Equipment and Trade

Equipment in the Lethean Age

Most equipment is old-world manufacture, salvage, repair, imitation, or local adaptation. A sword may be simple. A pistol may be older than any mountain name the character knows. A clean bandage may be more valuable than jewelry if the settlement has no medic.

Equipment matters because it does work.

Equipment Grade

Two rifles sit on the trader's blanket. Both fire large-class ammunition. Both weigh roughly the same. One was assembled in a Freehold shop from three different scavenged receivers and a hand-filed barrel. The other was pulled sealed from a peak-era armoury cache, its tolerances tighter than anything a surface smith can reproduce. The second rifle hits harder, more often, and at longer effective range. The difference is grade.

Grade is an integer. Most equipment is grade 0 -- functional baseline manufacture. Each grade above zero adds +1 to the item's core contribution (attack rolls, damage, AC, save DCs, or ability checks, depending on category). Each grade below zero imposes a -1 penalty. A grade +2 weapon is a +2 weapon. A grade -1 suit of armor provides 1 less AC than the same armor at grade 0.

There is no defined ceiling or floor. In practice, grades below -2 and above +4 are vanishingly rare.

What grade does at the table

Vehicles, mounts, and adventuring gear do not carry grades unless a specific item says otherwise.

Grade and ammunition

Ammunition can have its own grade. When a graded weapon fires graded ammunition, the grades stack. A grade +1 rifle firing grade +2 rounds applies +3 to the attack and damage rolls. A grade +2 rifle firing grade 0 rounds applies +2. A grade -1 weapon firing grade +1 rounds applies +0 -- the good ammunition compensates for the bad barrel, and vice versa.

This is why high-grade ammunition is worth more than its weight in trade goods. A standard weapon loaded with exceptional rounds hits like a better weapon. A Freehold militia with grade 0 rifles and a crate of grade +2 rounds from a sealed cache can punch above its weight until the crate runs dry.

Attunement and grade degradation

There is a cost. When ammunition with a grade above 0 is attuned to a new weapon (§attunement), the miasma reshaping risks degrading the ammunition's precision. The character performing the attunement makes an INT check or a relevant tool proficiency check (Repair Kit or Hacking Rig, World Master's call):

DC = 10 + (2 x ammo grade)

On a success, the grade is preserved. On a failure, the ammunition's grade drops by 1. Grade 0 or lower ammunition is not subject to degradation -- there is nothing left to lose.

The check is made once per attunement attempt, regardless of how many rounds are in the batch. The whole batch succeeds or degrades together.

This means high-grade ammunition that already fits your weapon is significantly more valuable than high-grade ammunition that needs reshaping. A box of grade +3 rounds attuned to a weapon you already carry is a treasure. The same box attuned to a weapon you do not own is a gamble -- and the higher the grade, the harder the check, the more you stand to lose. Grade +1 rounds attune easily (DC 12). Grade +3 rounds demand real skill (DC 16). Grade +4 rounds are the kind of thing you bring to the best technician in the settlement and hope.

Grade floor

Grade penalties cannot reduce damage below 1. A corroded weapon in the hands of a weak character still draws blood on a hit. The blow landed; it does something.

Grade, rarity, and Market Tier

Grade, rarity, and Market Tier are three independent axes.

• Rarity describes how hard an item is to find. A common item turns up in most ruin hauls. A legendary item may exist in single digits across the known world.
• Market Tier (§scarcity) describes where a character can routinely buy or repair an item. A T1 wanderer camp stocks scrap leathers; a T4 Foundry Hold stocks power-armor parts.
• Grade describes how well the item performs in a fight.

A common weapon is usually grade 0. A common weapon found in pristine condition inside a sealed vault might be grade +1 -- same design, better specimen. A legendary weapon is not automatically high-grade; "legendary" means almost nobody has one, not that it necessarily hits harder. In practice, higher-rarity items and items from higher Market Tiers tend toward higher grades, but the correlation is a tendency, not a rule. A cargo-cult festival armor cobbled from three different relics may be rare, culturally priceless, and mechanically grade -1 because the pieces do not quite fit together.

Recognizing grade

Nobody in the world calls it "grade." A character who picks up a weapon and swings it knows whether it feels right. A smith who examines a blade knows whether the steel was folded well or hammered cold. A technician who opens a firearm's receiver can see whether the tolerances are factory or field-cut.

At the table, grade is revealed when the item is appraised, tested, or used. The World Master may call for an INT check (for a technological item) or a relevant tool proficiency check (Repair Kit, Hacking Rig) to identify grade before committing to a trade. Some items announce their quality on sight: a Vril-ya blade that never dulls does not need an appraisal. Others hide it: a sealed pre-collapse rifle looks like any other rifle until someone fires it and notices the grouping.

Why grade exists in the world

The old world manufactured at scales and tolerances the surface world cannot reproduce. A factory that stamp-cut a million identical receivers produced grade 0 equipment by default -- reliable, interchangeable, adequate. The same factory's precision line, using select alloys and tighter quality gates, produced grade +1 or +2 equipment for military and specialist use. Peak-era facilities and Vril-ya craft went further still, incorporating miasma-reactive materials and Lattice-integrated components that modern smiths cannot replicate or fully understand.

