penaltybut only if your extra action has a dice
pool equal
to or larger than that of your primary action, and only if the two actions are mutually
compatible. When in doubt, ask the GM.

THE HOUSES OF HIVE PRIMUS

Hive Primus alone is as populous as many large worlds in the Imperium. The
majority of the hives inhabitants belong to one of the thirteen Houses and live in
the part of the hive that forms its territory. Hive Primus is divided between the
Houses much as the lands of ordinary planets are divided into nations. Every
House has its own cultural traditions, distinctive linguistic traits, codes of dress
and behaviour, as well as unique concerns and aptitudes.
The Noble Houses
The seven most important Houses are the Noble Houses
whose domains extend throughout the Spire, the part of
the hive that stretches above the cloud top layer. The
Noble Houses are the controllers of the hives
commerce. They trade far and wide throughout the
Imperium and with other hives on Necromunda. The
Noble Houses compete against each other for wealth
and political power, always seeking to further their own
interests at the expense of their rivals. Intrigue and fear
of assassination dominate the lives of their ruling
families.
The most powerful Noble House is the Imperial or
Ruling House of Helmawr. Its domain is the very top
part of the Spire, the most desirable territory in the
whole hive. Lord Helmawr, the leader of the House,
controls the entire planet. He represents the mighty
Adeptus Terra of Earth, the governing body of the
Imperium of Man.
To the greater universe Lord Helmawr is Necromunda
and the planet is his to rule as he pleases. The patriarchs and merchant families of the
Noble Houses vie for his attention, and are eager to perform whatever favours are
necessary to secure landing and shipping rights, trade licences and tax concessions. Even
whilst they curry Lord Helmawrs favour the Noble Houses scheme
behind his back, hoping that one day House Helmawr will be brought low and a new
Imperial House will inherit its domain.
The seven Noble Houses of Necromunda are House Helmawr, House Catallus, House Ty,
House Ulanti, House Greim, House Ran Lo and House Koiron. These Houses play no direct
part in the fighting and exploration of the Underhive which is the chief concern of this book,
but their existence is important.

The Houses
Below the adamantium barrier known as the Wall are the domains of the five Houses of
Necromunda. These ordinary Houses lack the privileges and status of the Noble Houses.
Their people are confined to the cramped Hive City where conditions are squalid and dirty.
The hivers, as they are called, are used to the dim light and rank air. Knowing no better,
most live contented lives of toil in the guild factories, workshops, and other industries which

form the chief business of the hive.

The Houses are manufacturers of goods of all kinds, from foodstuffs to armaments. These
products are traded with the Noble Houses and in this way the wares of Necromunda reach
the wide universe. A complex but efficient trading relationship has grown up based around
the competition between the Houses to produce goods, and between the Noble Houses to
buy them.
The people of the six Houses do not normally mix, and the borders between their domains
are carefully guarded against intruders. Each House is proud of its unique traditions and
disdainful of its rivals way of life. Where the territories of two Houses border each other it is
common to find an interposing dead zone or area of fortifications.
Prolonged warfare between Houses is rare but not unknown. Violence can be triggered by
anything from accidental trespass to deliberate invasion. The most common cause of
animosity is contract fighting. This happens when a House tries to destroy vital factories in a
neighbours domain in order to make it impossible for them to fulfil a contract. Should this
happen the neighbour will incur heavy penalties and may lose a lucrative contract to a rival
House.
Open hostility is rare. For one thing, war between two Houses would simply further the
interests of the other four and do neither antagonist any good. Also, the Noble Houses
strongly disapprove of destructive conflict because it damages trade and hinders the
movement of goods. Noble Houses may threaten to take their business elsewhere rather
than tolerate a hive war.
Consequently Hive City is mostly peaceful and industrious, and the majority of its people are
happy to toil for their House and reap the meagre rewards on offer.

HOUSE ORLOCK
House Orlock is
known as the
House of Iron
because its
foundations lie
upon deep ferrous
slag pits. The
hivers mine these
pits for the debris
of ancient times
and extract enough
pure metal from
the refuse to serve their industries. Over the
centuries extensive mining of the slag has
caused some lower domes to collapse. In the
past this led to hivequakes and the
destruction of several overlying domes. For
many centuries the House has fulfilled the
Ulanti Contract, a lucrative deal by which one
House supplies the core requirements of the
Ulanti Noble House. Previously the contract
was supplied by House Delaque, but the
Orlocks usurped the position by bribing

STATS
Sovereignty: 1
Treasure : 1
Might : 1
Influence : 1
Territory : 3
ASSETS
Rules of plunder
Foundries, smiths and armourers
Small horizon
Civic theatre
Cultural tradition
LOG
Using 11 dice with none set as experts.
2x6 - Broad Appreciation For Tactics: +1 Might, RULES
OF PLUNDER asset
3x8 - Tidy Bureaucracy: +2 Territory, FOUNDRIES
SMITHS AND ARMOURERS asset
10 - Culture of inquisitiveness: SMALL HORIZON asset
2x3 - Fertile Foothills: +1 Treasure, CIVIC THEATRE
asset
7 - Splendid Roads to Market: +1 Territory
2x2 - Access to Bored, Jaded, Sybarites: +1 Influence,
CULTURAL TRADITION asset

Underhive gang raiders to destroy fuel lines

into a Delaque guild factory. Since then the
two Houses have taken every opportunity to
discredit each other. Five years ago Lord
Hagen Orlock was assassinated by the
Delaques and relations between the Houses
have never been so tense.

HOUSE GOLIATH
The domain of
House Goliath is
situated
unfavourably within
Hive City and
occupies some of
the deepest and
harshest areas. By
way of
compensation the
Goliaths are tough
and persistent by inclination. They consider
the hivers of other Houses to be soft and
slack. In truth all hivers are naturally robust,
being inured to the toxins and deprivations
which they accept unquestioningly as part of
normal life. The Goliaths, however, take a
stubborn pride in their ability to endure
hardship. The other Houses see the Goliaths
as barbaric, and unpredictable. Goliath
institutions such as the fighting pits and the
Feast of the Fallen do nothing to dispel the
impression of a violent people inimical to
their neighbours.

STATS
Sovereignty: 1
Treasure : 1
Might : 3
Influence : 1
Territory : 1
ASSETS
Unexpected deliverance
Unbalanced economy
Cultural tradition
Defiant tradition
Irregular forces
LOG
Using 11 dice with none set as experts.
6 - An Underappreciated But Scrappy Officer Who Will
Take Charge When All Seems Doomed And Save The
Day, Only To Lose His Life In The Process: UNEXPECTED
DELIVERANCE asset
8 - Coast: +1 Territory
4 - Exotic Crop: UNBALANCED ECONOMY asset
3 - Loan Operation: +1 Treasure
2x2 - Access to Bored, Jaded, Sybarites: +1 Influence,
CULTURAL TRADITION asset
5x5 - Elite Soldier-Sorcerors: +1 Might, DEFIANT
TRADITION asset, IRREGULAR FORCES asset

HOUSE DELAQUE
House Delaque
benefits from a
special
understanding with
the Imperial House
of Helmawr,
providing not just
materials but also
information to the
rulers of
Necromunda.
Delaque spies are
said to operate
throughout the
hive, observing the
activities of the
other Houses. It is rumoured that some of
the ruling family members of the Houses,
and even some Noble Houses, are in the pay
of the Delaque. Other Houses are suspicious
of the Delaques. Although the entire hive is
eerily dim, the territory of House Delaque is
particularly dark and shadowy as befits a
people whose motives and methods are
shrouded in mystery.

HOUSE CAWDOR
House Cawdor is
the stronghold of
the Cult of the
Redemption whose
prophets foretell of
universal
destruction.
Although the cult
has its adherents
throughout the
hive, in House
Cawdor it has
attained the status
of an official religion. For this reason the
House is also known as the House of
Redemption. The Cawdor attitude to the
other Houses is strongly coloured by their
beliefs. The Redemption demands a strict
code of conduct, and those who break the
rules are driven away and become outcasts.

STATS
Sovereignty: 1
Treasure : 1
Might : 1
Influence : 3
Territory : 1
ASSETS
Rules of plunder
Culture of shame and gossip
Mole
Unbalanced economy
Mass appeal
LOG
Using 11 dice with none set as experts.
2x6 - Broad Appreciation For Tactics: +1 Might, RULES
OF PLUNDER asset
8 - Coast: +1 Territory
5x1 - Traitor: +3 Influence, CULTURE OF SHAME AND
GOSSIP asset, MOLE asset
4 - Exotic Crop: UNBALANCED ECONOMY asset
3 - Loan Operation: +1 Treasure
9 - Charismatic Elite: MASS APPEAL asset

STATS
Sovereignty: 3
Treasure : 1
Might : 1
Influence : 1
Territory : 1
ASSETS
Rules of plunder
Small horizon
Patriotism
Classic enemy
Entangling alliance
LOG
Using 11 dice with none set as experts.
2x6 - Broad Appreciation For Tactics: +1 Might, RULES
OF PLUNDER asset
1 - Oracle: +1 Influence
10 - Culture of inquisitiveness: SMALL HORIZON asset
3 - Loan Operation: +1 Treasure
2x7 - Nice Bit in the River Valley: +1 Territory,
PATRIOTISM asset
3x9 - Culture of Worship: +2 Sovereignty, CLASSIC

Hivers who do not follow the Redemption are

worthless infidels. Needless to say, the
relationship between House Cawdor and the
other Houses is strained. It is often supposed
that the Cawdor actively support
Redemptionist outlaws in the other Houses.

ENEMY asset
2 - Advantageous Marriage: ENTANGLING ALLIANCE
asset

STATS
Sovereignty: 1
Treasure : 3
Might : 1
Influence : 1
Territory : 1

HOUSE VAN SAAR

House Van Saar is
renowned for the
quality of its
technical products.
Its technology is no
more advanced
than that of
anyone else,
progress being
almost nonexistent throughout the Imperium, but the
Houses manufacturing processes are precise
and its finished materials are of the highest
quality. The Noble Houses pay a premium for
Van Saar goods, and as a result the House is
probably the most wealthy in Hive City. The
Van Saar are reputed to be a serious minded
and humourless people, with a deeply
ingrained sense of order.

