Pre-Order Store for SOLARIS ARCANUM: The Roleplaying Game

Welcome to the Solar Reach!
3 months ago – Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 08:02:00 AM

Hail, armigers! 

Behold, the Solar Reach map! Designed by the inimitable Yağmur, one of our gifted artists. 

To go with this lovely map, we thought we would give a quick tour of a couple intriguing spots in the Solar Reach: namely, some of the natural and unnatural satellites orbiting the planets. 

Hathor Prime, Orbital Prison City

The amount of resources that were put into the construction of this space station might be the single biggest waste of capital in human history. With the success of the Martian colonies, the Equatorial Union began work on its own megastructure in the void. It was a disaster: though they raised huge amounts of capital, much of which was wasted, and upon closer investigation, the projected returns from the project were vastly exaggerated or even forged. 

Its collapse caused major economic turbulence on Earth. Not willing to throw good money after bad, the project was finished, and the station was abandoned. To what extent the station remained inhabited or used at all is contradictory in the historic record; some say that research teams remained using elements of the station. Some suggest that the cost of running even a small part of the station was more than the debtors picking at the Union’s corpse were willing to pay. After the fall of the Union and the sale of the station, it was reoccupied and refitted, at least portions of it, so that modest gas extraction could begin; the terraforming of Mars was even in these early days a beast that needed feeding. The enterprise was modestly successful, and capacity expanded to include a small fleet in support of the station. More and more of Hathor was rebuilt, and even additional orbitals were constructed to expand the operation. 

During the Final Global Crisis and the events of Earth’s last days, much attention was paid to the ARK ships, but they were not the only method of evacuation; smaller ships carrying thousands or hundreds of people also fled the dying planet in smaller less space worthy vessels than the ARK ships. Most of these vessels were lost in the void, as they lacked the capacity to do long-distance space flight, but of those that did survive, a lot of them made it to Venus, one of the closest planets to Earth. These people and the ships that they brought with them set up lives in the orbital. 

The station itself is built in the style of a Stanford torus, with large rotating rings built around a central hub. The gentle rotation of the rings provides the gravity needed to support human life in space. The station has everything it needs to be self-sustaining and protected from the dangers of the void.  Other stations around Venus are commonly built in the same style. The station is about big enough for 30,000 people, though, excluding the era of Solar Sail, the population probably never got close to capacity. 

After the devastating Wars of Coherence, Hathor Prime became a protectorate of Mars, and a large portion of it was converted into a prison. Hathor Prime is not a place where anyone wants to end up. The second ring segment is completely given over to prisoners. Mars periodically empties out its jails, offering prisoners reduced sentences if they agree to serve their time on Hathor, or just as often, sending people there without being offered a deal. There, the prisoners must work in the sulphuric acid-laced atmosphere, extracting and refining greenhouse gases for the terraforming project. It is extremely dangerous work, and the ships filled with those released from the stations are always emptier than those arriving.  

The bottom ring of the station is mostly given over to industry. There are fabricators and refineries getting the bounties of Venus ready for export. The top ring is the only one that is not part of the Prison. Here, the natives of Hathor make their homes, few though they are. They have lives of their own, petty commerce, and employment. Those not directly employed by the working of the prisons below them do their best not to think about the suffering happening almost within view of their portholes. 

In addition to the native Hathorians, there are plenty of Martian staff working in various capacities within the prison. The kind of people who have traveled across the void to be part of a gigantic forced labor colony are not the most pleasant that Mars has to offer. The Hathorians do their best to avoid them, and the bars and restaurants of Hathor tend to be segregated between them, albeit unofficially.

Mars Orbital Space

Deos Mons, Orbital Shipyard 

In a tidally-locked orbit above the Samostan is the orbital shipyard of Deos Mons. This facility is where the solar sails are produced and repaired and where the greatest number of ships in the Solar Reach are produced. This facility is one of the most securely guarded places in the Solar Reach. It is run by the Major Council, but since the Inheritors were the first to introduce solar sails, they have a prominent position on the Shipyard Advisory Board.  

Gohar Station, Asteroid Catcher 

The terraforming of Mars requires immense resources, much of which come from the Asteroid Belt. With this Station, asteroids are effectively launched at Mars using advanced mathematical calculations and huge engines. Gohar Station catches those asteroids and processes them to a level that they can be transported to the surface for refining and utilization. 

Deimos: The Great Fortress of Mars 

Deimos was, for a lot of Mars’ history, just a research station on an unremarkable rock. A home for pirate habs, smuggling rings and strange cults. However, after the reignition of the Core, the leaders of the Samostan deemed it necessary that Mars should be able to defend itself. Even then, before the Sarvanāśa, the conflicts that would become the Wars of Coherence were being stoked.

The moon started its life as a missile silo with weapons, anti-ship torpedoes, and prototype interplanetary missiles. Of course, to defend these installations the base also required closer range fortifications, gun emplacements, and strike-craft hangers. These installations put the Samostan at a great strategic advantage over the other cities of Mars, as they could control the orbital space of Mars from a secure location.  

As Jupiter made its play for Mars during the second phase of the Wars of Coherence, Deimos was under almost continuous assault; the big guns of Mars had to be silenced or at least distracted while the planet was under attack. While the fleets of Jupiter ruled the skies of Mars, the Martian Navies sheltered on Deimos. The guards of Deimos fought heroically through some of the worst fighting conditions of the whole war. They knew they had no choice because, if the fortress fell, the batteries and nuclear missile caches they safeguarded would surely have been turned on the planet's surface. 

