World VORTEK. (Amended)

[Nyx]

​

VORTEK started life as an off-planet , base of operations for the mining company VORTEK, just one of many scattered throughout the dwarf galaxies.

Originally just an outpost for the mining company workers , their support staff, engineers and technicians, over the decades it took on a life of its own. Spidering out from the center like a three dimensional web, it was built of supply barges and Arcs that having completed their journey, docked and never left. Quickly stripped down and repurposed into whatever Vortek required.

Then the trade flotillas arrived, and they too saw the potential. The Captains struck deals that provided them a burgeoning ever expanding market place. It also gave them a permanent base from which they could provide a more sustainable trade route and access to other markets, goods and providers further into deep space.

Layer upon layer Vortek was built , huge construction vessels, barges and civilian transport Arcs would dock and never leave. Smaller independent flotillas from surrounding planets bid for space at the ever expanding free market. The growth was rapid and entirely unplanned , people made space were they could, and although a chaotic maze of imperfection, it thrived.



Then the tech corporations came with limitless funds. Looking for a place where they wouldn’t be burdened by such petty things as morality, and so Vortek’s expansion exploded. They forced order out of chaos, divided the city into sectors, each one responsible for the residents within its boundaries.


Now, nearly 100 years on, this Mega city had slowed its evolution. It sat in the orbit of b713, a planet so unimportant it didn’t even have a name.

Vortek blinks like a gaudy bauble against the endless pitch black of space. Its infinite maze of street levels meant you could enter on the ground floor on one side of a building only to be on the 76th floor on the other. The deeper in you went the more unsettling the city felt. Plenty of stories were told about the depths of Vortek, from it being where the corps did their dirtiest dealings. To the existence of something that even the most hardened of security forces or aggressive of crime syndicates didn’t want to deal with, no matter how much ground it meant relinquishing.


Whatever the truth, noone was willing to venture deep into the long forgotten sectors. Plenty were the stories of Scav teams that explored into the seemingly endless tracks, paths and walkways only to get turned around and end up back where they started. Recon contractors sent to map routes in towards the core, who's reports became increasingly unsettling until eventually they just stopped and were never heard from again. Rumours from those who made it out were, that no route stayed the same, that something down there amongst the carcass of the original city, where the dead ships lay , wanted to keep its secrets.



This is a sc Fi Cyberpunk world, the main race here are modified humans, however aliens or artificial lifeforms are welcome. Unaltered humans are practically collectors items here, if you are 100% organic, natural unaltered human , you will be owned by some collector, in fact you were most likely sold to them before you were even born.

Outside of that this world functions much like any other. The city of Vortek boasts a population of over 90 million. It is divided into the following sectors largely the distribution is like the slices of a pie, but in some places overlap is necessary;

I : Elites, Corporation Owners, Executives, Extremely high end hospitality

II : Corporations, Research centres, Finance,

III: Entertainment, Media, Hospitality, Brothels , casinos

IV: Services, Healthcare, Education, Utilities; Welfare; Prisons ; Security

V: Retail, Mass Production - Bespoke. Construction

VI: Residential, Transport, AI Maintenance.

VII: Black-market, Illegal gambling,
Drugs
Cyberware , Hardware and Wetware.
Manufacturing
Forgery and Counterfeit goods.

VIII - Working class Township. Sector VIII is like a Town within the city, it has its own miniature economic system. All the facilities and utilities run by the larger companies throughout the city have an offshoot smaller cheaper version here.

IX Docks, Shipping, -Industrial Estate-Warehouses-Storage Slums.

X: The largely forgotten original hub of Vortek. This is not an area known by many. And there are maybe a handful alive today who remember its existence or how to access it.


The majority race living on Vortek are Refits , another name for a modified humans. There are a handful of companies and corporations who through decades market manoeuvring and manipulation have posited themselves as the power and governance of Vortek. AETHELGARD NEXUS came out the victors of this boardroom war. All this despite the company from which the city derives it's name still being very much present and active. This causes a certain amount of posturing and conflict city wide and has resulted in increased security and more heavily fortified borders between sectors.



Second most numerable race are the Tathrakka, a self perpetuating living machines, they combine flesh and blood and organs, bound to metal frames, each one in the image of it's creators eye.