ASSETS
Unexpected deliverance
Civic theatre
Small horizon
Entangling alliance
Defiant tradition

LOG
Using 11 dice with none set as experts.
6 - An Underappreciated But Scrappy Officer Who Will
Take Charge When All Seems Doomed And Save The
Day, Only To Lose His Life In The Process: UNEXPECTED
DELIVERANCE asset
8 - Coast: +1 Territory
1 - Oracle: +1 Influence
4x3 - Towering Crags: +3 Treasure, CIVIC THEATRE
asset
10 - Culture of inquisitiveness: SMALL HORIZON asset
2 - Advantageous Marriage: ENTANGLING ALLIANCE

asset
2x5 - Storied Warrior Family: +1 Might, DEFIANT
TRADITIONE asset

Optional Rule: Area to determine Story Impact of Company

Actions
The Area (Width X Height) can be used as a function for the overall "Story Impact" of a
Company action. Example: House is sabotaging the water supply of another House. The roll
comes up with a 2x5 and a 3x4. The players can decide to do the action better (2x5) or
faster (3x4). Looking at the area you have a 10 and a 12. The 3x4 sabotaging action would
have a bigger impact (e.g. be in the evening news, other Houses are more impressed, it
takes longer to fix the water supply) than the 2x5.
Think of three different Impact 20ishs:
4x5
2x10
3x7
The 4x5 is notorious for the speed in which it happened... the 2x10 because it was so well
executed and the 3x7 because it was fast and impressive. You could factor the "biggest
multiplier" into the Impact to further customize what it actually means.

Impact = Effect
*
*
*
*

0 - 12 = No real impact: This effort has no lasting effects

13 - 19 = Significant Impact: This effort has some minor lasting effect
20 - 30 = Astonishing Impact: This effort has a major lasting effect
31+ = Earth-shattering Impact: This effort has numerous major and minor effects

You could look at the effects as Reputation, Infamy, Value, etc. The action with the biggest
Impact is the one which appears on the news that evening...
For more information about the Houses and Hive Primus download the
Necromunda Background PDF on the Specialist-games.com website.

Alternative Setting:
The 3rd War for Armageddon
"Armageddon, a world whose name is known across the Imperium. Armageddon, a
world whose name has become a byword for war and destruction on a massive
scale. Armageddon, where the fate of a thousand worlds hangs in the balance."
Lord Commander Solar Eugenian
Though the world has been no stranger to Total War,
this latest assualt has been by far and away the most
devastating of them all. None thought it possible for
anything to rival Ghazghkull's first horrific onslaught,
which cost millions of lives and left the planet in ruin,
but The Beast was to prove them spectacularly
wrong. Once more showing himself to be more than
a simple barbarian, the most dangerous Ork in
history had saved his best for last, his first assault
nothing more than a test of the planet's defences.

BATTLE IS JOINED
When it came, the attack was truly titanic. Arriving in
the largest Ork fleet ever encountered, the
greenskins swiftly steamrolled their way past the
pathetically inadequate Imperial defences and began
their invasion in earnest. As a statement of his
power, Ghazghkull dropped asteroids onto Hive
Hades, utterly destroying the place where his last
army had met defeat. As Hades burned, dropships
and fighters ferried millions of Orks to the planet's
surface and the Imperial defenders opened up with
all they had. The Third Battle for Armageddon had begun.
As the ferocity of the Ork assault began to push the Imperial defence lines back and silence
the remaining planetary defence weapons, Ghazghkull stunned all by landing dozens of the
massive asteroid-fortresses that accompanied his fleet directly onto the planet. How he was
able to achieve such a feat of engineering remains a mystery, but wherever they touched
down they gave the invaders a ready-made and almost impregnable bastion, full of
reinforcements, armoured vehicles and Gargants.

THE FIRES RAGE

Despite their initial losses, the defenders were able to hold out long enough to get the
measure of their foes and began to strike back effectively. Across the planet, Ork assaults
became bogged down as they tried to overrun the tenaciously defended Hives. Though the
Orks battering themselves against the defences suffered horrific casualties, there were
always more to take their place and the battles continued almost incessantly.

After years of fighting, it became clear that the invasion had been halted, if not repelled.
Though the Orks could not wrest control of Armageddons hives and facilites from their
Human defenders, they had become so well established that many doubt whether it is now
possible to kill them all. Armageddon has become a world of constant war, with no
forseeable end to the conflict. Neither side seem to have let this fact stop them from
fighting on, though how long the Imperial war machine can keep feeding troops into the
grinder remains to be seen.

HIVE HADES
"...In an act of terrible vengeance, Ghazghkhull chose not to fight again at Hades. Instead,
the entire Hive was smashed asunder by giant asteroids dropped from orbiting space
hulks..."
Excerpt from "The Beast Returns" by Dvergar Weiss
Hades became famous after the second war as the place where Ghazghkull's forces were
finally defeated, though the hive itself was also crippled in the process. Under the
inspirational leadership of Commissar Yarrik, the defence at Hades broke the back of the
invasion force as Ghazghkull threw more and more of his resources into crushing their
impudence. Eventually, the Orks broke through and took the hive, but the losses they had
suffered were such that they had lost any chance of securing overall victory. Hades fell, but
the war was over.

THE THIRD WAR

Hades had still to recover from the pounding it had taken stopping Ghazghkull the first time
when he returned, but the defenders were resolute and prepared to face the Beast once
more. Ghazghkull, however, had other plans for them. As the Imperial forces readied their
defences, Ork hulks began to hurl asteroids at the battered city and before even one Ork set
foot on the planet's surface Hades had been utterly destroyed.
The Ork bombardment reduced Hades to a crumbling ruin. Debris from the impact scattered
for miles around, raining down on the forces arrayed outside the hive. Unprepared for such
a catastrophe, they were slain almost as easily as those who were trapped inside when the
rocks fell. Uncounted millions were annihilated by the impact and those who survived were
driven into the wastes by the titanic firestorms that raged for months afterwards. Few
survived the harsh environment of the ash wastes long enough to be killed by the Orks.

HADES TODAY
As soon as the fires began to burn themselves out, however, life began to return to Hades'
carcass. Refugees, eager to escape the hardships of life in the wastes, came to scratch a
living amid the ruins and Ork warbands rumbled in to stake a claim on the new territory and
look for trouble. Imperial forces tend to stay away wherever possible as the wreckage
blocks communications into or out of the area and so, though the war goes on, the only
battle in the ruins of the dead city is the fight to survive.

Armoury
Because the variety of weapons in the Warhammer 40,000 setting is staggering
we give you a handy table with which you can create your own weapons and see
how much Wealth they will cost.
Is the weapon...
Rare = +1 Wealth (weapon is Uncommon and bad guys will rarely have it, and won't know
how to use yours)
Uncommon = no modifier (intrinsic)
Common = -1 to Wealth (weapon is dirt cheap to manufacture and bad guys often have
them and ammo is abundant)
to Fight = go to A
to Shoot = go to B
A: To Fight
Is its weight
Light = its attacks are timed as if 1 Wider. (+1 Wealth)
- Balanced = +1d Parry (+1 Wealth)
- Whiplike = cannot be parried (+1 Wealth)
Heavy = +1 Damage (+1 Wealth)
- Unbalanced = -1d to Parry (-1 Wealth)
Cumbersome = Yes +2 Damage (Slow 1) (+1 Wealth)
- Unwieldy = cannot be used to parry (-1 Wealth)
Is its size
Small = conceal/draw (+1 Wealth)
Big = +1S Damage (+1 Wealth)
Massive = +2S Damage (Slow 1) (+1 Wealth)
Is its blade
Sharp = its base damage is WK (intrinsic)
- Mono = +1 Penetration (+1 Wealth)
- Tearing/Chain = +1K damage (+1 Wealth)
- Power Field = +1K, +1 Pen (+2 Wealth)
Blunt = its base damage is W+1S (intrinsic)
B: To shoot
Is it
One handed = W in SK (intrinsic)
Two handed = W in SK, Pen 1 (+1 Wealth)
Is its ammo
Las = +1 Pen (+1 Wealth)
- Hot-shot = +1K, +1 Pen (+2 Wealth)
Melta = +2 SK, +2 Pen, no spray (+4 Wealth)
Solid ammo = +1 SK, +1 Pen (intrinsic)

- Bolt = +2 SK, +1 Pen (+3 Wealth)

- Stub = +1 SK
- Dum-Dum = +1K, -1 Pen (+0 Wealth)
- Man-stopper = +2 Pen (+2 Wealth)
Buckshot ammo = -1K, Spray 1d (+0 Wealth)
Plasma = +2 SK, +2 Pen, Burn (+5 Wealth)
Fire = +2S, -1 Pen, Burn (+2 Wealth)
Is its range
Long distance = +1 in SK, Pen +1 (+2 Wealth)
Normal distance = no modifiers (intrinsic)
Short distance = +1 in SK (+1 Wealth)
Is its firing mode (only for Solid ammo)
semiautomatic = +1d Spray, (+1 Wealth)
Fully automatic = +3d Spray (+3 Wealth)
Is it
Accurate = +1d Shoot (+1 Wealth)
Inaccurate = no bonus Aiming (-1 Wealth)
Is it artillery = +2d Spray, +1 Pen (+3 Wealth)

The Wyrd and the Wonderful

Psionics is divided into powers. Each power consists of an advantage and a few related
skills. Each advantage comes in levels, from 1 to 6.
The psionic advantages are:
1. Biokinesis
2. Extrasensory Perception
3. Psychokinesis
4. Telepathy

Character Creation
When creating a character, the cost of a psionic
advantage is twice its level, and the maximum level
allowed is 5. Improving an advantage by one level later
on costs twice the new level in XP. Some level of an
advantage is needed to learn any skills for that power.

Warp Dice
When using the normal dice pool there is no danger
that a Peril of the Warp happens. A psyker can add
Warp Dice to a dice pool, up to the Level of the Power.
Whenever a "9" is rolled on any of his Warp Dice the
pysker has attracted the attention of the Warp and he
must roll on the "Perils of the Warp" table. He adds his
Level*10 to the D100 rolled.
Using a psionic power successfully does not cost
or fatigue the character beyond normal activity.
However, any failed use of the power causes one
point of shock to the torso.