Against all odds, they held the line in the face of orbital bombardment, the clone armies and the Jovian vat-crafted monsters, until the Solar Sails lifted the siege and turned the tide. The defenders of Deimos, the Children of Fear as they came to be known, were and are the most respected infantry in the Solar Reach.

Since the Wars, the fortress has been expanded with added layers of defense. No threat will be allowed to get close to Mars again. Though the moon was originally built up by the Samostan, it now receives contributions of fighters and material from across Mars. 

The current leader of the Children of Fear is General Jordan Victoria Ilyin, a highly respected commander with experience fighting pirates in the Asteroid Belt.

Phobos, the Hermetic Moon

The Alveolate Order: 

Based on Phobos, The Alveolate Order is a religious community, monastic and austere. Their monks and nuns can be found all across Mars and the Solar Reach in small communes and hospices. However, their base of operations is Phobos. While Phobos is part of the Martian polity, sends representatives to and is within the jurisdiction of the Major Council, in reality the settlement on Phobos, built from the bones of the 4th ARK ship The Shklovsky, is run with almost no oversight from Mars. 

Research from the Order can be found all over the Solar Reach; they are always on the hunt for specific snippets of occult information. The order would claim that they are simply scholars collecting information for the purpose of the advancement of knowledge. Others speculate that the resources Phobos seems to have at its disposal imply a bigger agenda, though what that is and who is funding it is unknown.

Although many in authority are suspicious of these visitors, to the laborers of Mars they are often a life saver. The hospices of the Order are often a vital lifeline providing healthcare, food, and clean water to people in need. Their hospices can be found in habs deep in the Regolith without much in the way of government support.   

Titan, Gifts of the Princess

Capital: Adiri

Leadership: Princess Bronwyn Miancimu Antiochus

The 9th ARK ship, The Huygens, was disassembled when it reached Saturn. The various sections of the ship split off from each other and traveled to the various moons of Saturn to build small stations and habitation modules around the planet. The original idea of Saturn was to begin to leverage the almost endless resources of Saturn's moons for the future of Earth. Saturn was to be a mine, and ultimately a staging post as the humans of Earth began their journey even deeper into the depths of space. Of course, Earth was unable to ever take advantage of the bounty that Saturn could provide, and the pioneers, meant to be the vanguard of a glorious new interstellar civilization, were left on their own in the cold. 

The planet of Saturn is not inhabited. Whatever unique power the Jovian Lords have been able to draw upon allowing them to live in Jupiter has not been shared with the rest of the Solar Reach. The moons of Saturn are a different matter. With the exception of Mars itself, Saturn's moons, Titan, Hyperion, Enceladus, Phoebe, and more are perhaps some of the easiest places to live in the Solar Reach, with habs on many of the moons and their capital on Titan. Easy is, of course, a relative term. However, the aristocratic families of Saturn, led by Princess Bronwyn Miancimu Antiochus, have built one of the most stable polities in the Solar Reach. With their own terraforming project on Titan, and vast armies of robots making up for a small human population, it is possible that there may be more than one truly habitable home for humanity within the Solar Reach. What is more, Titan has a massive hydrocarbon sea, Kraken Mare, which gives the Princess a powerful bargaining chip in dealings with Mars. 

The Armigers of Saturn

The military of Saturn is sometimes looked down upon by the warriors of Mars as being bloodless, relying on drone warfare rather than soldiers. This is true, and given the small size of even the free population, Saturn is always loath to risk human life. The front-line soldiers they do have are armigers; their task is to support the drone fleets as commandos. As the drone armadas follow their algorithmically determined routes, the elite Armigers teams of Mars conduct lightning raids to assassinate key staff, sabotage infrastructure or gather intelligence. The Armigers of Saturn are one of the few places where bloodline does not matter, and free can command nobles (theoretically).

Unlike on Mars, where armiger companies are private institutions, most of the Armiger companies of Saturn are controlled by a noble family and ultimately the princess herself. Private armiger companies on Saturn do exist, as do companies or cells from other parts of the Solar Reach looking to make their fortune in the rings. The foreign companies, in particular, are looked upon with suspicion as little better than pirates.

Adiri

The royal capital of Adiri, built on the western shores of the vast, dark sand sea of Shangri-La, is perhaps the most picturesque city in the entire Reach. It resembles an elaborate crystal shell that perpetually catches the light of the icy Titan surface. Many of the crown’s robot soldiers constantly work to keep the buildings spotless. 

Royal Labs 

The Royal Labs are a massive complex of laboratories attached to the Royal Palace, specializing in studying tholins, a tar-like organic sludge formed from Titan’s methane-rich atmosphere. Since tholins are used as a base for genetic manipulation, the Saturnine monarchy tasked scientists with studying it extensively, with the ultimate goal of overcoming biotic entropy. Tholins are a highly prized resource for Gene Sifters and Grafters across the Solar Reach.  

Kraken Mare

An immense hydrocarbon sea and a major source of Saturnine power. The Princess of Saturn has tasked a guild of magi, known as the Sisters of Kraken Mare, to ensure the sea’s protection, as well as a full squadron of robot sentries. They have a fortified stronghold and refinery on Mayda Insula in the center of the sea, as well as airborne processing drones. 

The Rings of Saturn - Project Satiate 

The mesmerizing rings of Saturn are composed mainly of ice crystals and rocks. High above the rings floats Project Satiate, a slow-orbit water depot built to store and distribute harvested ice. Swarms of autonomous Scavenger drones swoop into the rings, extract ice and other materials, before going back to Satiate where the ice is processed and then sent via void ships to Titan. Some of the ice is later sold to the Ganymede Cartel, which they use to help fulfill Mars’ insatiable thirst. 