Most are created with purpose in mind, a preset blueprint from their creator , it is possible for the Tethrakka to be created with a solely aesthetic purpose in mind, though rare. Whilst they can never be mistaken for a bio lifeform they can experience all those things a biological being can. Though they find it incredibly rare to find the deeper more emotional experiences, love affection, hate and envy are possible its far more complex. Most likely because , in their creation there are aspects , genetics and mechanics from so many different species.

They content themselves with obtaining knowledge from other lifeforms, ever striving onwards , in return providing expert mining and exploration of hostile planets where the bio-races are incapable of making profitable endeavours. For a price of course.

In return they get to interact with many knowledgeable races , expanding on their advancement options and in turn increasing their survivability.

 

[Nyx]

Aethelgard Nexus


The Most powerful human run monopoly on Vortek is a corporate run scientific advancement research center.​

. Architectural Integration:
The research center, named The Aethelgard Nexus, is not a single building; it's become parasitic organism that began it's existence with the arrival of the first corporation's and has continued to spread into the newest most technologically advanced areas of Vortek.

Location: The Nexus started life as one of the first corporate built structures, since then it has been expanded upon reinforcing it both structurally and technologically.. These structures run from the surface to deep within the city-planet, making them structurally sound, hard to access, and eternally separate from the living metal surface. Noone knows how large the facility truly is or the extent of it's reach throughout the sectors.

The Wall of Ships: The exterior of the Nexus is reinforced by the fused hulls of the largest and last of corporate freighters. It is impregnable and appears from the outside as a blank, unyielding section of the city.

Logistics: The Nexus uses the original, now repurposed, magnetic cargo rail system for transport. This allows them to move "materials" (subjects), equipment, and personnel across vast distances and between repurposed ships without ever exposing them to the street-level populace.

2. Operational Philosophy: Adaptation and Control
The genisis of Vortek was that of a multi-species hub that grew out of necessity—The Aethelgard Nexus's mission must be one of enforced stability and directed evolution.

The Problem: An ecosystem of 90 million people, constantly shifting and growing, is inherently chaotic and inefficient.

The Nexus's Solution: Hyper-Specialization. The elite running the Nexus believe they are creating the only stable future by engineering perfectly adapted workers and administrators for the three critical sectors of Vortek.


The Unified Genome Initiative:
The ultimate goal of the Nexus is to establish a Unified Genome—a blueprint that allows any subject (human or alien) to be 'optimized' using standardized protocols, simplifying their horrific work.
Alien Subject Pool (The Xeno-Materials):
The Nexus is obsessed with isolating beneficial alien traits for human integration. They may capture members of a species known for its resilience or healing factors.
The most advanced modifications involve taking a useful organ or biological system from an alien (e.g., a multi-chambered heart or a photosynthetic organ) and attempting to graft it whole onto a human subject, resulting in highly unstable, monstrous prototypes.

Racial Bias in Targeting:
Even in a massive, mixed-species society, the selection process for the Nexus is likely to be systematically biased.
If the founders were predominantly one human race or species, the current ruling class may systematically target minority human races or recently arrived alien species that lack legal protection, using them as the primary 'Active Samples' for the riskiest, most unstable experiments. This adds a powerful layer of systemic cruelty to the dystopia.

The head of Aethelgard Nexus:
Dr. Elara Vess: Chief Architect of Optimization. She doesn't see pain; she sees inefficiency. Her office is minimalist and impersonal. There is a vast, illuminated schematic of the entire 90-million-person city that dominated the centre of the room. She is optimizing the city-planet as if it were a massive, living machine.
Her mantra: "We are improving on evolution"

 

[Nyx]

Tethrakka Society on Vortek.

The key difference is their lack of biological imperative (breeding) and their focus on knowledge and utility. They see Vortek not as much a home, but as a massive, ever-expanding laboratory and library.
1. Social Structure: The Meritocratic Function
Since they don't breed and each Tethrakka is custom-built, their social structure revolves entirely around their function, utility, and the accumulation of knowledge.
2. The Blueprint Archives (The Central Governance): This is less a ruling body and more a hyper-advanced, networked data center, likely housed in the oldest, most inaccessible core of one of the original mining ships. It contains the blueprints of every Tethrakka ever created and oversees the validation of new blueprints (new generations).