THE POWERS & SKILLS

Biokinetic powers, unless otherwise noted, can only affect the character himself or
someone he touches. The skills are all based on the Body Stat. They are as follows.
Biokinetic Weapon
Does Width+Level killing damage to a victim. The victim must be touched and the power
channeled; this needs an ordinary skill check, which can be dodged, parried, or disrupted by
being attacked as usual for actions in combat. However, armour is no protection from the
damage. Alternatively, this power can be used to boost the damage of a weapon touched;
add the biokinesis level to the weapon damage for Height minutes.
Gift of Grace
Adds half of a character's biokinesis level to the target's Coordination score for Height
combat rounds.

 Gift of Strength
Adds half of a character's biokinesis level to the target's Body score for Height combat
rounds.
Healing
When used to heal wounds, the Healing skill heals up to Width+Level killing damage. This
power can also reduce the effect of a poison or disease. Major effects become minor, and
minor effects are neutralised. However, the maximum intensity of effect is equal to twice a
character's Healing level. The Healing skill can only be attempted once per day on a
particular
subject.
Extrosensory Perception or ESP powers are based on Sense. The Farsense, Lifesense,
and Psychic Sense powers have a range depending on the ESP level as follows.
0 : Touch
1 : 3 meter or eye contact
2 : 30 meter
3 : 1,5 kilometer
4 : 15 kilometer
5 : 150 kilometer
6 : 1.500 kilometer
Danger Sense
The character has a very limited view of the future. A successful check provides a split
second of warning, preventing him from being surprised by an ambush. If the skill check
has width three or higher, he has just enough time to shout a warning, preventing his
companions from being surprised.
The power also provides a very limited ability to predict the moves made by other
characters in combat; he gains a bonus to dodge and parry equal to half of the ESP level.
Further, he has no multiple action penalty for multiple actions when combining an attack
with a dodge or a parry.
Finally, the GM can use this power to plague the character with visions relating to dangers
in the near future. These dangers may or may not directly concern the character.
Farsense
The character can extend his sight and hearing to a particular location within the range. This
skill can be used to spy on a particular location, look through a brick wall, and so on. The
power lasts as long as the character concentrates. He is not aware of his usual surroundings
while concentrating.
Lifesense
The character is aware of the presence of living beings close to him and within ESP range;
this use of the power is automatic. He can also use this skill to find a particular plant or
animal species or even individual known to him. This power does not by itself grant the
ability to psionically spy on a known individual within range; such a power needs a
simultaneous combination of Lifesense and Farsense (the Farsense power is described
above).
Psychic Sense
The character can sense the presence of psychic powers or those capable of using psychic
powers within range. A skill check is always made to detect psychic powers used on the
character or in his immediate presence. Detecting psychic powers within range is a more
active use of the power; the player decides when to use it, and what he is looking for
or where he is looking. At high levels some focus is needed; sensing all psionic activity
within 1000 miles is unlikely to be useful.
Psychometry
The character can use this power to learn significant events in the history of a place or
object. The number of pieces of information learnt is equal to a character's ESP level. Once

a check fails, the skill cannot be used again on the particular item or location. Further, the
GM can grant visions to a character with this power if he enters a place or handles an item
of great historical or emotional significance.
The information provided is the GM's discretion; possibilities for items include the following.
How to use or activite the item (especially if magic)
Location of item's creation.
Magical powers of an item.
Name of item's creator.
Name of item's last owner.
One significant event where the item was used.
Purpose of item.
Time of item's creation.
Possibilities for locations include the following.
Animals, plants, or water present or commonly present.
Hidden objects or secret doors.
Name of the last or current inhabitant of a location.
Name of the location's creator (if artificial).
The last creature to walk through the location.
One significant event that occured at the location.
Purpose of location (if artificial).
Time of location's creation (if artificial).
The GM should at pay attention to a player who wants a particular item of information, and
either provide it as one of the items, or exclude it if he has a good reason.
Psychokinesis powers are based on Coordination, and can be used on objects seen by the
psychic. The maximum mass of an object affected by psychokinetic powers
depends on level as follows.
1 : 1 kilo
2 : 5 kilo
3 : 20 kilo
4 : 115 kilo
5 : 450 kilo
6 : 2000 kilo
Hurl
Hurls an inanimate object at a target. The object cannot be tied down in any way. The
precise mass is unimportant; any suitable object does Width+Level damage. The damage is
normally Shock damage. However, if the object is sharp or weighs 50LB or more, the
damage is killing damage. Doing killing damage with this power depends on
the availability of such objects.
Levitation
The character can fly or lift up other living targets. The maximum duration is Height
minutes. Movement speed is quite slow; a mere 10' per combat round. To use this power on
himself or another human, the character needs at least level 4 is the psychokinesis
advantage. Lifting more than one creature (if within the allowed mass) requires
a multiple action as usual.
Pyrokinesis
This power can be used to ignite a flammable object or objects; the maximum mass
affected depends on the character's psychokinesis skill as usual. Affecting more than one
object simultaneously is a multiple action. If used as an attack, pyrokinesis is an area attack
doing killing damage equal to the telekinesis level. Pyrokinesis can also heat or cool objects

within the mass limit. This use of the power does not cause damage, but can for instance
extinguish fires, or cause water to freeze sufficiently to support weight.
Psychokinetic Shield
A psychokinetic shield acts as armour equal to the psychokinesis level. A skill check is made
to shield either the character or a comrade against all attacks that he is aware of for a
single combat round. If the character is also attacking or doing something else, using a
psychokinetic shield counts as a multiple action as usual.
Telekinesis
This power moves objects within the mass limit. Only inanimate objects can be affected.
Complex actions generally require multiple actions; if the character uses Telekinesis to
perform an action where both hands are needed, a multiple action with two uses of the
Telekinesis skill is needed. More complex actions still are possible with telekinesis, and
generally involve a multiple action with another skill. For example, wielding a melee weapon
at a distance with telekinesis is a multiple action involving the weapon skill (or the Fight
skill) and telekinesis.
Telepathic powers are based on Command. All powers have a range depending on the
telepathy level as follows.
0 : Touch
1 : 3 meter or eye contact
2 : 30 meter
3 : 1,5 kilometer
4 : 15 kilometer
5 : 150 kilometer
6 : 1.500 kilometer
Contact
The character can send thoughts to another character within range. People he knows well
can be accurately contacted, but if he only has a name and a vague description, mistakes
can occur unless the check beats a difficulty number (usually 3 if there is some chance for
error, or 6 if there is a significant chance). Someone contacted cannot reply unless they also
have the power or the psychic has the empathy power (see below). Each `message' sent is
a new use of the contact power.
Intuitive Reading
The character gains an intuitive impression another individual's surface thoughts and
emotions. He gains no concrete information from this, but the intuitive impressions grant a
bonus equal to half the telepathy level to all social skills for Height minutes. As a bonus, the
character can understand any language spoken by the target of this power; however, he
gains no ability to speak other languages.
Mental Blow
Does Width+Level damage in shock. The victim must be both in range, and seen by the
character (either by their presence or as a result of ESP powers). Using mental blow against
a character only sensed by ESP powers counts as a multiple action, using both the Mental
Blow skill and the relevant ESP skill or skills. Further, if any of the powers involved in using
a mental blow fail, the psychic takes one point of shock for each failure.
Psychic Shield
Dice from a psychic shield check can be used as gobble dice to block or nullify psychic
activities known by the character that are within range.

The Houses and their Martial Paths

Underhive is a dangerous place where people gather together into gangs so they
can explore, travel and fight together. Those who join a gang are called gangers.
House traditions are so strong and their identities so distinct that even in the
Underhive gangs are formed from gangers of one House. A Necromundans entire
sense of self is based upon House loyalty so even the descendants of downhive
settlers retain their House identity to a large extent.
The bulk of gangers come from the Underhive itself.
They are the descendants of settlers, some from
families established in Underhive for generations.
The loyalty of these established Underhivers to their
House is tempered with romantic notions of life in
Hive City, a place they have never been to and can
only dimly imagine.
Some gangers come downhive from Hive City. Young
juves and discontented hivers are keen to join or
form gangs, and there are always hardy Underhivers
willing to give them a chance. As well as its ordinary
gangers a gang might also include hired help in the
form of mercenary fighters, psychic mutants or
Ratskin trackers.
As gangers take part in fights, those who survive
become more experienced, and improve their battle
skills. This is represented in the campaign game by
experience points and Martial Paths. Each ganger is
trained in the secret Martial Path of his House.

Way of the Gun (all Houses)

All Houses train their gangers in the Way of the Gun. This Martial Path is more of a set of
generic firearm techniques than any specific school of training. It can be used with just
about any firearm skill.
Quick Draw (1 point):
You do not suffer the -1 initiative penalty for drawing and firing your weapon.
Through the Vest (2 points):*
When you make a single attack (not part of a multiple action and not part of a Suppressive
Fire or Spray attack), you may ignore 1AR provided by armor. Armor provided by Martial
techniques still applies. You may gain this benefit when using a 3-round burst, but the AR
reduction only applies to the fastest set.
Stopping Power (3 points):**
When you hit an opponent in the torso, your target is downed and loses a die off every set.
You may stack Stopping Power with Through the Vest but your attack must then adhere to

the restrictions of that technique.

Marksman (4 points):
You may Squish*** one of your attack sets each round by 1 point. This stacks with the
above techniques.
Sharpshooter (5 points):
As Marksman, but you may Squish your attack set by 2 points.
*As Arrow of Gentle Repose, basically.
**As Submit and Kneel, but it doesn't matter whether you're spraying fools with a machine
gun or dodging and shooting. Maybe it should matter? Perhaps just "As Through the Vest,
but your opponent is also downed and loses a die off every set."
*** I'm wondering about the power of Squishing rolls. Is 1 point of Squish underpowered
for a 4-point technique? Should Marksman be allowed to Squish 2 points, and then
Sharpshooter maybe Squish an unlimited amount?