Ganymede, the Water Trove

Capital: Nanshe Catena, New Phrygia

Leadership: The Seven Slake Elders, headed by the current One, Pamir Kertész

Ganymede is the capital of the Galileans and home to one of the most influential organizations in the Solar Reach, the Ganymede Cartel. Its capital city of Nanshe Catena is a bit of a misnomer, as the moon could really be considered an ecumenopolis. Almost the entire surface of the moon is covered by urban sprawl with little division: extensive mining operations, with habitats-turned-cities which formed on and around them and then metastasized; the moon is now a vast ocean of lights, towers, vent towers, and domes. The main resource on Ganymede is water and water purification; underneath the surface is an ocean with more water than was once on Earth. This, naturally, puts Ganymede in an incredibly powerful position: the Cartel sits on the Minor Council and helps dictate Solar Reach policy. The entire moon works for the water, and there is very little in the way of opulence like Titan’s Adiri. However, no expense has been spared when it comes to efficiency and productivity. Workers must be properly trained, fed, and given sleep and leisure time; thus, the cities are well appointed. Outside of the few domes with artificial gravity, most inhabitants of Ganymede live in the large rotating cities built atop the immense water drills and pumps, a dual design which was exported to the other Galilean Moons as well: the spinning of the artificial gravity cores helps power the continuous extraction of water. 

Nanshe Catena proper is a domed city where the Cartel highest ranks and their attendants reside, where the Cartel’s offices and halls of leisure can be found, as well as temples (precious few), austere shopping centers, and the small embassies allowed, one from Mars and one from Titan. Conspicuous consumption and extraneous opulence are prohibited by the Cartel’s Sumptuary Laws. Production and Prosperity are the guiding lights.

The Cartel 

The powers behind this immense organization all trace their lineage back to the 7th ARK ship, the Rapier. Previously, several cartels ran different operations on the moon, but they have since been subsumed into a monolithic entity with absolute power on the moon and the rest of the Galileans. The inner workings and decision-making of the Cartel are highly secretive, and no known Harrower has ever been able to gain access. What is known is that the Cartel is overseen by an oligarchy, currently headed by Pamir Kertész, whose grandmother was the last head of the Cartel. Pamir is taciturn and calculating; his stare is penetrating, and his cold countenance chills rooms before he enters. He has trained extensively in the duellist’s arts as part of his private education, and rumor has it that he is also psionically gifted, though this may be rumors spread by the Cartel’s intelligence to maintain an air of supernatural danger. Make no mistake: the danger is not purely smoke and mirrors. The Cartel’s influence and power spreads across the Reach. It has its own standing armigers, its own private security more loyal than armigers, a fleet of drones, and a standing cadre of powerful psions and magi. 

Europa:

One of Jupiter’s icy moons, much of the surface of Europa has been taken over by subsurface water mining, under the auspices of the Ganymede Cartel. The majority of people who live on Europa are water ‘diggers’, engineers, or scientists. Because there is still some hope that Europa could become a habitable garden one day, a significant portion of the surface has been left untouched by the Cartel…for now. As Europa is more important in the Cartel’s eyes, their Margraves (rank 415) run the industrial islands, though they are heavily surveilled.  

Langshan Station: 

The inter-lunar ecosystem of Io and Europa creates an intriguing dynamic: Io’s constant volcanic activity sends sulphur and other particles into the void, with much of it ending up on Europa’s icy surface. Scientists have been fascinated with this exchange since before the end of Earth, as it poses questions that might lead to interesting discoveries about the possibility for making habitable ecosystems, and how large those ecosystems can be. The Langshan Station on Europa is financed by the Ganymede Cartel to study the effects of the interplay of Io’s effect on Europa. Nothing substantial in the way of creating an artificial “new Earth” has emerged, but the scientists are hopeful. The Cartel is patient, for now. 

Callisto:

The furthest Galilean from Jupiter, Callisto’s tidally-locked surface is riddled with craters from a long life of impacts. Some scientists indicate that Callisto’s surface is older than any known celestial body in the Solar Reach. Similar to Europa, Callisto has a subsurface ocean 100km below the surface, which the Cartel has diligently set up infrastructure to exploit. Several of the Cartel’s Lieutenants (rank 432) run the facilities as quasi-fiefdoms.  

The Valhalla Palimpsest: 

The entire facade of Callisto is one of violent impact after impact. Nowhere is this more apparent and more awe-inspiring than the Palimpsest, so named because its surface has been rewritten so many times. It is a sprawling impact basin of around 360 km on the Jupiter-facing side, and it is surrounded by concentric circles of mountain ridges spreading out over almost 2,000 km. Punctuated around this massive area are huge craters from later arrivals. In the center of the Palimpsest, recently built by a joint Mars-Ganymede venture, is a military training facility of truly staggering proportions. Here armigers and regulars train in martial practices, in view of the gas giant and its dormant Jovians. Some of the major arms companies have satellite branches here, especially the ones perfecting experimental technology, such as Oliana Nullworks and CTR (Céüse Tactical Research). The facilities include accommodation for staff and visiting armiger or military groups who wish to train in the rippling hellscape, dotted with mines, drones, turrets, and captured monsters.

Final Words

In other news, we are done writing the books! Now it moves to the design stage and then the inevitable tweaking stage. We are still waiting for more feedback from the Second Playtest as well, which we can implement before the final proofreading stage. 