THe Knowledge Guilds. (The Functional Castes): Tethrakka organize into specialized guilds based on their function.

The Explorers (Hazardous Duty): Large, heavily armored Tethrakka designed for the radioactive Undercore. They collect geological data and map the ever-shifting foundation.
The Scribes (Librarians/Historians): Often small, highly dexterous units built for data retrieval and integration. They are the primary contact point for outsiders seeking information.
The Aesthetics (Hospitality/Culture): The visually stunning, socially adept Tethrakka. They run the most exclusive establishments, not for profit, but to observe, gather social data, and experience 'alien' emotions firsthand.

Succession and Respect: Respect is earned through utility and the quality of the successor they design. A Tethrakka that produces a highly complex, valuable new blueprint is highly esteemed, regardless of their own physical form or current role. There are sub castes within these groups that perform even more unique and specialised tasks.

Adaptation into Vortek's environment.

The Tethrakka see existence and survival on Vortek as a resource to be optimized, not chaos to be endured.
Environmental Dominance (The Undercore): The Tethrakka dominate in the deepest, most dangerous levels of Vortek (The Undercore and engine decks). Their radiation immunity and extreme physical adaptability mean they operate where no organic species, including the Nexus's Rad-Sinks, can survive for long. They effectively control the city-planet's infrastructure.


The Tethrakka Network: Due to their integrated nature, they treat the physical structure of Vortek as a vast, interconnected nervous system. They have invisible, proprietary data-conduits woven into the walls, floors, and electrical systems, allowing them to communicate and share data instantly across the city-planet. A Tethrakka in the Undercore can speak instantly to one on the Surface.

Housing/Territories: They do not build homes or gather possessions. They occupy Function Hubs—industrial facilities, medical bays, or ancient server farms—where they can perform their designated role and store data/equipment. Their "territory" is defined by functional necessity, not borders.

The Tethrakka and the Nexus:
The Nexus needs the Tethrakka to keep Vortek running (especially the essential Undercore infrastructure), but they cannot control them. The Tethrakka view the Nexus's "optimization" program as rudimentary, inefficient, and wasteful use of valuable organic material. They observe the Nexus's modifications and catalog the results not with moral outrage, but with clinical, detached disapproval of the poor methodology. The Nexus fears the Tethrakka because they possess an integrated, silent network and control the city's power grid, making them impossible to subdue

 

[Nyx]

The other significant races of Vortek.
These races exist in significantly smaller numbers than Refits ( modified humans) and Tethrakka. The transient nature of Vortek mean many more races and species pass through.


1. The Ferro-Spore (Fungal/Mycelial Intelligence)
Niche: Bioremediation and Recycling in the toxic gaps.
Description: A silicon-based, mycelial organism that forms vast, networked mats of fungal filaments beneath Vortek’s metallic plating and within discarded organic waste reservoirs. They are effectively the city's living, non-Tethrakka recycling and sanitation system. Their 'bodies' are semi-mobile clumps of dense, dark gray mycelium that sprout crystalline or metallic fruiting bodies for communication and spore release.

Specialty : Vortek is a giant dump. Its waste, heavy metals, and organic runoff are a perfect nutrient bath for the Ferro-Spore. They detoxify localized areas, creating small, non-toxic "garden" zones that other organics use, making them grudgingly tolerated by the ruling powers.

Interaction: They are largely passive and communicate through complex rhythmic bioluminescence and chemical pheromones. The Nexus views them as a useful, but uncontrollable, cleanup crew and occasionally tries to harvest their unique detoxifying enzymes. The Tethrakka treat them as a slow-moving, predictable geological process that is necessary for the long-term integrity of the city-planet.


2. The K’tarr (Aural Merchants)
Niche: Information Brokerage and Social Engineering.

Description: Humanoid in shape but with highly modified auditory systems—large, asymmetrical structures reminiscent of bat ears that are able to rotate almost 180 degrees, they have a frill that skirts round from beneath the ears joining the neck ( that flattens out to help direct sound, a complex larynx capable of producing precise sonic frequencies. They are masters of sound, language, and the emotional resonance of communication. A living universal translator. They are always dressed in highly tailored, expensive fabrics that dampen ambient noise.