Advanced Tactical Squad Training (All Houses)

The difference between a warrior and a soldier, is that a soldier stands with his fellow
soldier's as part of a force greater than himself. This path allows a person to work with 1 to
3 similarly trained allies to create an unstoppable energy. These techniques all require at
least one ally who also knows them, and they are linked to the Tactics skill. All techniques
stack.
Four-Point Tactical Formation (1 point)
One of the earliest tricks trainees pick-up is how to move. Diamond formation keeps all
sides covered and all members in positions to maximise effectivness. All characters are
aware of what the other characters see. In addition, any attempt to sneak up on the team
must beat the highest rated Sense score, plus 1 per additional team member, as a difficulty.
Tactical formation of some sort is required for all techniques in this path, and all members
must be no more than about 4 yards apart at a given time.
Example: Roy and Jane go back to back as they enter a potentially hostile room. Each is
automatically aware of what the other sees (through voice cues and body language). Roy
has Sense 3 and Jane has Sense 2. To sneak up on them, the attacker must beat a difficult
of 4: 3 (the highest sense) plus one for the extra teammate.
Trust in Your Team (2 points)
The first thing recruits are supposed to learn is to trust their team. That takes time and
experience to really sink in. Once it does, the group gains the strength of all its members.
Any attempts to inflict morale or mental damage against the team is much more difficult.
System-wise, the players use the highest Command+1 of the group to resist influencing
effects. In Nemesis, all players use the highest Hardened value in the group for tests of
Violence or Unnatural.
Overlapping Fields of Fire (3 points)
A major advantage of group movement is the ability to sport a greater volume of firepower
and work with the team for maximum coverage of the field. In combat, all attacks made by
the group are timed to coincide with the fastest set in the group. Sets that are identical and
aimed at the same target can be combined into one larger set for damage purposes. (This
helps beat heavy armor or cover, mainly. It also, cleverly, allows two people to use their
Expert dice to aim for huge sets.)
Example: Roy and Jane are still working through that room, when a bad guy pops up from

behind low cover. They turn so that both can fire on him, Roy getting a 2x6 and a 2x9,
while Jane gets a 2x6. They could both shoot with the speed of the 2x9, if Roy takes that
one. But he takes the 2x6 instead. They both go on 2x6, but the bad guy takes one hit of
4x6 damage instead of 2 2x6 hits.
Together We Stand (4 points)
So long as one member still stands, the team is not yet broken. Any hits taken by a
member of the team can, with permission of both members, be passed to someone else.
This is, in game, one guy "taking the bullet" for his friend. The entire set passes to the new
target, so a heavily armored member can be a bullet soak for the whole team. Only one set
can be passed like this per round, however, so no using the bullet magnet to magically
teleport in front of everyone.
Advanced Tactical Battle (5 points)
The team becomes a nigh unstoppable force, seeming to strike from everywhere in perfect
unison. This technique requires some form of communication: coded shouts, hand signs,
radios, or even telepathy if available. When active, the team need no longer be in formation
to get the benefit of their abilities, just in communication and in the same general area. Any
member can "draw aggro" to take a bullet as in Together We Stand, and every member is
always aware of what the others see and hear, and the team has the increased resistance to
mental effects and the timing bonus.

Path of the Blood Opera (House Orlock)

It takes a rare individual to walk the Path of the Blood Opera. You must be comfortable with
melodramatic theme music, wear sunglasses indoors, and eschew the wearing of tactical
equipment and military weapons in favor of handguns and stylish suits.
Blood Opera techniques are used with Coordination + Weapon (pistols).
Bullet Ballet (1 point):
Bullet Ballet negates 1d of penalty when combining pistol attacks with Dodge or Run
actions.
Two Gun Superman (2 points):
If you are using two pistols, your attack acts as if it has a Spray rating of 0; you may apply
any and all sets as attacks but you do not get any bonus dice like you would with a
submachinegun or assault rifle. Two Gun Superman stacks with Bullet Ballet.
Carnival of Carnage (3 points):
When the shooter uses an attack set to kill an unworthy opponent, you affect a number of
unworthies equal to the Width of that attack. You only damage one of the unworthies sets
unless there are fewer mooks left than there are sets. You fire at least one round per mook
killed.
Heroic Bloodshed (4 points):
Your focus and drive in combat are unparalleled. When you use this technique, you do not
lose dice from your attack sets when you are hit. Note that you may still be forced to drop
dice from other actions, just not your attacks.
Two Gun God (5 points):
As Two Gun Superman, but you may gain a Spray rating of 0 even with a single pistol.
Dual-wielded pistols increase the Spray rating to 1. Furthermore, you may roll your Weapon

pool when combining actions even if its higher than your other pools. This stacks with all
the preceding techniques.
Pump-Action Mastery (House Goliath)
This path is designed for a person wielding either a pump-action or combat (self-loading)
shotgun. With GM permission, some techniques could be used with a breach-action.
Shotgun Wedding
Precision target practice have made the shooter almost supernatural. He can fire into a
crowd, or even a melee, and not hit unintended targets. Either he hits his target, or the
pellets harmlessly strike inanimate scenery.
Riot Control
With careful, repeated shots, the gunman can Suppress a group of enemies. Suppressed
targets must succeed on a (Command/Cool/Willpower) test in order to resist the urge to
hide behind cover or lie prone on the ground for the round.
This Is My Boomstick!
By clearing the chamber for a new round with a distinctive "Ka-Chik!" the wielder can inflict
a Morale attack equal to his Command stat and gains a +1 on his next attack (as aiming).
Wall of Lead
By throwing up a wide area of fire, the gunman supresses counter attacks. Player can abort
all attacks and use the best set as Gobble Dice against other ranged attackers.
Plate Glass Puncher
Like the hero of an action movie, each shot of the character's gun sends people flying. Any
successful attack throws the victim width in meters away from the impact. The player treats
all waste dice as Area Shock damage against the target, and may also use them as Area
Shock damage against any other targets hit by the flying victim.

Close Quarters Battle (House Van Saar)

Speed Reload (1 point):
Normally reloading takes an entire round. With this technique, you may reload and attack
the same round with a -1d penalty. This technique may only be used with magazine-fed
weapons. Tube-fed shotguns, revolvers (without speedloaders), and belt- or box-fed
weapons like SAWs cannot benefit from this technique.
Breach & Clear (2 points):
You're trained to be quick, decisive, and deadly when engaging the enemy in close quarters
- to explode into a room with overwhelming force and take down your targets with lightning
speed. You may add +1 Width to your attacks in the first round of any combat. As with all
CQB techniques, the target must be within close range.
Tango Down (3 points):
Your intense training allows you to attack with pinpoint accuracy in the heat of battle. When
you apply an attack set to an Unworthy Opponent, you affect a number of Unworthies equal
to the natural Width of your set. Breach & Clear may be used to augment the speed and
damage of your set, but it does not affect the number of unworthies killed by your attack
set. A natural 2x9 attack might act as a 3x9 for initiative and damage when combined with
Breach & Clear, but it will only kill 2 unworthies.

CQB Specialist (4 points):

All your attacks within close range are timed as if they were 1 Width greater. This increase
in initiative stacks with the first-round bonus from Breach & Clear but does not affect the
number of unworthy opponents affected by Tango Down.
Mozambique (5 points):
A successful called shot to the torso at close range deals damage as if the target were
struck by TWO identical attack sets (as the Two Deaths technique on p.221 of the
rulebook). Armor protects against each set separately. If the target is not downed,
incapacitated, or killed by this double tap, you may make a called shot to the targets head
the following round without the typical -1d penalty.

Sniper Training (House Delaque)

One shot, one kill. This Martial Path is dedicated to helping sharpshooters reach out and
touch someone. It is used with Coordination + Weapon (rifle). All of the techniques below
are only applicable after aiming for at least one turn.
Sniper Breathing (1 point):
Accomplished shooters learn to slow down their breathing (and heartbeat), thereby reducing
gun shake. When you spend a round aiming, you add +2d to your pool rather than the
normal +1d. If you spend a second round aiming, you add another 2d to your pool.
Otherwise, aiming works as normal (This is identical to Goddess in the Grave in the
rulebook).
Under Fire (2 points):
If you kill an unaware opponent with an aimed attack, the attack creates a Morale Attack
equal to the Width of your set.
Or:
Terror Tactics (2 points):
If another enemy comes to the aid of a target you've already wounded, you gain a +1d
bonus to your next attack on either the original wounded target or the friend running to
help. You lose the benefit of Terror Tactics if you make any other attacks between the
attack that wounded the original target and this follow-up shot.
Pinpoint Accuracy (3 points):
You are an expert in targeting weak spots. Your aimed attacks ignore 2 points of armor.
Stay on Target (4 points):
The distractions of battle do not faze you. Your aim is not interrupted even if you take
damage.
One Shot, One Kill (5 points):
Aiming for only one round nets you the full +4d bonus afforded by Sniper Breathing. Aiming
for two or more rounds has no additional effect.

Righteous Fury (House Cawdor)

This Martial Path simulated people who can whip themselves into a Frenzy and enter a
exhilarated, ecstatic state of bloody viciousness in which ones own safety not only ceases
to be a concern, but actually loses coherence as a concept. Those who cultivate this

battle-madness practice it with Coordination + Heavy/Big melee weapons (see chapter

Armoury).
Reckless Abandon (1 point):
By flinging himself heedlessly into the fray, the warrior adds +2d to his attack. However, if
anyone declares a physical attack on him on a round in which he uses Reckless Abandon,
that
enemy gets a +1d bonus (even if the attack is made with Fight or a missile weapon). The
enemy gets this advantage even if he stated his attack before Reckless Abandon was
declared. Reckless Abandon cannot be used as part of a multiple action.
The Strength of Madness (2 points):
Anyone struck by a blow backed with the Strength of Madness loses two dice from sets
instead of one. This technique doesnt work on Unworthy Opponents.
Passionate Assault (3 points):
A Passionate Assault adds a +3d bonus to the attackers dice pool (or offsets up to three
dice of penalties). The next person who strikes the attacker using Passionate Assault does
two extra points of damage (Shock or Killing, according to the weapon used), as long as he
strikes the round that Passionate Assault was used, or the round after. Passionate Assault
cannot be combined with any defensive maneuver.
Black Slaking (4 points):
Every time the character kills someone, he adds +1 Killing damage to all his polearm
attacks for the remainder of the combat. Its cumulative. If he kills someone on the first
round, he gets a
+1 damage bonus on the second round. If he kills two people that round, he gets a +3
damage bonus thereafter and so on. This bonus can never exceed +10.
Dying to Kill (5 points):
The mad warrior adds +4d to her next attack and produces a Morale Attack equal to 4+ her
Command Stat. All attacks that hit her the round she declared shes Dying to Kill do an
additional
point of damage (Shock or Killing, depending on the weapon).