Take Care, Stay Safe, See you in the Void, 

The Metis Writing Team 

New Public Playtests Incoming and a Detailed Look at the Specter Class!
4 months ago – Tue, Feb 03, 2026 at 06:53:16 AM

Greetings Armigers, 

Tyler here from Camp Writing Team. A cold front has hit us here in Istanbul, as it has in other parts of our dear planet. As we sit huddled over our keyboards, staring out at the winds whipping over the ferries and fishing boats on the Golden Horn, we are reminded of somewhere else that’s cold and unforgiving. Hmm, where could that be? Ah yes…

In this update, we are talking about our final class of Armigers, the Specters. In previous updates, we have detailed the other classes and their archetypes: the Bastions, Synths, Vitalists, and Aethers. Interestingly, some of the Specter archetypes have been with us since the early days of ASTRA ARCANUM development (with changes along the way), and some are newer additions that took longer to gestate. 

Before we get to the sneaky Specters, though, we have another big announcement.

The Next Round of Playtests are Coming! 

We received a lot of useful feedback from all of you during the first round of public playtests. Since then, as we approach the end of our writing tasks, we have also been busy interrogating and implementing your feedback. We are eternally grateful to all the intrepid volunteers (especially the GMs!) who played the game and got back to us. Thank you so much! 

Coming up next, we will be asking you to take the rules and build the most insane, broken, overpowered armiger characters you can. We want you to gleefully stretch and break the game. More info about that coming soon! 

 Specters - The Unseen Menace

Specters are precision killers, infiltration experts, and agile tacticians. Whether operating as stealthy assassins, close-quarters infiltrators, or long-range snipers, Specters are built around high lethality, targeted elimination, and adaptive mobility. They don’t start fights: they end them before anyone realizes a fight has begun. These archetypes are perfect for players who like to play characters with emphasis on stealth, burst damage, mobility, or disruption.

Here’s a quick rundown of the Specter Archetypes:

• The Noctis Commando: a master of speed and shadow, able to approach, blast you with a shotgun, and be gone.
• The Pistoleer: the quick-draw expert, deadlier and more accurate than most in the Reach.
• The Saboteur: the consummate maven of dirty jobs, the Saboteur plants explosives, gets behind enemy lines, and plants more explosives.
• The Sniper: patient, careful, and unerringly precise, the Sniper had you dead in their sights ages ago.

Every class has a Core Ability which is unlocked as soon as you choose the class, and Specter is no different. When you first create your Specter character (or if you multiclass into it later on), you gain access to the Silent Footfalls ability, which grants you better Stealth:

The Noctis Commando

At the western edge of the vast Marineris Canyon is the Noctis Labyrinthus, the “Labyrinth of Night.” In the stygian, byzantine chasms of the Noctis, the city of Marineris trained a special group of armigers: commandos able to disappear in shadows and strike with ferocious precision and power before disappearing once again. The original Noctis program’s tactics have become more widespread, but anyone using the tactics remembers the name of their provenance. 

The Noctis Commando specializes in quick, silent movement and then attacking from concealment. They are ambush experts, able to hit an enemy with a devastating shotgun or assault rifle blast from close range; before the enemy knows what hit them, they’re down and out. Now, normally firing a shotgun is like waving a flag and announcing your presence to everyone. That’s another area where the commando shines: they are able to slip back into concealment and pop up somewhere else on the battlefield, always one step ahead of their adversaries. It’s very difficult to pin a Noctis Commando down, and it’s very difficult to know where they will be next. 

The Pistoleer

Like the crackshots of old, Pistoleers are the deadliest guns in the Reach. They match incredible speed with accuracy and pinpoint damage, and they are experts at close range firefights. In their arsenal they have trick shots which confer bonuses to accuracy and damage, and their speed allows them to perform more actions than some of their other armiger counterparts. 

Pistoleers typically don’t come from a particular military tradition or research initiative, like the Noctis Commandos; instead they tend to be stand out talents from armiger companies who then hone their skills. Or they are deadly wanderers who build up a reputation, perhaps even passing down their skills to an apprentice. 

The Saboteur

The Saboteur is my personal favorite armiger archetype. I’m not sure what that says about me, but trust me when I say that these guys are a fun, high-risk and high-reward build. They are sure to light up (pun intended) your battlefield. 

Though any armiger can plant an explosive or chuck a grenade, the Saboteur has taken explosives to a beautiful, deadly art. They are experts at sneaking into places that normally should be inaccessible without a fight: behind enemy lines, through polluted tunnels and mined wastelands. After they’ve snuck to where they want to, they do their grim work, planting bombs and sneaking off to watch the fireworks. They have specially developed armor weaving that allows them to blend in more effectively and even mimic the physical appearance of others for brief periods. Moreover, they have a movement mechanic that allows them to move in the margins of Sectors on the map, giving them the chance to plant mines that target more than one Sector (expanding the AoE damage) and also move in a more concealed manner. 

The Sniper

Finally, we have the sniper, death from above and beyond. The sniper was one of our first ideas for armiger archetypes, and for good reason: snipers are an indispensable addition to battlefields like those in ASTRA ARCANUM. If executed correctly, a single well-placed shot can be more effective than an entire company of Armigers. Snipers are often found operating as part of combined arms operations or sometimes alone, spending days traversing terrain to get to advantageous firing positions, waiting in the harsh Martian climate until the perfect moment to fire presents itself. They can perform Overwatch for their fellow armigers, or take a target out from long range without putting the team in direct danger. Patient, accurate, and deadly.