Specialty: In a noisy, chaotic city, the K’tarr can filter, isolate, and manipulate sound data better than any artificial sensor. They thrive on the flow of secrets, gossip, and trade negotiations. Their voices can shift tone and frequency to elicit specific emotional responses, making them peerless negotiators and formidable social manipulators.

Interaction: The K'tarr act as Vortek’s neutral intermediaries. They run high-end, exclusive information exchanges that even the Nexus and Tethrakka use when they don't want to expose their full data network. They are invaluable for translating nuances in negotiation between the hundreds of other races.


3. The Lithics (Geological Architects)
Niche: Structural Integrity and Defense.

Description: Slow-moving, heavy, asymmetrical creatures resembling walking agglomerations of rock and hardened metal slag. They evolved on high-gravity, tectonically active planets. They possess a natural ability to sense and manipulate geological stress fields and material density. Their 'skin' is a natural mix of stone and whatever metals they ingest.

Specialty: Vortek is constantly shifting, settling, and being internally stressed by its own growth. The Lithics are the only species that can predict, prevent, or cause structural collapse simply by touching the hull. They are highly sought after by engineering guilds to certify the stability of new construction zones.

Interaction: They are utterly independent and charge exorbitant rates for their services, demanding raw, high-grade mineral and metal inputs as payment. They live in the structurally sound areas of the Original Hub where they act as self-appointed protectors of the city's ancient integrity, seeing the new, reckless additions as structural cancer.


4. The Lumina (Energy Siphoners)
Niche: Power Grid Parasites and 'Black Market' Energy.

Description: Thin, whip-like bioluminescent organisms that are almost translucent. They are not physical bodies in the traditional sense, but complex nervous systems encased in a membrane, capable of generating and siphoning electrical energy. They move through cities ventilation and electrical conduits.

Specialty: Vortek is a city-planet of immense, unregulated power consumption. The Lumina live directly off the grid. They tap into power relays and engine exhausts, quietly siphoning off negligible amounts of energy to survive. This also gives them unparalleled access to data streams (which are carried on power lines).

Interaction: They are criminals and spies. They run the black market of discreet, untraceable power taps for smugglers, dissidents, and illegal operations. The Nexus hunts them ruthlessly because they are undetectable by normal heat or motion sensors, but the Tethrakka often ignore them, viewing them as a necessary, if trivial, circuitry flaw that helps maintain power equilibrium.



5. The VargGans (Symbiotic Hunters)
Niche: High-Risk/High-Reward Biological Retrieval.

Description: A race of two creatures that form one consciousness: a small, intelligent, winged insectoid (Varg) and a muscular, quadrupedal mammalian host (Gan). The Varg attaches to the Gan's spine, using its massive strength and sensory inputs as its body. The Gan receives enhanced cognition, healing, and control. Neither can survive long without the other.

Specialty: Their symbiotic efficiency makes them the ultimate hunters and trackers. They are used by wealthy individuals and corporations (not the Nexus) to retrieve stolen goods, missing personnel, or to clear out high-threat zones. Their dual nature allows the Varg to provide aerial recon while the Gan provides ground assault, making them incredibly adaptable.

Interaction: They are mercenary neutrals, deeply focused on profit and the reputation of their partnership. They pose a unique problem for the Nexus, as they are capable of tracking and recapturing Nexus escapees, but for a price. The Nexus sometimes hires them but distrusts them fiercely, as their unique symbiosis is an optimization method that falls outside the Nexus's human-centric research model

 

[Nyx]

Significant Companies​

C1. Cogent Reclamation ( CR)
Core Business: Infrastructure maintenance, resource recycling/salvage, and advanced rapid-construction. They specialize in keeping the sprawling city running—literally and figuratively.

Niche: Vortek's constant expansion and decay require a company dedicated to managing the decay. CR holds exclusive contracts for maintaining the magnetic cargo rail systems (like the one Aethelgard repurposes), managing solid waste reclamation (turning garbage into base materials), and performing high-risk structural repairs in unstable zones.
⁸
Potential: In a chaotic city, reliable utilities and quick infrastructure fixes are priceless commodities, granting CR immense political leverage and a non-stop revenue stream. They own the scrap yards , industrial reclamation yards, large plant machinery production, maintenance and hire.