Territory
The Houses territory represents resources in the Underhive that the gang
members can exploit in various ways. It includes nearby wastes where the gang
can scavenge for the odd bit of ore or scrap, and encompasses the efforts of the
fighters friends and relatives who may live inside the big settlements or in outholes nearby.

YOUR TERRITORY
Every gang begins with an amount of territories equal to the Territory stat of their House/
Company generated from the Territory table (see below). Some scenarios allow gangs to
gain extra territory or lose it to their rivals. The more and better territory a gang has the
richer it will become.

Territory table
To generate a random territory from the table roll
a D10. The table indicates the type of territory,
with a short description underneath.
D10 ROLL TERRITORY
1. Chem Pit
An extensive and highly dangerous
chemical pit. The pit is a source of
constantly changing chemicals,
sulphurous deposits, and all kinds of
poisonous and corrosive substances.
2. Old Ruins
An exposed area of ancient ruins. If a
ganger searches through the ruins he
may find scrap pieces of archeotech, bits
of old metal, or interesting old curios.
3. Slag
An extensive network of tunnels and crawlholes full of iron slag and other solidified
chemical wastes.
4. Mineral Outcrop
An outcrop of mineral wastes where valuable sparstones, adonite crystals, igneous
adamantorite, or one of the many other kinds of mineral gems that are formed in
the Underhive can be collected.
5. Mine Workings
In a secret location in the wastes your gang has discovered a mine. The excavations
yield carnotite gems or some other valuable ores or stones. Friends of the fighters
are already working in return for a slice of the proceeds. If you capture an enemy
fighter then you can put him to work in your mine instead of selling him to slavers.
6. Vents
A concealed entrance into a network of ancient ventilation shafts.

7. Holestead
A holestead out in the wastes. The hole produces a crop of nutritious slime.
8. Drinking Hole
An old drinking hole which earns a small sum and also provides the gang with a
convenient base in the local settlement.
9. Gambling Den
An gambling den in an old disused hole in your settlement.
10. Spore Cave
A hidden cave where many kinds of rare fungi grow, such as pearl spore and iron
mould. A ganger can harvest the fungi and sell it to local traders.

Xenos, Malleus, Heretic

Plenty of threats lurk in the dangerous underhive of Necromunda. Here are some
examples.
Genestealer Cults
Genestealer cults are composed of individuals who have been subjected to genestealer
genetic control. Even victims who do not host new genestealers and hybrids themselves
become pawns of the purestrain Genestealer that founded the cult.
Genestealer cults masquerade as ordinary citizens and gangs, slowly spreading their
influence through society until they can overthrow the native authorities. Whenever
possible, they will infiltrate the political and military institutions of the planet to increase
their power.
As the genestealer influence grows, the collective consciousness of the genestealers
psychically attracts the attention of the Tyranid Hive Mind. If the cult influence becomes
sufficiently powerful, a Tyranid hive fleet will come to the planet to devour all its life and
resources. If the genestealer infiltration has completely succeeded, the Tyranids will be
able to take over the planet without opposition.

Ork Companies
I've shifted the way Qualities interact for Orks
slightly, in an attempt to reflect how they
work.
First of all, Influence: Orks don't use
Influence. This is a raft of options that is not
available to them.
Might: Ork companies start with a minimum
of Might 1.
Sovereignty: Sovereignty also works a little
differently. For Orks, it is an average of Might
and Territory. Against other Ork bands, the
Sovereignty average has at least one
subtracted from it unless your Company's
Sovereignty is 3 or Higher.
This is intended to reflect the internal divisions
within the Orks, and how deeply tied they are
to their numbers. At a particular tipping point
of arms and/or territory, it's presumed that a
Boss is now involved and that things are a
little more organised.
Territory: As normal.
Treasure: This is a little bit different. Initially, Orks get 1 Treasure for every *2* that is
stolen in raiding or other actions against their neighbours. This doesn't have to be in one

action, so if last month you got 1 Treasure, and this month you get another 1, then yours
goes up.
Why is this? Firstly, because an Ork company's Might cannot be lower than its Treasure. If
they're tied and Treasure goes up, Might follows. My reasoning for this is that Treasure is
representative of the resources looted and stolen from other nations, and which is being
retrofitted into Toyz and Gubbins. Initially, the Orks bust as much as they steal, which is
why it's a 2 for 1 ratio.
If the Sovereignty of an Ork company ever hits 3, then the focus provided by having a Boss
means they're more focused in their looting. Treasure from raiding goes back to a 1 for 1
increase. The parity with Might continues.
It's also worth considering that the higher a Company's Treasure, the more advanced the
Company is going to be on the field. You can expect to see more magic, more Meks, and
other such developments the higher the Treasure is.
You Do Not Want An Ork Company To Hit This Threshold.
If the Sovereignty of an Ork Company ever hits 5, then you have a whole new problem. At
that point, it is large enough that other Orks nearby are going to begin gravitating towards
it, let alone fighting the boss. If that happens, at the end of every month (or relevant timeperiod) roll Sovereignty + Territory with Difficulty equal to Might.
If the result is successful, Might goes up by 1 as the Ork company recieves reinforcements.
"Our campaign against the Orks has thinned out their numbers, commander!" (pause) "Well
shit, they're back again."
You Do Not Want An Ork Company To Hit This Threshold.
Notes: Orks do not have access to any of the temporary raises for Qualities that normal
companies do. The entire wierd Orky machine is running full-blast the whole time. Tactical
variants like Fight from Entrenchments can apply, but only once Sovereignty has hit 3 and a
Boss is on the field to persuade the boyz not to run out and start choppin.
Additionally, Orks are vulnerable to successful Head Hunting attacks once they do hit
Sovereignty 3. It should be a game session in itself for feel, but if you do successfully kill
the Boss then along with other consequences, the Company's Sovereignty falls by one. The
Company loses any benefits it had of being over one of the thresholds if the number falls
past that point.

Eradicating an Ork Company

Reducing Ork Sovereignty to 0 will certainly splinter the company, but will not eradicate the
scourge.
In practice, since Ork Sovereignty is largely derived from Might and Territory, assaulting
those directly will yield the best results. Tactically, Orks are also vulnerable to having their
Treasure (and thus tech level) damaged.
Should you eradicate the Company on paper, then a new game begins. Take the Territory
held by the Orks at the height of their power, and subtract 1 (or 2, if they rose very rapidly
and didn't have much time at that level.)
From the Ork perspective, after 5 - (Territory - 1 or 2) Months, their Might will pop back up
to 1 and the whole saga will begin again. This represents the Ork infestation producing wild
Orks, as reinforcements for whoever escaped the last battle.
This number (which I will refer to as Infestation Score for the sake of argument) is reduced
by 1 for each month (or relevant timeperiod) you attack it as normal, essentially to
represent going through conquered territory and burning chunks of it and putting any Orky
wildlife to the sword. This also stops the clock for re-infestation.

If there is a whole month in which you do NOT attack the Infestation Score, then the clock
begins again with 5-Infestation Score months until more Orks appear and the Company
revives at its most basic level of Might 1.
After that month, the first time you attack the Infestation Score does not reduce the
number, but instead resets the clock to 0. The next month after that, you can reduce the
score again.

Metadiscussion
The theory I was going for here was to make Orks a nuisance. They're hard to eradicate,
unless you have nothing else to focus on but cleansing their territories of wild growth, and
have a tendency to pop up again if you turn your back. And they have a potential to become
exponentially more dangerous once they hit certain thresholds, to attempt to emulate an
"Orkish pests, Orkish pests, filthy greenskins, OH GODS THEY'RE AT THE GATES!" vibe.
If anyone has better or more elegant suggestions for this, I would be very happy to hear
them.

Orkish Unworthy Opponents

The minimum Threat of an Ork Mob is 2, as even the most disorganised mob is at least as
dangerous as wolves.
Ork Mobs are immune to magic-based Morale Attacks at any level less than or equal to their
Threat, to represent how Orks gain confidence in numbers.
Ork Mobs are immune to Morale Attacks from individual humans as if their Threat were 1
point higher than they are, so a Threat 2 Mob of Orks is going to be immune to Morale
Attacks lower than 4 using the Threaten manouvre, for example, because Orks just aren't
scared by much.
However, little provides a Motivation boost to Ork mobs. They're already running on full
bore, so unless the Warboss is physically there (a whole new problem in itself) what you see
is what you get.
EDIT: When creating these rules, I didnt remember that Morale Attacks already fail if they
are less than or equal to the Threat of the mob. Id suggest approaching this at effective
Threat + 1 regarding Magical Morale Attacks, although this is debatable and Im open to
suggestions. Essentially, I think that Orks are less afraid of magic than most equivalent
humans, and would like to find a way of putting this across.

Ork Rules and Stats

Here we present the stats for several different levels of Ork, designed to be used when the
Unworthy Opponent rules no longer apply: Too few Orks for a Mob, or Named Orks, or some
other equivalent. As always, I invite corrections for Proper Orky Feel.

Orky Weapons:
Shoota: Stats based on Imperial equivalent, except that Orky Gunz have 1 higher Spray
rating than normal, in return for 1 less Penetration. I like the idea that they go for Volume
rather than Quality in the most part. Orky Shoota: 90m Spray 5, Pen 2 W+2 in SK 25kg
Choppa: W+1 K. (Stats taken from NEMESIS for Axes)

Orky Armour:
I have assumed that the Orks largely forgo armour, but as such this is a great opportunity
to distinguish a particular creature as tougher or bigger than the rest. Even one of Da Boyz
is going to be a tougher proposition if wearing the equivalent of a breastplate, giving them 3
AR to locations 7-9.

