The Karrakin Trade Baronies: a Lancer Setting

What is Karrakis? How to begin to describe that old throne. One could start by writing all of human history prior to the Fall in a single book, name that book a single name, and then try to say what it “is”. Is Karrakis today the same as its founding colony? Is Karrakis the Annorum Passacaglia or the Annorum Tyrannus? Is it the New Federation, or is it the Baronies?

To those who hate her, Karrakis is a wheezing crone, shambling towards an end in teeth and blood. To those who love her, she is a mighty Amazon, unblemished and undaunted. The truth is that Karrakis is immune to the damnation of the partisan and undeserving of the praises of the hierophant. She is both crone and Amazon: she stands alone in human history, for better or worse, and defines the arc of our species as both lodestone and diadem.  

Begin here: Karrakis is a name older than any human civilization that ever lived and died on earth. The great pharaohs of Egypt, the emperors of old China, the senators of Rome, the khans of Mongolia, the shahs of Persia, and every president and prime minister. For everything one hates about Karrakis, she boasts something equally as commendable; of course, precisely the opposite holds true.  

Against Union, Karrakis is a captivating mirror. The two states of humankind are fascinated with one another, scale notwithstanding. Though others may try to intercede, their mutual embrace is, ultimately, unbreakable. Where one goes, the other will follow; Union and Karrakis will live together, or die by mutual compact.

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The Karrakin Trade Baronies is a place of splendor, wealth, and tradition, one of the largest member states of Union, as familiar as an old wound's ache. Boasting a history many millennia long, the Baronies are the oldest continuous human civilization in the galaxy. A place of deep tradition and legend, the Baronies is increasingly a realm of surging political intrigue. The courts of lords buzz with the gossip of the latest pankration mekani matches; the palace walls are strewn with the colorful banners of the victorious House Companies; the skies shimmer with ships hauling in the latest bounty of a planet-cracking operation. It is also a place of deep social division, where the titled nobility grasp on to power with an iron fist, openly flaunting the equality promised by Union, and in some cases directly opposing it.

Now, the Great Wheel of Dis is turning. The great engine of industry in the Baronies is grinding to a halt, and a rising tide of Republicanism threatens to shake the baronies to its core. Will you help usher in a new age for old Karrakis, or stand aside lest you be crushed?

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This setting expansion for Lancer features a deep dive into the Trade Baronies, one of the great cultures and member states of Union:

• A detailed look at the history and culture of old Karrakis, from the Annorum Passacaglia to the modern Baronies.
• Insight into the modern Baronies, from the Pankrati of the House Games to the precognitive warrior- monks of the Xenoglossary
• Hooks and Baronic NPCs for use in your own games

This book also contains a major expansion to the narrative side of Lancer:

• The Bond system, which gives your character a tarot-like Bond, granting them unique abilities in narrative play
• A simple system for generating and running factions in Lancer to both help and hinder the characters.
• A tool for generating random maps for use in your games, at any scale from planetary to local

Finally, this book contains four new mechs and two new talents that let you emulate the brawling, brash style of the gladiatorial House Games: House Guard and Pankrati.

• The SSC White Witch, an resilient defender covered in a powerful reactive shell of ferrofluid
• The SSC Emperor, a bow-wielding support, a dominant and regal mech focused on granting overshield to its allies
• The RKF Orchis, a defender variant for the Black Witch, lord of the shield and ruthless justiciar
• The RKF Calendula, a variant for the Minotaur, a mech that manipulates shadowy dimensions to banish its foes and shift around its allies

See you out there, Lancers.

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 This book is Massif Press' second major setting supplement for Lancer with all new art, mechs and rules. The .lcp files included contain all the player facing content (mechs and talents) for COMP/CON, our free character builder tool, and will remain free to download (see the 'demo' file below). 

NB: Please ensure that your version of COMP/CON is on v2.3.0 or later before loading the KTB LCP.