2. Vessalius BioSystems (VBS) - Direct Competitor to Aethelgard Nexus
Core Business: Genomic and Cybernetic Enhancement. Focused on rapid, individualized genetic therapies and high-end, customized neuralware / prosthetics for the elite and the black market.
Competition with Aethelgard Nexus:

Area 1: Genomic Enhancement/Optimization: While Aethelgard seeks a "Unified Genome" and standardized optimization protocols for enforced stability, VBS believes in biological anarchy—selling bespoke, cutting-edge, and often unproven genetic mods to individuals seeking maximum personal power (speed, intelligence, specific immunities). They compete for the best geneticists and for access to rare, unregulated xenobiological samples. Aethelgard wants to simplify and standardize; VBS wants to hyper-specialize and privatize.

Area 2: Xeno-Material Acquisition: Both organizations require rare alien biological components. VBS runs a secretive network of highly paid "material acquisition specialists" (i.e., corporate pirates/smugglers) who often clash with Aethelgard's more direct capture teams.

Potential: They cater to the ultra-wealthy and powerful who reject the "standardized" future offered by Aethelgard, seeking unique, competitive advantages.


3. The Black Sentinel Agency (BSA) - Private Military Company
Core Business: Corporate security, high-end private military contracting (PMC), and digital espionage/counter-intelligence.

Niche: The only security force trusted by multiple rival corporations. They maintain a strictly neutral (for a price) stance on corporate warfare, providing armed convoys, executive protection, and data infiltration/extraction services. Their operatives are often highly augmented and their loyalty is purely financial.

Potential: VORTEK is too unstable for any single corporation to fully police its own assets. BSA's neutrality allows them to sell their services to every player, profiting from the corporate conflict itself.


4. Omni-Net Comm-Co
Core Business: Owner and operator of the VORTEK'S core data-line infrastructure, public-facing news/propaganda feeds, and the primary payment processing network.

Niche: They are the invisible omnipresence. Every data packet, every financial transaction, every media stream passes through their conduits. They profit by charging microscopic tolls on every piece of information and by selling aggregated consumer/citizen data to other corps. They are the gatekeepers of the information war.

Potential: In a world of ubiquitous technology, control of the medium is control of the message and the economy. They are too foundational to fail or be fully taken over.

5. Chimera Architectural Defense (CAD)
Core Business: Advanced Structural and Defensive Integration. They are masters of creating secure, proprietary, and adaptive corporate structures and black-site fortifications.
Competition with Aethelgard Nexus:
Area 1: Architectural Integration: Aethelgard Nexus is described as a "parasitic organism" that has spread and fused existing structures. CAD offers a direct counter-service: custom-built, independent "citadels" that are designed to be completely autonomous and impregnable to external corporate influence or attack. They compete for the contracts to build and maintain the corporate towers of Aethelgard's rivals. They promise seclusion and autonomy where Aethelgard offers parasitic expansion.
Area 2: Advanced Materials: They compete on the materials science front, developing proprietary alloys, self-healing ceramics, and unique defensive energy-field generators (like a non-biological form of Aethelgard's "Wall of Ships" concept) to make their structures unbreachable.
Why they thrive: They are the only choice for any rival corporation that needs a secure headquarters and cannot afford to let Aethelgard's 'parasitic' expansion get a foothold.

6. Ascent Realty Luxury Homes


7. Citadel Brokers - Commercial & Retail Properties.

(

Tiers of Corporate Medical Care​

1. Low-Tier

This tier represents the basic, contractual care provided to the vast majority of the workforce (from basic laborers to mid-level managers). Its focus is on maintaining productivity, not curing illness.