Da Boyz:
BODY: 4d Athletics: 2d Endurance: 2d Fight: 2d Parry: 1d Run: 2d Vigor: 2d
COORDINATION: 3d Climb: 2d Dodge: 2d Ride (Drive?): 1d Stealth: 1d Weapon Skill
Choppa: 2d Weapon Skill Shoota: 2d
SENSE: 3d Direction: 1d Eerie: 2d Hearing: 1d Sight: 1d
KNOWLEDGE: 2d
COMMAND: 1d Intimidate: 2d
CHARM: 1d
ADVANTAGES: Cannibal Smile: Body+Fight = Width S + 1 K Leather Hard: 1 Extra wound
point on every body location Indomitable: Continue to act once bodyparts have filled with
damage by accepting more Killing damage. (See Supplement 06)
Description: Ork Boyz are among the lowest of the pecking order who still seek active
combat. Against an unprepared or untrained foe, Da Boyz are vicious warriors who live to
fight, unburdened by the fear more intelligence would provide.
(Meta: They are essentially the same as those who would qualify for Unworthy Opponents,
except there are circumstances where they wont. My theory is that even the most basic of
Orks is going to be a serious problem to the average citizen of the Imperium but that few
people will be playing average members of the Imperium.)
(Meta Suggestion: Add a Nob to a pack of Da Boyz for a great mini-Chieftain or temporary
antagonist)

Da Nobz:
BODY: 5d Athletics: 2d Endurance: 2d Fight: 2d Parry: 1d Run: 2d Vigor: 2d
COORDINATION: 4d Climb: 2d Dodge: 2d Ride (Drive?): 1d Stealth: 1d Weapon Skill
Choppa: 2d Weapon Skill Shoota: 2d
SENSE: 3d Direction: 1d Eerie: 2d Hearing: 2d Sight: 2d
KNOWLEDGE: 2d
COMMAND: 2d Intimidate: 3d
CHARM: 1d
ADVANTAGES: Cannibal Smile: Body+Fight = Width S + 1 K Leather Hard: 1 Extra wound
point on every body location Thick Headed: 1 Extra wound point in the head Die Wiv Yer
Boots On: Continue to act once bodyparts have filled with damage by accepting more Killing
damage; never passes out from Shock to the head; never takes penalties from having a
completely shocked torso. (See Supplement 06)
WEAPON CHANGES: Choppa: The basic Orky Choppa does Width +1 K, Width S in the
hands of Da Nobz.
Description: Nobz are larger, tougher and more experienced Orks.
(Meta: Slight stat or skill improvements from Da Boyz, but the biggest difference comes in
the extent to which their added Advantages will make them harder to kill.)
(Meta Suggestion: Modelling Nob Leaders, Sergeant equivalents, is easily possible by adding
1 level of Last Push to their Advantage list, allowing them to survive for one round after
they would normally be killed. [See Supplement 06] Mixing one Nob Leader into a pack of
Da Nobz is another opportunity to quickly add a Leader without using a full Boss.)

Da Boss:
BODY: 6d Athletics: 3d Endurance: 3d Fight: 2d Parry: 2d Run: 2d Vigor: 3d
COORDINATION: 4d Climb: 2d Dodge: 3d Ride (Drive?): 2d Stealth: 1d Weapon Skill
Choppa: 2d Weapon Skill Shoota: 2d
SENSE: 4d Direction: 1d Eerie: 2d Hearing: 2d Sight: 2d
KNOWLEDGE: 3d Strategy: 2d Tactics: 2d
COMMAND: 2d Intimidate: 3d Inspire: 2d.
CHARM: 1d
ADVANTAGES: Cannibal Smile: Body+Fight = Width S + 1 K Leather Hard: 1 Extra wound
point on every body location Thick Headed: 1 Extra wound point in the head Die Wiv Yer
Boots On: Continue to act once bodyparts have filled with damage by accepting more Killing
damage; never passes out from Shock to the head; never takes penalties from having a
completely shocked torso. (See Supplement 06) Last Push Level 1: Can act for one round
after damage would normally kill them.
SPECIAL ADVANTAGE:
Hes da Boss, Level 1: All Unworthy Opponents have their Threat raised by 1 while in the
presence of Da Boss due to leadership and obedient fear, not to mention the increased
bravery and focus Orks display when being commanded by someone every cell in their body
believes is the boss of them.
Description: Bosses are the natural commanders of the Ork bands, and where the filthy
greenskins begin to become more dangerous due to their vile animal cunning rather than
just brute strength.
(Meta: Not vastly different in terms of stats than a Nob Leader, the main advantage
provided to Bosses is in more intelligence, more tactical options, and in providing a
significant innate improvement to all Unworthy Opponents in the vicinity. This level of Boss
is what the Orks reach when their Company has just reached Sovereignty 3.)

Warboss:
BODY: 7d Athletics: 3d Endurance: 3d Fight: 2d + 1 MD Parry: 2d Run: 3d Vigor: 3d
COORDINATION: 4d Climb: 2d Dodge: 3d Ride (Drive?): 2d Stealth: 2d Weapon Skill
Choppa: 2d + 1 ED Weapon Skill Shoota: 2d + 1 ED
SENSE: 4d Direction: 1d Eerie: 2d + 1 ED Hearing: 3d Sight: 3d
KNOWLEDGE: 3d Strategy: 2d + 1 ED Tactics: 2d + 1 ED
COMMAND: 4d Intimidate: 3d Inspire: 2d.
CHARM: 1d
ADVANTAGES: Cannibal Smile: Body+Fight = Width S + 1 K Leather Hard: 1 Extra wound
point on every body location Thick Headed: 1 Extra wound point in the head Die Wiv Yer
Boots On: Continue to act once bodyparts have filled with damage by accepting more Killing
damage; never passes out from Shock to the head; never takes penalties from having a
completely shocked torso. (See Supplement 06) Last Push Level 3: Can act for three rounds
after damage would normally kill them.
SPECIAL ADVANTAGE:
Hes da Boss, Level 2: All Unworthy Opponents have their Threat raised by 2 while in the
presence of the Warboss, nigh-fearless and exulting in the incarnation of their WAAAGH
provided by their hulking leader and his roared commands. Natural Armour, Level 1: 1 AR
over entire body.
WEAPON CHANGES: Killa Claw: Width + 1 SK, +1 Reach.
SUGGESTED ADVANCED MANEUVERS:
Disfiguring Strike Display Kill

Description: The Warboss is the natural general created to lead Ork packs when their
numbers reach a certain size. They herald mayhem and violence, all the more deadly
because of the coherent commander leading the mob.
(Meta: This level of Boss occurs when Orc Companies hit Sovereignty 5, or otherwise when
appropriate. Seriously bad news.)

WAAAAAAAGHBOSS:
BODY: 8d Athletics: 3d Endurance: 3d Fight: 3d + 1 MD Parry: 2d Run: 3d Vigor: 3d
COORDINATION: 4d Climb: 2d Dodge: 3d Ride (Drive?): 3d Stealth: 2d Weapon Skill
Choppa: 2d + 1 ED Weapon Skill Shoota: 2d + 1 ED
SENSE: 4d Direction: 1d Eerie: 2d + 1 ED Hearing: 3d Sight: 3d
KNOWLEDGE: 3d Strategy: 2d + 1 ED Tactics: 2d + 1 ED
COMMAND: 4d Intimidate: 3d Inspire: 2d.
CHARM: 1d
ADVANTAGES: Cannibal Smile: Body+Fight = Width S + 1 K Leather Hard: 1 Extra wound
point on every body location Thick Headed: 1 Extra wound point in the head Die Wiv Yer
Boots On: Continue to act once bodyparts have filled with damage by accepting more Killing
damage; never passes out from Shock to the head; never takes penalties from having a
completely shocked torso. (See Supplement 06) Last Push Level 5: Can act for five rounds
after damage would normally kill them.
SPECIAL ADVANTAGE:
Hes da Boss, Level 3: At this level, the Ork band is a fearless howling maelstrom of
violence. The Boss word is thunder and their Gods dark laughter is in the chatter of his
guns. WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! All Unworthy Opponents have their Threat raised by 3, even if
this moves them to Threat 5. Natural Armour, Level 2: 2 AR over entire body.
WEAPON CHANGES: Killa Claw: Width + 1 SK, +1 Reach.
SUGGESTED ADVANCED MANEUVERS:
Disfiguring Strike Display Kill
Description: The core of a shrieking Greenskin apocalypse undoubted to be legendary in the
annals of the Imperium.
(Meta: This is a speculative level of Boss which is appropriately rare and terrifying to
behold, at the level of Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.)

Eldar
The Eldar are an incredibly ancient alien race, who once ruled a vast empire across
the stars. Then came the hideous times of the Fall, when the Eldar fell from power.
Though they are now few in number, the Eldar are one of the most technologically
advanced races in the galaxy.
Psionics +2, Awareness/Sight +1, Graces +1, Lore +1, Advantage: Beauty (3), Problem:
Unwholesome, Problem: Underdeveloped Stat: BODY*
* Underdeveloped Stat (grants 5 points)
One of your stats is underdeveloped and can never reach it's full potential. This could be an
element of your race, a birth defect or a permanent damage from a fight. Reduce one of
your stats by 1. If this reduces the stat in question to 0 you have to drop another stat by 1
(or otherwise bring up 5 points) to bring it back to 1. Either way, your maximum possible
rating in the underdeveloped stat also reduced by 1. You can take this problem multiple
times.

The Wakened Dead

The Hideous Things
All Undead are, plain and simple, just disgusting and creepy to be around. Their Charm Stat
is considered 0 although it can attempt to roll their Charm skills as is.
The Icy Cold of the Grave
While there are numerous stories why the dead come back, it only occurs because of
ambient magic. The Icy Cold of the Grave or the Stinking Winds from the Mouth of Hell,
which sets your hair on end, is the characters Eerie/Psyniscience sense working, thats all.
The detectable Intensity of the Wakened Dead, as per page 129, is Just Dead 2, Week Dead
3, and Month Dead 4.
The Grateful Dead
All undead are immune to poisons and diseases. They do not need to breath, sleep, food,
and water. They see out where their eyes are but do not require their eyes; they see in dark
and light just fine. They can distinguish life from base matter.
Advantages
The dead are not all equal. Some find a way to survive in the world of the living. Heres
how.
Deathly Flesh (1 to 5 point Advantage) Undead Only
Deathly Flesh simulates the hardiness and resistant flesh of the dead. Every level functions
not unlike AR except it just steps-down damage not eliminate it.
For each level in Deathly Flesh convert one point of Killing Damage into Shock Damage.
The remaining unconverted Killing Damage remains as physical damage. All Shock damage
disappears at the end of a fight.
Deathly Flesh doesnt make the dead immune from special damage effects like knock
downs, etc, etc.
Deathly Flesh is applicable to all Hit Locations.