Final Thoughts

As always, thanks to everyone for the feedback and support. We are nearing the end of the writing process, and it’s time for me to put my writing cap away and put on my editing helmet. Until next time, see you in the Void. Stay safe out there. 

The Witching Hour is Upon Us! Revealing Historica Arcanum: The Coven of Salem
5 months ago – Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 09:04:38 AM

An Intermission to the Hunt Across the Solar Reach

If you enjoy an eldritch historical setting as much as an occult sci-fi one, we just revealed the latest entry in Historica Arcanum series: The Coven of Salem, a massive Folk Horror TTRPG that takes place in the same universe as ASTRA ARCANUM, some 700 years prior to Solar Reach!

Darkness spreads across the fallow fields and frost-covered roofs of Salem Village. The trees reach out their fingers to grasp the unattended; the animals bark and bray an unknown song. Whispers indoors and in passing take on the sound of curses and ill omens. A lone wolf with gleaming eyes follows a young girl home.

At the break of the mirthless Dawn, hearths will be lit, but the hearts of the villagers will grow ever colder. Bible black are the ambitions of callous and scornful men. Rotten grows the bower of the coven, and with it all Hell prepares to break loose.

Follow Historica Arcanum: The Coven of Salem

Magic in ASTRA ARCANUM & A Small Update on Pledge Manager
5 months ago – Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 06:48:24 AM

Greetings Gang, 

In this update, we are talking about all things arcane in the world of ASTRA ARCANUM. This includes what magic means in the ASTRA universe, the ways of practicing it, and the different Armiger archetypes that specialize in the arcane, collectively known as Aethers. Strap in, tighten your helmets, calibrate your nerves and senses, and let’s get to it! 

Small Intermission to Talk About the Pledge Manager

Hey guys, Sarp here. Before you get to the fun part, just wanted to say that the Pledge Manager is delayed for a long while.

The reason is that in Kickstarter, if we release the Pledge Manager, we can't accept any more Late Pledges. Therefore, we'll wait until the last moment to release the Pledge Manager.

That's it, back to the magic show!

The Arcana of the Solar Reach

“All the lives we chase

Are like drops of dew, motes of dust,

Like illusions dancing across an ice field.” 

The Book of Kamara-Ganti

In ASTRA ARCANUM, we use the term magic to describe the practices of both traditional magic users and psionics, which may look similar to the untrained but are rooted in different approaches to the unseen. In a nutshell, magicis the act of forcibly manipulating unseen cosmic laws or other conceptual realms through sheer will, learned ritual, or psionic resonance. This is typically done through channeling or accessing our reality’s psychosphere (explained below). Magic is powerful, unpredictable, and dangerous: not only to your enemies, but often to yourself. There are 4 Armiger Archetypes that wield the powers of this volatile magic: 

• Magus - occult spellcasters and ritualists who tap into the secrets of the furthest reaches of the conceptual realms 
• Theurgist - devout or depraved spell channelers who glean powers from the psychosphere, often through connecting with monsters of thought and belief. 
• Force Psion - Individuals who warp the natural forces of our reality. They do this by tapping into the raw prime conceptual realms through technology and the harnessing of the potential of the human mind. 
• Neural Psion - Individuals who invade and dominate the minds of others. They do this by tapping into the raw prime conceptual realms through technology and the harnessing of the potential of the human mind. 

Before jumping into the details of each of these archetypes, it’s worth giving a brief description of how magic works in ASTRA and what the other conceptual realms, the psychosphere and the primes, are.

What is Magic? 

Magic is a misleading word at the best of times. It attempts to describe a thing that actively resists definition because if we could truly name magic, explain its every contour and boundary, then the word would be forever rendered redundant. Throughout human history, humans have tried to define and delineate magic: vast works of theological lore and occult history have made this attempt. Inchoate concepts have been used to understand and explain magic, such as Heaven, Hell, the Realm of Faerie, Mount Qaf, and Purgatory, to name but a few. These explanations are incomplete, like looking through a glass darkly, in the words of the Apostle Paul. 

In short, magic as we know it is the attempt to draw power from other conceptual planes of existence and have those powers tangibly affect the real world. Though its form is as varied as anything else in human culture, it has been practiced by almost every culture that has ever existed, and its effects can be seen, intuited by those wise enough to see in every event and shift in human society and history. This remains true in the Solar Reach, perhaps even more so. It seems that the destruction of Earth turned a key in a lock and, through the atheism and mechanization of the 2nd millennium, has been undone: words of arcane origin resonate with new power, and occultists are able to make contact with entities long mute and forgotten.

The Psychosphere and Beyond

Typically, magic in its various guises channels, communicates with, or circumvents our reality’s psychosphere. A psychosphere is a realm of consciousness, or series of realms, that exists in and around our reality (for the purpose of this discussion, I will refer to our reality as ‘base reality,’ but this is a highly contentious statement amongst occult scholars). This nebulous region has been called many things; one of its appellations is Al-Ghaib, though that is by no means the only one. The psychosphere consists of many composite parts, only limited by human consciousness (potentially). 

Beyond the psychosphere are the prime realms, fields of concepts unchanging that have been with humanity since its rise from humble apes. The landscape of the primes is static, though some suggest that it is not, that it simply changes too slowly for any human to ever perceive. These academics argue that the primes have influenced humanity as long as it has existed, but as humanity has developed and grown, we have influenced the primes ourselves in a cycle. These primes represent constants in human emotional activity: hunger, hatred, desire, and so forth. If a human has felt it, then it exists in some form as a prime. These primes are sometimes depicted as anthropomorphic entities that can be communed with, such as gods, but this is highly contested, as others argue that they are just concepts without any will of their own. 