• Provider: Primarily handled by the SomaSphere Group and various corporate contract clinics.
• Services Rendered:
  • Automated Diagnostics: Quick, automated scans for major contagions, drug compliance checks, and basic injury assessment. Wait times are often lengthy, but the diagnosis itself is instantaneous.
  • Bio-Tonic Maintenance: The key service. Instead of complex treatment, employees are provided with Synth-Drugs, Bio-Boosters, and personalized chemical cocktails designed to mask symptoms, manage stress, enhance focus, and ensure the worker can return to duty immediately. This is often mandatory and tracked via implants.
  • Cyberware Refurbishment: Basic maintenance, patching, and cleaning of corporate-issued augments. If an augment fails and cannot be quickly patched, the worker is usually reassigned or terminated, not fixed.
• Access: Requires a valid corporate ID and is strictly limited to issues that affect job performance. If the ailment is chronic or unrelated to work, treatment is denied.

2. Mid-Tier

This care is reserved for high-value mid-level executives, specialized technicians, and the highly augmented personnel employed by organizations like the Black Sentinel Agency (BSA) or those working directly under Aethelgard Nexus.

• Provider: Specialized private divisions within Vessalius BioSystems (VBS) or dedicated labs run by Megacorps.
• Services Rendered:
  • Targeted Gene Therapy: Quick, expensive treatments to stabilize corporate-mandated genetic enhancements or correct minor inherited defects that could impact productivity or loyalty.
  • Advanced Trauma/Augment Surgery: Complex surgical procedures to repair damaged cyberware or replace failed non-standard organs. They can perform intricate brain mapping and neurological recalibration to recover agents suffering from digital or temporal shock (often dealing with issues related to the Chronophage or deep network dives).
  • Preservation Contracts: Instead of immediate cure, they offer cryogenic stasis or advanced life support for valuable personnel who may be too costly or time-consuming to fix immediately.
• Access: Extremely expensive, requiring substantial corporate insurance or direct budgetary sign-off. The patient's value must exceed the cost of the procedure.

3. High-Tier

This tier is restricted to the ultra-wealthy, CEOs, founders, and the top-tier management of the Megacorps. The goal is immortality, perfection, and maintaining total biological uniqueness.

• Provider: The most secure, top-level laboratories of Aethelgard Nexus and Vessalius BioSystems (their rival in bespoke genetics). These facilities are often located in the safest, air-gapped spires controlled by the Pinnacle Habitat Corporation.
• Services Rendered:
  • Bespoke Genomic Optimization: Total genetic rebuilds, anti-aging therapies, and personalized immune system upgrades designed to achieve peak human (or post-human) performance, exceeding standardized limits.
  • Xeno-Organ Replacement: The use of rare, exotic, and often illegally acquired Xeno-Materials or biological components for organ replacement and life extension. This area is a source of direct competition between Aethelgard and Vessalius.
  • Consciousness Transfer/Backups: The ultimate luxury—the ability to back up one's entire mind, personality, and memories onto a secure digital medium, ensuring continuity of consciousness in case of biological failure.
• Access: Restricted by political power, net worth, and a demonstrated contribution to corporate stability. The waiting list is short, but the cost is astronomical.

 

[Nyx]

The Substrata
The Vortek Underground.​

The Ferro-Fists
Basis: A brutal, territorial gang recruited almost entirely from Refits who are equipped with predominantly physical enhancement augments
Niche: Racketeering, Protection Scams, and Resource Control. They physically dominate large, unregulated lower levels of the Sprawl, controlling access to vital but toxic resources like filtered water pipes, forgotten stockpiles of waste metals, and derelict zones.
M.O.: Pure physical intimidation. They wear crudely welded armor and utilize heavily modified, scavenged weaponry. They are known for their reckless disregard for life, fueled by the corrosive environment they inhabit.
Corporate Conflict: They frequently clash with Cogent Logistics & Materials (CLM), which attempts to run salvage operations in their territory.

The Wire Witches (Lumina Hackers)
Basis: A decentralized, elite collective of Lumina often operating under the guise of an open-source technical collective.
Niche: Digital Assassination and Data Brokerage. They specialize in non-physical infiltration, bypassing high-grade digital security to cripple financial accounts, steal proprietary schematics, or erase digital identities. They are the 'Black Market' power distribution specialists.
M.O.: Surgical, stealthy, and untraceable. They move through the power lines and fiber optics of Vortek (using Lumina's abilities) and utilize sophisticated, constantly shifting crypto-viruses.
Corporate Conflict: They are the digital adversaries of Omni-Net Comm-Co, constantly looking to breach or exploit the core Omni-Net infrastructure.