Grave Fortitude (1 to 5 point Advantage) Undead Only

Many strolling corpses possess a level of physical strength and prowess the living are
lacking. The Undead can reroll up to a number dice from any rolled Body-based dice pool
equal to the Grave Fortitude Advantage. The reroll is considered part of the same roll and
no special dice can be used with the reroll.
Pallid Mortality (5-point Advantage Just Dead Only)
Sometimes the dead can simulate being alive to the point their hearts can pump, their eyes
can tear, and their cuts drip blood. They may be cooler to the touch than normal people and
even a bit socially awkward but there are no outward signs of death and decay. With this
advantage the Walking Corpse can buy back his Charm Stat, his first dot only for five
experience points.
Special Note: Extra Problems
Undead come in three flavours: Just Dead, a Week Dead, and a Month Dead. Just Dead do
not appear dead unless examined and have no Flaw or Problem unless specified. A Week
Dead takes the Unwholesome or Gruesome Problem. A Month Dead takes both the
Gruesome and Unwholesome Problems. Neither of these problems count towards the three
limit and nor do the supply experience points rather they subtract experience if the player
doesnt ham up the horror of the undead.
Murder Madness (Undead Flaw)
Not all the Wakened Dead suffer the madness of murder but those few make up all the
terrible stories. In REIGN the Killing Corpse has his Passions; Craving, Mission, and Duty;
reassigned to hunt and kill as many people as it can, often one at a time with animal
cunning and human knowledge. Many are led to believe that by ritualistically eating the
flesh and drinking the blood of the dying or nearly dead, they gain some sort of power.
While they mostly wander alone, some have been known to form terrible hunting packs and
drag off entire generations of families to terrible, merciless fates.
Special Note: But my Shadow Binder Zombies do not have any special rules!
Never fear. All basic animated corpses have Deathly Flesh 1 and Grave Fortitude 1. Unless
the Wakened Dead can think for itself and improve its condition, it is unlikely theyll get any
better.
Both these factors only raise an Unworthy Opponent's Threat by +1 as per enchantment
rules or are able to generate morale attacks. Your GM will say yay or nay.
If your GM wants to he can raise the Intensity of those specific shadow-binder spells by 1 or
2 to factor in the new advantages.

Optional Rules
Guidelines for Creating Martial Paths
Here's my rough guidelines for creating your own Martial Paths and Esoteric Disciplines.
Creating them get easier the more you do it and you develop a certain flow for making them
after a while.
Level 1 - Always a small effect, often something with a good general purpose usage, and
very often a penalty removal. About 1d worth of effect is right, either negates 1d of penalty
or adds 1d for some situation. 1d can also equal 2 height or 1 width to either
effect(damage) or timing(initiative).
Level 2 - Usually a more specialized manuever, or removal of a big penalty, or the addition
of a stronger effect. I think extra Armor usually goes at 2 or 3. Often stacks with the 1, that
sword school in Reign being the perfect example of a stacking school.
Level 3 - I like the middle level to change things up a bit. You've already got two powers
that make your skill more useful and interesting, so I like number 3 to really expand on
what you can do with that skill.
Level 4 - This is generall, for me, the most powerful technique that isn't just going crazy. I
usually like it to add something potent and hard to reach with the mechanics normally. Like
negating penalties and adding dice can be done within the rules if you look, but what can
this technique add to the game that really changes the nature of the field for the character?
What new strategies can I unlock here?
Level 5 - This is usually the "go nuts" power. There are limits, sure, but a Level 5 is usually
not a rule expander, it's a rule breaker. Ignoring all armor, getting very clear information,
and exceeding the 10 die limit are all things a level 5 could do.
Another thing to consider is the XP cost of each level. You have to buy them in order, so it
stacks.
Level 1 costs 1.
Level 2 costs 3.
Level 3 costs 6.
Level 4 costs 10.
Level 5 costs 15.
As you can see, a level 3 power costs just a bit less than a Master die in Reign (1 skill, 1
expert, 5 master = 7 points total). So a level 3 power should be just a bit less useful than a
Master die, or just about as useful as a skill with 4 ranks and an Expert die.
A level 5 power costs as much as two master dice and then some. A person who bought
your whole path should be as well off as a guy who bought two master dice in two different
skills. He went versatility and assured success, so what did the specialist with the path get?
Also, remember how I said a level 1 path was worth about 1d of effect? Well, it costs about
that much too! So a level 5 tech should be as useful as about 5 dice on it's own, and about
15 dice when you look at all the powers in a path working together.
This also ties into whether your powers stack or trump or coexist. Stacking paths get better
and better, so each power should be a little less good, since it gets all the other powers.

Trumping paths replace each other, so each tech should be better than the previous one in
most ways. Coexisting paths have skills that don't really effect each other. Each should be
useful in it's own right, and have specific utility.
For a stacking path, look at the total cost of powers. For a trumping path, look at the
individual cost of each technique, but consider the total. For a coexisting path, look mostly
at the individual cost, but be aware of the total cost as well.

Spray weapons and ammo usage

Some people don't like the "Spray weapons use a number of rounds equal to the dice in
your pool" rule. It makes a more skillful shooter use more ammo. I also generally think
Spray ratings make automatic weapons far more overpowered than I would like. I'm not
arguing that they are or aren't in real life, but I feel the ability to use all sets for free is a
powerful bonus on its own mechanically.
1. Each die of Spray used equates to about 10 rounds fired. You don't have to use the entire
Spray rating with your attack. If your weapon's one of those little buzzsaws, like a MAC-11
or Micro-Uzi, just assume that using your full 4-5d Spray rating empties the magazine.
2. 2/3-round bursts add +1d to your pool, allow you to use up to 2/3 sets, but can only be
used on a single target. NOTE: Not sure about the +1d to your pool thing, I may drop it for
my game but allow a 3-round burst to benefit from aiming.
3. For semiautomatic weapons, the number of rounds actually fired is equal to the lowest
loose die in the your pool or the number of attacks made, whichever is higher. If there are
no loose dice, use the Height of the shortest set. This makes a skilled shooter more likely to
do the job with single shots, while a less experienced gunman is more likely to spray and
pray.
Aimed shots only use one round.

Area to determine Story Impact

The Area (Width X Height) can be used as a function for the overall "Story Impact" of an
action. This can be used for both individual characters as well as for Companies. The roll
comes up with a 2x5 and a 3x4. The character or Company can decide to do the action
better (2x5) or faster (3x4). Looking at the area you have a 10 and a 12. The 3x4 action
would have a bigger impact (e.g. be better recieved, fetch a higher price, etc.) than the
2x5.
Think of three different Impact 20ishs:
4x5
2x10
3x7
The 4x5 is notorious for the speed in which it happened... the 2x10 because it was so well
executed and the 3x7 because it was fast and impressive. You could factor the "biggest
multiplier" into the Impact to further customize what it actually means.
Impact = Effect
* 0 - 12 = No real impact: This effort has no lasting effects
* 13 - 19 = Significant Impact: This effort has some minor lasting effect
* 20 - 30 = Astonishing Impact: This effort has a major lasting effect

* 31+ = Earth-shattering Impact: This effort has numerous major and minor effects
You could look at the effects as Reputation, Infamy, Maiming, Infection, Value, etc. The
action with the biggest Impact is the one which appears on the Holo-News that evening...

Reward Dice
It's sometimes tough to get players immersed in role-playing. Self-consciousness is
compounded by OOC joking around. While always good-natured the joking makes it tough
to sustain a serious RP mood, even when the joking isn't directly about the RP in question.
Here is a good way to encourage roleplaying in the ORE system.
At the beginning of every session, the GM makes 20 "extra" dice available and places them
in a cup: 12 white dice, 6 red dice, and 2 blue dice.
White dice are normal dice, red are Expert/Hard dice, and blue are Trump/Wiggle dice.
Each time someone does some great roleplaying, any OTHER player (i.e. no nominating
himself), including the GM, can nominate the player for a draw from the dice cup. If the GM
agrees, the player gets a die at random.
If a player with one or more reward dice really likes whatever another player is trying to do,
he can also give one or more reward dice to the other player as bonus 'gift dice' just before
the roll is made. Whatever 'gift' die is picked needs to be spent on that roll.
At the end of the night, the players turn in any unused dice (so, they have to keep them
seperate from their normal dice).
This is a good way to encourage some drama or other coolness. The GM can be pretty
liberal awarding dice at first, then tighten up and start being a little more demanding.
The group can also use different colored poker chips instead of dice.

Toggling, and Rolling with Blow

Toggling: also called Faster/Weaker, Harder/Slower; you may chose to add 1 to your set's
width for either its speed of effect or its power (ie, damage), in exchange for the effective
width reduced by 1 for the other. In other words, if you roll a 2x10, you can
have it count as width 1 for damage and 3 for speed,or visa versa.
Rolling With Blow: an addition to shaking it off. Shaking it off costs 1 Experience Point to
stop 1 stun, 2 Experience Points to stop 1 killing. Or 1 Experience Point to change 1 killing
to stun.
Alternate Block and Dodge Rules
The default system of ORE makes blocking/parrying and dodging quite difficult. Attacks
have to beat the height and width of incoming attacks. The following rules make defensive
manuevers a bit easier.
Incoming attacks can be Dodged or Blocked, if the player declares that as their character's
intent. Instead of the Dodge or Block manuever's roll having to beat both the height and

width of the incoming attack, use the following guidelines.

