Void Rover

The void rovers are a nimble, good-looking people who drape themselves in bright silks and heaps of jewelry, drifting through the void between worlds in gaudy, patched-together starships. Nobody knows whether they began on some world and found their way into space or were spacefarers who adopted a wandering, caravan-style life. They refuse to discuss their origins and bristle at anyone who pries; guarding that secret matters to them even more than money and 'stuff'. Besides their own secret language they speak Thieves' Cant and Common.

Most void rovers are 1st-level thieves, with thief skills adjusted for their high Dexterity. They will cheerfully tell you they are lovers, not fighters, chasing fun and profit rather than pain. They are happy to let others fight for them, and show their gratitude by selling their defenders healing balms at bargain prices.

When a fight cannot be avoided, they stall until they have the edge. Weapons are short sword and main-gauche (40%), dagger and sling (30%), rapier (20%) or long sword (10%). They wear no armor, relying on tough skin and quick reflexes, though 20% have rings or cloaks of protection or bracers of defense. Once a day each can feign death, usually after a scratch or a staged fall and knock on the head. Once the attacker leaves, the void rovers plot a return match the enemy will never see coming.

They have slight magic resistance and are 75% immune to detection spells. No one can read their thoughts, and none ever develops psionics. Long life in the void has taught their hardy bodies to use very little air; one can go 2d10 days on the air it holds.

These easygoing folk scavenge wrecks, run cons, pick pockets and read fortunes, leaving fighting and spying to two special groups. Blades, always male, are 5th-level fighters with 5th-level thief skills and the spellcasting of a 5th-level bard, enough to power a starhelm; they plan the clan's strategy and tactics. Umbra, male or female, are 5th-level thieves with 5th-level bard spells who infiltrate other peoples to spy, scout and, rarely, kill a powerful foe. Outsiders sometimes hire Umbra, who rarely resist pocketing a few things and usually get caught. Each ten void rovers include two Blades and one Umbra, none of them distinguishable from the rest.

A clan is twenty or more adults plus 2d6 children, who all learn 1st-level thief skills first. Surnames have a starfaring ring; the best known clans are the Voidrunners, the Flamesea clan and the Starwakes. The eldest man and his wife lead as Beloved Grandfather and Beloved Grandmother, each a 10th-level Blade or Umbra, usually holding at least one protective magic item that doubles as a mark of rank. Leaders stay out of combat, but in dire need either can summon a constellate once a year to defend the clan, permanently losing 1 hit point each time. Marriage is for life. A widowed Grandfather may remarry; a widowed Grandmother rules alone and may not.

Clan custom is rigidly male-dominated. Men decide everything, roam most freely and claim the choicest plunder. Women bear and raise children, run the household and nurse the sick and hurt, and serve publicly as fortune-tellers, dancers and the lure in scams. A determined woman can become an Umbra, but must still obey any adult man. Void rover men treat outsider women no better, and especially enjoy exploiting those who find the roving life romantic.

They follow no single faith. To stay on good terms with any power they might need, they revere whichever power has most recently impressed them. If a priest of Ptah heals one of them, the whole clan converts on the spot, chanting Ptah's praises, wearing his symbols and swearing eternal devotion, until next week, when another god's priest pulls off a similar feat and the clan swears eternal devotion all over again. Clans are expert makers of loaded dice, card decks (fair and marked), and small blades such as daggers, knives, darts and main-gauches.

Collecting salvage wherever they roam, the void rovers help keep space tidy; they are compulsive packrats, since any junk might find a buyer. Ask about their homeworld and they answer, 'What's a homeworld?' Some scholars and hopelessly optimistic adventurers insist it exists, heaped with treasure sent as tribute by every clan to a 'King and Queen of the Rovers'. Their proof is always star maps showing its location. Naturally, they bought the maps from the void rovers, and naturally no two agree.