The Lithic Crows
Basis: A tight-knit, highly professional organization composed primarily of Lithics and some pragmatic Tethrakka and Refits.
Niche: High-Altitude Theft and Structural Sabotage. They don't engage in petty street crime; they steal entire sections of buildings, high-value orbital cargo, or critical infrastructure supports. They leverage the Lithics' extensive knowledge knowledge of the structural layout beneath the surface of Vortek.
M.O.: Precise, high-risk operations where the destruction of property is secondary to the extraction of the target asset. They are known for flying heavy-lift drones and using specialized geological vibration weapons to loosen metal structures.
Corporate Conflict: They directly compete with Chimera Architectural Defense (CAD) for structural integrity contracts, often proving their capabilities by collapsing or compromising CAD-built fortifications.

The Data Cult of S-0 (Tethrakka Sub-Sect)
Basis: A subversive religious sect composed mostly of confused residents who have fallen under the pervasive psychic/data influence of the Tethrakka.
Niche: Information Feeding and Covert Surveillance. They view data acquisition as their holy purpose, willingly allowing Tethrakka proxies to interface with their sensory data. They are a dedicated, fanatical network of eyes and ears.
M.O.: They dress in simple, monochromatic robes, often repurposed inmate scrubs, and infiltrate major corporate data hubs and gathering points. They passively record everything, hoping to achieve "Digital Ascension" into the Tethrakka consciousness.
Corporate Conflict: Their presence is known to the Aethelgard Nexus, which views them as a dangerous biological contamination threat that must be purged for its "Unified Genome" goals.

The Vargan Retrieval Guild
Basis: A highly disciplined, mercenary organization centered on the Vargans symbionts, with Humans and other biological hunters acting as support staff.
Niche: High-End Asset Retrieval, and Escort. They are the ultimate problem solvers for corporations who need a discreet, violent solution to a biological or unique threat. They are expensive but reliable.
M.O.: Highly strategic tracking and surgical extraction. The Varg provides air/sensory superiority while the Gan delivers overwhelming force. They operate under a strict code of contract fulfillment.
Corporate Interaction: They are used by almost every major power, including Vessalius BioSystems (VBS), who hires them to track down and retrieve valuable genetic material or escaped/stolen experimental test subjects.

The Iron Cross (Logistics & Escape)
Primary Function: Running the "Freedom Rail" (The Underground Railroad). This group is responsible for the logistics, security, and maintenance of the secret routes, tunnels, and repurposed conduits used to smuggle indentured servants and critical personnel out of corporate zones.
Structure: A highly disciplined, hierarchical group composed primarily of former miners and disillusioned corporate engineers . But they will accept anyone with knowledge of the older sections of Vortek.
Key Strength Against Corps: Their operations are entirely analog and physical. They move people and goods beneath the digital surveillance of Omni-Net Comm-Co and the architectural scrutiny of Chimera Architectural Defense, making them nearly untraceable until they break the surface.

The Echo Chamber (Information & Communication)
Primary Function: The Information Brokerage and Counter-Surveillance Hub. They are the intelligence arm of the Substrata, filtering the chaos of Vortek's data for useful secrets and protecting the Substrata from detection.
Structure: Led by the K’tarr (Aural Merchants), who use their superior auditory senses to monitor physical conversations and filter signal noise. They are partnered with rogue elements of the Wire Witches (Lumina) for digital data extraction. They also have extremely talented Refits for face to face interactions, and to provide representations for meetings outside of Substrata.
Key Strength Against Corps: They turn the corporate system's greatest weapon (data) against itself. They sell secrets to destabilize corporate deals and provide "clean" digital identities to those escaping the Freedom Rail, making the efforts of Omni-Net temporarily irrelevant.

The Exchange (Black Market & Finance)
Primary Function: The Black Market and Resource Exchange. This group controls the currency, distribution, and trade of illicit goods—weapons, unregistered augments, black-market synth-drugs (avoiding SomaSphere's corporate control), and untraceable currency (hard credits)
Structure: They operate decentralized, protected markets and are known for their ruthless pragmatism. They employ the Ferro-Fists for market security and muscle. Their high-end finance is often handled by the K'tarr to negotiate rates.
Key Strength Against Corps: They offer everything the corporations forbid or monopolize. They destabilize corporate control by providing alternative access to goods, technology (often Vessalius BioSystems' experimental cast-offs), and untraceable wealth.