What is known, however, is that there are entities within these conceptual realms, both in the prime and in the psychosphere. Explanations for how they came to be vary: some of them are figments of the human psyche, or manifestations of faith, and so forth. Others are native to these strange places: monsters that hunt in these shifting paths. These entities could be described as the angels, demons, and djinn of folklore and theology, and much more.

Connecting Between our Reality and Beyond

Between our base realities and the primes, there are pathways through, and composed of, the psychosphere; the stronger the primes, the more solid the pathway. It is along these pathways that magical power and influence flow. These corridors and pathways are closer to our base reality than the pure realms of thought that make up the primes. Every time a human makes contact with a prime, either directly through the practice of magic or belief, or unconsciously through the action of emotion, the pathway between base reality and the primes becomes stronger. In fact, one could say that every thought that every human has ever made, every thought or feeling, no matter how fleeting, has played a part in the construction of these conceptual realms. It is by this connection that magic can occur, that power can flow. 

It is also possible to travel to these places. Folk law and history are replete with stories of those who have done so both by accident and on purpose. Tales of the realms of Faerie, Al-Ghaib, the Blazing World, and perhaps even Heaven and Hell, describe these pathways. Each of these paths is different. Some are static; completely unchanging seemingly outside of time; others are riots of color and passion. It is possible that every traveler who has entered a conceptual realm has visited a different pathway from every traveler who has done so before them. Close to our base reality, the paths through the psychosphere will be governed by many of the same laws of physics and chemistry that rule base reality. However, as the path gets closer to the primes, the structure and order of reality breaks down, and the traveler enters a place of pure concept with all the contradictions that implies.  

So how does a human interact with the primes and the conceptual realms that make up our psychosphere? To a certain extent, all humans are in constant communion with these realms. All emotion feeds and is fed by the psychosphere, but more specifically, it can manifest in all levels of intensity from a simple déjà vu noticed by none as life passes by, all the way to a miracle that breaks the laws of science. 

The Occult Armigers - Magi and Theurgists

A Magus connects with the primes directly, channeling their power into our world. They use words, symbols, and willpower to take a small fraction of the power from the primes and bring it to base reality. Bringing the power to base reality is extremely difficult; controlling it and shaping it into a useful effect is also very hard. Suffice it to say that doing it safely is also demanding. However, it is a well-understood, by those in the know, way of wielding power not so different from the ancient sorceries of Morgana, Paracelsus, Circe, or Merlin. In the Solar Reach, though much was lost during the Sarvanāśa (the End of Earth), enough of these traditions exist to build new magical practices and systems, particularly as the psychosphere seems more active than it has been in a very long time: spells thought long wasted or fabrications are breathing new life into old rituals, and magi are able to tap into powers thought long lost. 

For others, the Theurgists, the path to power does not need to reach as far or as deep as the primes, but rather seeks intercession with the entities within the psychosphere. This intercession is the basis of theurgic magic. In some ways, it is a safer form of magic that does not require the dangerous direct contact with the primes and their raw power. However, making deals for power with angels, demons, gods, and more comes with its own risks, as these entities are extremely dangerous in their own right and often desire nothing more than to lead astray and consume the unwary. 

For both the Magus and the Theurgist, casting spells in ASTRA ARCANUM takes the form of performing rituals which grow more powerful the longer you channel them. 

The Psionic Armigers - Neural and Force

Finally, we have psionics, the next stage in human evolution, as some have declared. Psionics attempt to replicate through technology what practice and will do for the psionic installations, build a direct connection to the primes without the need to draw power through the conceptual realms. By the use of these installations and the willpower of the user that the power of the primes is manifested in the physical worlds. Many magi of older traditions remark fearfully how trivial effects that would have taken years to master can be achieved by academy psions. They worry that this is a new technology hardly understood by those developing it, and that its capacities and dangers are not even remotely understood. 

Neural Psions make use of their abilities to fortify their minds. Once they have control over their own psyche, it is not too much of a leap to begin affecting the minds of others. Psions trained with Neural abilities can unleash a formidable array of abilities that cloud the minds of their enemies and can even cause structural damage to their consciousness.

Force Psions can change the world around them and break the laws of the physical. It takes discipline, training, and dedication, but you now have power. There were many setbacks and challenges learning these abilities but in overcoming them you have learned abilities that even other Psions struggle to understand.

For both the Neural and Force Psions, manifesting spells is a faster and more flexible process than it is for the ritualist Magus and Theurgist; however, the end product won’t be as powerful as a ritual spell that has been channeled for multiple turns. 

Final Thoughts

Phew, that was a big lore dump! Hopefully you enjoyed learning more about magic in ASTRA ARCANUM and about the brave (or foolhardy) Aethers who wield these powers. If you have any questions, leave us a comment below or get in touch on our Discord!  In the next round of playtesting, we will include the Aether archetype for you to play with and sling some spells. Until next time! 

Armigers: A Detailed Look
5 months ago – Tue, Dec 30, 2025 at 07:20:11 AM

Greetings gang, 
 

It’s been awhile since the last update, as we’ve been working our way through the feedback we’ve been getting from the public playtests. Thanks again to all those participating in the playtest! We’ll be having some updates about that and another round of playtest material coming in the beginning of the year. 

In the meantime, we wanted to shed some more light on who you will be playing in ASTRA ARCANUM. That’s right, we’re talking about armigers: their origins, their defining qualities, and more! This is a sneak peak at the lore and world of the armigers rather than game mechanics. Without further ado, strap in! 