Dodge: A character can completely dodge any attack whose width their dodge roll beats.
Multiple actions penalties apply normally. Dodging ranged attacks has a difficulty on the
defender's roll equal to the available cover (3+ for heavy cover nearby, 5+ for light cover
nearby, 8+ for no cover nearby). Ties in width reduces the damage Width by one, but the
attack still hits.
Example: Horatio is being attacked by a cultist with a knife. He is unarmed, so he decides
to leap away from the cultist. Horatio makes a Dodge roll versus the cultist's Melee. Horatio
gets a 3x3 while the cultist gets a 3x6. Since their widths are tied, Horatio is still hit, but the
damage is calculated as if it were a 2x6 attack. So Horatio takes 2S + 1K fro the attack. The
next round, Horatio and the cultist do the same thing. This time Horatio scores a 3x1
success and the cultist a 2x10. In this case, Horatio leaps out of the way, if but clumsily.
Block: A character can attempt to block incoming melee attacks, if they wish. Ranged
attacks cannot be blocked. Successful rolls on a Block act as gobble dice for any attacks that
they beat in height. Blocking a melee weapon while unarmed will automatically do the
weapon's damage to one limb (assume a Width 1 attack). Shields grant a +1d or +2d bonus
to the character's Block pool (depending on the size), but follow the same rules listed here.
Example: Horatio finally gets his hands on a metal tray and uses it to block the cultist
that has been hounding him. Horatio's Block roll is a 2x4 and the cultist's attack is 3x2.
Horatio's block beats the attack's height so he uses his two gobble dice to spoil the attack.

Alternative Damage System

This alternative rule grants groups the ability to remove hit locations and use the height of
an attack to determine the severity of the wound caused.
In the Alternate Damage system for ORE, height is used to represent the severity of the
wound, rather than the hit location. In this system, location is not tracked (unless the player
chooses to sacrifice a limb to the damage, see below). There would be four wound
severities: Superficial, Serious, Critical, and Mortal. The heights and number of wound
boxes are as follows:
Mortal (10): 4 Wound Boxes
Critical (8-9): 4 Wound Boxes
Serious (5-7): 5 or 6 Wound Boxes
Superficial (1-4): 5 or 6 Wound Boxes
(Note: I'm not sure if 6 wound boxes is too much for Serious and Superficial)
Characters suffer the following (cumulative) penalties when they have all damage boxes in
the appropriate category filled with Killing Damage.
Mortal: Dead
Critical: -1d to all actions
Serious: -1d to concentration actions
Superficial: -1d to physical actions
Damage rolls up, so a character that takes 5 killing and 5 Shock superficially would fill in
five killing, use two points of shock to fill the last box in Superficial, and then put three
points of Shock up into Serious. This character would suffer a -1d penalty to all physical
actions.

As a further option, groups may choose to switch Weapon Damage to a flat scale with this
(remove the width bonus to all weapons). This depends on how deadly you want things to
be. If you remove W from damage, default all W's in the listed Weapon Damages to 2. This
is really up to style of game you want. Removing the width from damage "standardizes" the
system, leaving width solely an aspect of speed.
Players can "sacrifice" a limb rather than taking damage from an attack. Sacrificed limbs are
useless. Useless limbs have the same penalties as you'd normally associated with them (as
if the limb was filled with Shock damage). Limbs can be sacrificed twice each, the second
time the limb is completely destroyed/removed (i.e. will never heal or function again;treat
as if filled entirely with Killing damage). Limbs sacrificed once will heal over time and regain
functionality.

New Advantage: Contacts (varies)

The costs to buy Contacts dice is 2/4/10.
With a dice pool with only regular dice the contact will help you in 5-Width in days
With a dice pool with an expert die the contact will help you in 5-Width in hours.
With a dice pool with an master die the contact will help you ASAP.
Expert Dice represent business friendship, colleagues, a favor. Master Dice represent close
friends, family, team members.
The contact has 4d in his Stat. You can give the contact dice in one relevant skill by
increasing the cost of the dice above. So, a Contact Enginseer 3d (and a Tech-Use skill 4d)
would cost 3x(2+4)=18 points. You can try the contact the Contact by rolling a dice pool of
3 dice. If you succeed the Enginseer has a Tech-Use dice pool of 4d+4d=8d.
You can make a Group a contact but you can't invest Expert dice or Master
dice in it. The skill increase counts for the sole individual that you contact in that group.

Esoteric Discipline - Tech-Use

Rite of the Mechanicus
1.BINARY CHATTER (no test needed)
You are adept at controlling servitors. Gain +1d bonus to any attempt to instruct, program
or question servitors.
2. ELECTRO GRAFT USE (no test needed)
You have the ability to use an electro graft to access data points and commune with
machine spirits. This grants you +1d bonus to Lore, Scrutinze and Tech-Use Tests whilst
connected to a data point.
3. CHEM GELD (no test needed)
A variety of chemical and surgical treatments have rendered you immune to the
temptations of the flesh. Seduction attempts against you automatically fail, and the
Difficulty of all Fascinate Tests made against you is increased by 1. When you take this
Talent you gain one Insanity Point.
4. FEEDBACK SCREECH
Prerequisites: Tech-Priest (Respirator Unit).
By muttering illogical formulae under your breath (and making a Tech-Use test) you are
able to foment rebellion within your vox synthesisers. Your audio circuits protest in a
screeching blast of noise, shocking and distracting others in equal measure. All creatures,
except Daemonic and machine-based, within a 30 metre radius must make a Stability Test

or be Surprised as they shudder, swear, cover their ears or otherwise react to the horrid
noise. This is takes a full Round and may not be used again for 10-Width in Rounds while
your audio circuits reset.
5. AUTOSANGUINE
Ancient and blessed technology filters your blood. Handed down from generations past, your
implants repair minor injuries. Once every twelve hours you may make a Tech-Use Test. On
a success, you remove Height in points of Shock Damage (1 Killing equals 2 Shock). In
addition, you naturally heal at double the rate (see Healing in the rulebook). If you Fumble
the roll however, in additon to failing, you also strain your implants. They cease to function
for one week. For that time you are unable to use this Talent. Autosanguination takes ten
minutes of meditation and ritual incantation to activate. Your autosanguinators also sooth
the minor pains and sores caused by the blessed metal of your implants pressing upon your
weak flesh. This has no in game effect, but does make you slightly less irritable than before.
Rite of the Skitarii
1. LUMINEN SHOCK
Prerequisites: Tech-Priest (Electoo inductor/Polentia coil).
By focusing your bio-electrical energy through your electoo inductors (and making a TechUse test), you are able to damage your opponents. You can touch your enemy for this
ability to work or Shoot the blast at him. In combat, you must make a successful Grapple
Test to deliver the blast. Each luminen Shock deals W+2 in Shock damage plus Waste Dice.
Each time you use this Talent, you receive 1 Shock damage to your own body.
2. LOGIS IMPLANT
You may utilise analytical circuits to calculate trajectory and reactions to a preternatural
extent. Your ability to read possible outcomes lets you anticipate the movements of your
opponents. You may make a Tech-Use Test to activale your Logis Implant. This action takes
a whole turn. Until the end of your next Turn, you gain +1d bonus to your Fight and Shoot
Skills. Each time you use this Talent, you receive 1 Shock damage to your body.
3. ENERGY CACHE (no test needed)
Prerequisites: Tech-Priest (Potentia coil).
You have learnt how to focus some of power stored within your potentia coil. You no longer
receive Shock damage from using Logis Implant and Luminen Shock.
4. ELECTRICAL SUCCOUR
Prerequisites: Tech-Priest (Electoo inductor/Polentia coil).
You can call upon the sacred flow of energy to replenish your weak flesh. Whilst in contact
with a functioning powered machine, or fully charged battery, you may make Body + Vigor
Test each Round. If you succeed, remove one Killing damage plus one Killing Damage for
every set rolled. This take one minute of meditation and incantation to activate.
5. GUN BLESSING
Prerequisites: Tech-Priest (Electoo inductor/Polentia coil).
With a wave of your hand you give a weapon the blessing of the Ommnissiah. You may
bless any weapon in a 10 meter radius. To do so, make a Tech-Use test. A success indicates
that you have rallied the spirits of the weapons. You can give the weapons either +1
damage or +1 Penetration. This blessing takes a full Round to intone.
Rite of the Omnissiah
1. RITE OF AWE
Prerequisites: Tech-Priest (Respirator Unit).
You may recite an infrasonic liturgy that causes awe and fear. All humans within a 50 metre
radius regardless of their ability to hear, feel a sense of dread and religious guilt. Alongside
these emotional effects. all humans take a -1d penalty to their next Skill Test. Characters
may make a Stability to shake off these effects. Whilst incanting the rite, you may not talk
on any additional frequency. The rite is two minutes long, and it is considered very bad form

to break off incantations at any point within the liturgy. Note that humans without auditory
implants cannot hear infrasonic sound, and thus will assume you are not speaking.
2. RITE OF FEAR
Prerequisites; Tech-Priest (Respirator Unit).
You may recite an infrasonic dirge, which causes terror within the weak. All humans,
regardless of their ability to hear, within a 50 metre radius consider you to have a
Fear Intensity of 3, Whilst incanting the dirge, you may not talk on any additional
frequency. The rite is two minutes long, and it is considered very bad form to break off
incantations at any point within the liturgy, Note that humans without auditory implants
cannot hear the ultrasonic sound, and thus will assume you are not speaking.
3. RITE OF PURE THOUGHT
Prerequisites: Tech-Priest (Cranial Circuitry).
You have replaced the creative right half of your brain with a cognitor. You no longer feel
emotion, and are instead filled with the cold purity of logic. You are now immune to Stability
Tests. Others now find you disturbing to say the least. Your GM will remove any Mental
Disorders that are no longer relevant, and grant you new ones of equal severity.
4. RITE OF ATTUNEMENT
Prerequisites: Tech-Priest (Electoo inductor/Polentia coil).
You can call an unsecured metal object that you can see to your hand. Roll a match with
Tech-Use and lift an amount of weight up to your Command in capacity (see below). The
object must be within a 40 metre radius. You spend a Full Round to enact this rite.
Command Maximum Lift
1d
1 kilo
2d
1,5 kilo
3d
2 kilo
4d
2,5 kilo
5d
3 kilo
6d
3,5 kilo
5. RITE OF TRANSENDENCE
Prerequisites: Tech-Priest (Potentia coil)
By long hours of rote learning, you have mastered one of the miracles of the Omnissiah. By
spending a Round concentrating, you may hover 20-30 centimetres of the ground for a
number of minutes equal to your Knowledge + Tech-Use. You may move at your normal
walking pace and must employ a Half Action each round to concentrate on maintaining the
rite. Each Rite of Transcendence exhausts the power in in your potentia coil and thus you
may only use this rite once in every twelve hour period.