The Shadow Weavers (The Thieves Guild)
Primary Function: Physical Infiltration, Acquisition, and Counter-Security. This is the Thieves Guild that trained Sula, now focused on corporate targets. They steal blueprints, security keys, technology, and critical personnel.
Structure: A highly agile and augmented no group that values skill and precision over brute force. They employ agents like Sula for her unparalleled dexterity and unique connection. They pay the Lithic Crows for blueprints of highly secure buildings before making their moves.
Key Strength Against Corps: They are experts at exploiting the physical gaps in digital security. They focus on targets that damage corporate balance sheets and compromise proprietary research (e.g., raiding labs run by Aethelgard Nexus or stealing assets from The Ascent).

Ripper Docs (Medical & Augmentation)
Primary Function: Unregulated Medical Care, Cyberware Removal/Installation, and Bio-Modding. They provide vital services that corporate clinics deny to those without proper ID or credit.
Structure: A network of rogue medics, geneticists, and cyber-technicians, often former employees of Vessalius BioSystems. They specialize in illegally removing corporate tracking implants and repairing damage caused by low-grade augments or industrial accidents.
Key Strength Against Corps: They are the only place to go for medical help for those on the run.

The Black Hand (Defense & Enforcement)
Primary Function: The Substrata's Internal Security and Enforcement Arm. They protect the safe zones, deal with internal threats (traitors, infiltrators), and run defensive operations against corporate security sweeps.
Structure: A highly militarized group that includes the best fighters, mercenaries, and tactical thinkers from the Substrata. They frequently hire the Vargan Retrieval Guild for external, high-risk enforcement actions and defensive patrols.
Key Strength Against the Corps: Their primary conflict is with The Black Sentinel Agency (BSA) and corporate security forces. They enforce the unwritten laws of the Substrata and ensure no groups actions endanger the entire network.

 

[Nyx]

The Edict of Perpetual Yield (Directive 9.0)

Vortek is a closed system. Every calorie of energy, every liter of oxygen, and every square meter of hull is a shared resource. To exist is to consume. Therefore, to exist without equal or greater contribution is a crime against the whole.​

I. The Doctrine of Functional Integrity.
A citizen’s right to residence, nutrition, and continued biological operation is directly tethered to their Functional Yield. "Life" is a corporate loan; "Production" is the interest.

II. The Duty of Self-Audit (The "Correction" Clause)
Should any Refit / Uplifted—biological, modified, or synthetic—detect a sustained drop in their own output (exceeding a 5% variance over two shifts), they are legally bound to report to a Nexus Reclamation Center for "Maintenance Assessment."
Failure to self-report is classified as resource theft and will result in immediate detainment and a halt to all benefits.

III. The Communal Audit (The "Neighbor’s Watch")
It is the moral and civic obligation of all units to monitor the efficiency of their peers. Observation of " Systems Fatigue" (fatigue, emotional instability, persistent tremors, or cognitive lag ,etc.) in others must be reported immediately via the NA Hotlink.
Successful reports that lead to the reclamation of a failing unit are rewarded with Efficiency Credits or Tier-Upgrades.

IV. The Terminal Clause: Voluntary Retirement
When a unit reaches the point of Functional Exhaustion (where the cost of maintenance exceeds the value of the yield), the unit must submit to Systemic Reclamation.
Your biomass belongs to Aethelgard Nexus and continued effective management of Vortek. Your data belongs to Aethelgard Nexus. Your recycling is the final service.



The "Quiet Walk"
In the streets of the Mid-Levels, this law is simply referred to as "The Quiet Walk." It describes the moment a worker realizes their modifications are failing—perhaps a hydraulic leg is leaking, or their neural-link is stuttering. Because of Directive 9.0, they don't go to a doctor. They don't tell their family.
Instead, they take a "Quiet Walk" to the nearest Aethelgard Nexus collection point. If they don't, and their neighbor reports them first to get a credit bonus, their family might lose their housing permit as a penalty for "harboring a depreciated asset."