What is an Armiger? 

The word armiger can conjure many different images in the minds of any given Solar Reach citizen. It can be a lonely ranger, deep in the Regolith with only their rifle and wits between them and death; a squad of commandos breaching and clearing enemy positions in the heart of a raging war zones; deniable operators with silenced pistols and armored civvies performing corporate espionage; armored Cataphracts holding bulkhead strong points; or Interdictors, clearing the hulls of merchant ships of pirate raiders. Simply put, armigers are professional military experts who work for contracts.

The faces of armigers across the Solar Reach are varied. In some places they are heroic figures, using advanced training, weaponry, and the legal application of violence to defend the helpless and mete out justice. In other companies, such as The Adnate, they are the faceless henchmen of corporate and state boogeymen doing whatever is necessary to protect the interests of their employers. Others have reputations darker still as merciless raiders, mysterious contract killers like The Sensates, or brash pirates like The Covenant of Lono. Some armiger companies are simple mercenaries, while others serve ideological or political projects; others, for instance The Asura, work towards far more occluded goals. 

Origins

The origins of armigers can be traced back to the days of the Martian Core reignition. The seismic disruption was of a scale that no human had ever experienced before; volcanoes blasted out smoke and fire, earthquakes almost immeasurable in their ferocity ripped across the landscape and dust bloomed into the air. The ash and dust blotted out the sun and made atmospheric flight almost impossible and planetary escape perilous. Cut off from Earth and the rest of the Solar Reach, these surviving settlements looked to their defense and survival. Resources were extremely tight, and any supplies that were making their way from Earth or from the Belt were simply not enough for the population. Under those circumstances, most domes and hab units relied on small groups of extremely well-trained and armed soldiers, sturdy enough to survive in the hell that Mars had become. In these brutal conflicts of an incredibly small scale many of the traditions that would become cornerstones of armiger combat doctrine and lifestyle were established. 

These military traditions would serve the Martian cities well after the fall of Earth. During the Wars of Coherence, many despots, corporations, and states rose and fell on isolated space stations, colony habs on distant moons, and on the surface of Mars. None could really put large numbers of soldiers into the field, so many of them had to rely on small elite groups of fighters. Some built their own squads; others recruited the services of mercenaries. 

In the uncertain and deeply violent times following the Sarvanāśa, the total collapse of Earth, the people with the best fighters, training, and weaponry were able to grab whatever they could at the expense of any who couldn't defend themselves. 

Similar dynamics played out across the Solar Reach, from the Samostan on Mars to the moons of Saturn. The early Wars of Coherence were a time of small, bitter conflict, a fight for a survival that none were sure was even possible anymore. Although there were many mercenary companies and self defense forces, the most famous and influential group was “The Company of Armigers,” led by the charismatic Marcus “Silver Star” Oliveira. Though, after his assassination, The Company was divided up among his lieutenants, the name Company of Armigers stuck and became the blanket term for the numerous small outfits that followed, and even to many that had never been associated with Oliveira. 

After the Wars, large numbers of armiger bands and companies were spread all across the Solar Reach. People trained and hardened in some of the fierce fighting were not going to simply return to hydroponics factories or Regolith seeders. Also, in the postwar world, there were a lot of resources, war materiel, lands, and technology that were up for grabs: domes and corporations hired up companies and bands to represent their interests and ensure that the largest possible slice of this emerging new world was owned by them. They were not afraid of using force to achieve their goals, even if the operators in their employ were totally deniable.

This situation could not continue. The politicians of Mars could not allow large private companies of highly trained, heavily armed warriors to operate without any license. However, there were powerful forces within the Reach, not least some of the armiger companies themselves, who would not have been amenable to a complete outlawing of armigers. The Inheritors faction of the newly forming Major Council proposed the Licensing Agreements. Licenses would be given to armiger companies to operate and take legal contracts. They would be regulated, lightly, by a committee of the Major Council. The resolution was swiftly passed by the council with the support of several of the most prominent armiger Companies, such as Zero Division, Al-Khayat, The Adnate, and The Crew of the Cyclone. 

Many did not fall in line with the regulation and were declared to be Black Bands. They were subject to prosecution by their newly legitimized cousins in a nasty series of conflicts called Pratiśōdha, the Retributio. Some of the false armiger companies survived the hunts and still operate as pseudo-resistance movements, criminal syndicates or the masters of Black armiger Contracts. 

Armigers in the 25th century

This organizational structure and regulation code continues to this day. The armigers companies legitimate new members and recruit as they wish. They take on contracts from domes or corporations or operate on their own agenda, fulfilling contracts that are mostly legal. Beyond them there are pseudo-armiger companies that have a lot of the same shape and combat doctrine as the legal companies but sit in more of a grey zone. Some members of these companies may be legal armigers, while others are not. They are more likely to take on grey contracts which come very close to breaking the laws of Mars but don’t quite stray over the lines. Then there are the illegal armiger companies that accept black contracts and operate fully outside the law. Of course what exactly constitutes a green or a black contract often depends on the level of authority of the issuer rather than any moral or legal high ground. 

Naturally, armigers operating outside of Mars’s jurisdiction do not have to worry about the licensing or regulation that the Major Council enforces on the Red Marble. 

Armiger Organization: 

Armigers tend to set themselves up into different groupings of companies, cells, and bands. Some of these companies have been around since the Wars of Coherence; others have been constituted much later. 

Companies:

These are large armiger organizations ranging from tens to hundreds of individuals. Some companies are specialists focusing on one aspect of armiger work. For example, the crew of the Cyclone are peerless space combatants. Some, however, are more generalists with operatives trained for all sorts of different tasks.

The companies are wildly diverse. Sometimes they are based on ideological or political affiliation; some focus on dealing with different tasks; others are staffed by people from one particular city or solar body. Some keep tight regimental discipline like a private army, while others operate more like training academies and logistical hubs for smaller teams.

Most armiger companies are profit-motivated, making money from their members and cells being hired by corporate and state actors. However, some are motivated more by ideology and religion and take on tasks that further those agendas or make moves of their own to further those goals.

Most armiger companies deploy their operatives as cell groups whose skill sets complement each other. Occasionally, a particularly difficult or resource-intensive operation, e.g. raiding a space station or clearing a pirate ship, might require the deployment of a full company of armigers. This is only possible for employers with the deepest pockets and/or vast political influence.

Importantly, armiger companies are legitimized by the Major Council and have the ability to provide licenses to new armigers. Operating without a license is difficult, as an armiger without a contract cannot take on green contracts and may well be hunted down by the authorities…or other armigers.  

Cells:

A cell is a group of armigers that work together in a structured unit. This is the most common formation of armigers. A cell is often made up of members of the same company. It can also be made up of a group of freelance armigers working together to take on tasks that would be impossible alone. On occasion, an armiger cell will be made up of armigers from different companies to make fighting forces where the different skills of different companies complement each other. Some armiger companies expressly forbid this kind of collaboration and only build cells from members of their company, while some armiger companies encourage this sort of collaboration. It is also the case that a veteran of one of the armiger companies might retire to form a new cell and maybe even a new company. This is not always taken kindly by their former employer.

Bands:

A band is a group of armigers that have come together or have been brought together to complete one particular task. These often consist of freelancers. However, it is not uncommon for armigers of different Companies to be brought in if particular types of expertise are required. An employee with a particular, specific, and challenging task might request the skills of armigers from different specialized companies whose skills complement each other.

Lone operatives:

Some armigers choose to face the Solar Reach alone. They are solitary rangers and security operatives on far-flung asteroids and space stations, perhaps on the run from the law or their former company. This is a hard way to face down the dangerous sands of Mars or the unforgiving vacuum of space. However, not all employers can afford a full armiger cell or even a ragtag band and have to resort to just one armiger for their mission. In addition, some operations that require discretion might find that a single armiger is more practical and effective than a band or a cell.

The Armiger Ocular Implant

The armiger companies of Mars needed ways of identifying themselves to each other that could be carried discreetly, something that showed commitment to their companies and identified them as licensed by the Major Council. Most armiger companies had some sort of coat of arms or symbol that they painted on their armor or hung around their necks like dog tags. However, that was replaced by the Armiger Eye. The tradition began with The Adnate, who had been giving cybernetic ocular upgrades to their warriors for some time. The Adnate had their Mountain and Dome sigil emblazoned on any eyes that were installed within the company, and this became a symbol for their company. Members would replace their eyes with cybernetic ones just to demonstrate their loyalty, and wear that loyalty proudly.

A lot of other companies would follow this tradition, as the need to show that a company was licensed became more important and the tradition stuck. The eye contains a unique code that identifies an armiger and shows their status within their company. In addition, the eye gives the user access to the green contracts database a useful resource when finding legal armiger work.  

Some armiger companies that take on more clandestine operations favor eyes with false fronts to hide their memberships. Others conceal them behind visors or goggles–not uncommon on the Regolith. Many do not hide it, showing their pride in their company wherever they go. Of course, not all armiger companies show their affiliation in this way. Even amongst the legal Martian armiger companies, there is a wide range of diversity. When you start to look at non-Martian armigers or black band armiger companies, their ways of identifying themselves become even more varied or, in the case of the most clandestine of armigers, such as the almost mythical Sensates who have no known identifying marker, they never announce their presence to onlookers.

Notable Armigers: 

Zero Division (company)

• Company Motto: All can be improved. Perfection is a lie.
• Company Insignia: A drone within a tesseract.
• Founded: 2368

Armiger Tracking Database Entry AC-101: 

Zero Division is an independent Armiger company specializing in the modification of drones, turrets, weapons, and armor. At the formal request of their founder Rodex Solvig, they were allowed to modify their Armiger Ocular Implant with ones that are capable of detecting electromagnetic currents. Reports show that they have the smallest turnover of any company based on Mars. 

Al-Khayat Dueling Academy (company) 

• Company Motto: There is no honor in death; live honorably.
• Company Insignia: Crossed dueling swords in front of a shield
• Founded: 2381

Armiger Tracking Database Entry AC-45: 

Al-Khayat Dueling Academy is a Samostan-based Armiger company specializing in training Armigers in the Dueling arts. The company was founded by Eyad Al-Khayat, a former orbital warden.

The Herald Militia (band) 

DESIGNATION: BLACK BANDED

• Name: The Herald Militia (Name given by law enforcement) 
• Origin: 2390, founded by Jonas Malek, "The Herald."
• History: Jonas Malek is a Geneticist and Armiger who mutated himself beyond recognition. He escaped to the Regolith and started a militia with the promises of gifting them with his enhancements. He now calls himself the Herald.
• Motto: Improvement at any cost. 
• Insignia: A mutated version of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

Legendary Skirmish: The Hunt for the Parched King

Happy New Year and Glimpse of the Future!

Any thoughts or questions? Leave us a comment!

We hope you all have a safe and happy New Year! We will be back in 2026 with some more exciting developments, as we reach the final stretch of ASTRA writing.