Negative grades come from the other direction. Time, radiation, incomplete repair, and the simple entropy of geological ages degrade what was once standard. A grade -1 weapon is not a different design -- it is a grade 0 weapon that has been through too much.

Grade is not enchantment. There is no magic in a +2 rifle. There is precision, material science, and the accumulated engineering of a civilization that had millions of years to refine its tools before it forgot everything.

Weapons

Weapons are grouped by how they resolve at the table.

Some weapons are easy to understand. Others are relics that work because a settlement preserved the right handling ritual.

Weapon features

A weapon's features tell you how it behaves at the table. Every weapon carries a set of base properties, a possible mastery property for characters trained into one, and any high-tech features its design happens to include.

These lists are working drafts. Names, thresholds, and stacking rules will be tightened once the high-tech weapon roster is filled in.

Base properties

Every weapon may have zero or more.

• Ammunition. Requires the listed ammunition class to make a ranged attack. Drawing ammo is part of the attack. After a fight, recover half spent ammo (round down) over 1 minute. Exception: Ordnance class ammo is consumed on use and cannot be recovered.
• Finesse. Use STR or DEX for attack and damage. Use the same modifier for both rolls.
• Heavy. Disadvantage on attack rolls if STR (melee) or DEX (ranged) is below 13.
• Light. Enables a Bonus Action attack with a different Light weapon after taking the Attack action. No ability mod on the bonus damage unless negative.
• Loading. Only one piece of ammunition can be fired per action, bonus action, or reaction, regardless of attacks normally available.
• Range. Lists normal and long range in feet. Disadvantage past normal, no attack past long.
• Reach. Adds 5 feet to your reach for attacks and opportunity attacks.
• Thrown. Can be thrown as a ranged attack; melee weapons use their melee ability mod.
• Two-Handed. Requires two hands to attack.
• Versatile. Usable one- or two-handed; two-handed deals the parenthesized damage.

Mastery properties

Usable only by characters with the Weapon Mastery feature (or another feature that unlocks the property).

• Cleave. On a melee hit, make a second melee attack against another creature within 5 feet and within reach. No ability mod on the second hit's damage unless negative. Once per turn.
• Graze. On a miss, deal damage equal to the ability modifier used for the attack. Same damage type as the weapon.
• Nick. The Light extra attack can be made as part of the Attack action instead of a Bonus Action. Once per turn.
• Push. On a hit, push a Large or smaller creature up to 10 feet straight away.
• Sap. On a hit, the target has Disadvantage on its next attack roll before the start of your next turn.
• Slow. On a hit that deals damage, reduce the target's Speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. Does not stack past 10 feet.
• Topple. On a hit, target makes a CON save (DC 8 + your attack ability mod + PB) or falls Prone.
• Vex. On a hit that deals damage, you have Advantage on your next attack roll against that target before the end of your next turn.

High-tech features

New properties for ballistic, energy, and psionic weapons. Not all of these are balanced against one another yet; treat the numbers as placeholders.

Rate of fire

Like any other property, a weapon can carry any mix of these. Each is invoked independently before rolling to hit.

• Rapid. Before rolling to hit, declare Rapid and spend double the normal ammunition. On a miss, reroll the attack roll once and use the new result.
• Semi. When you take the Attack action with this weapon, you may make one additional ranged attack with it as a Bonus Action. Each attack consumes its own ammunition.
• Burst. Spend two or more pieces of ammunition before rolling to hit. The attack uses Exploding Damage: any damage die that rolls its maximum lets you roll an additional die of the same type and add it to the damage. Explosions can chain.
• Auto. Spend three or more pieces of ammunition before rolling to hit. The attack roll has Advantage.

Power and reliability

• Overcharge. As part of the attack, push the weapon past safe limits. The attack deals one extra damage die of the weapon's type. After the attack, roll a d6: on a 1, the weapon is disabled until repaired or cooled.
• Charge-Up. Requires an action (or Bonus Action, if specified) to ready before it can be fired. A readied charge is lost if you take damage, are moved against your will, or end your turn without firing.
• Coolant. The weapon tracks heat. Each shot adds 1 heat; the weapon overheats at a listed threshold (default 5) and cannot be fired until cooled. A character may spend an action to vent 2 heat, or wait 1 minute to clear all heat.
• Unstable. On a natural 1 on the attack roll, the weapon misfires: it deals its own damage die to the wielder (no mod) and is disabled until repaired.
• Recoil. Disadvantage on follow-up attacks with this weapon in the same turn unless the wielder meets a listed STR or DEX threshold (default 13).

Feed and power source

• Cell-Fed. Uses the Energy ammunition class. A spent cell is not recoverable after a fight (override the standard half-ammo recovery rule).
• Fitted. The weapon's ammunition is calibrated to its specific tolerances. Fitted ammo cannot be loaded into a different weapon of the same class without first going through Attunement. Ammo attuned to a different weapon cannot be used in this one without Attunement. Fitted ammo is not recovered in the 1-minute post-fight window; the standard half-recovery rule does not apply. Instead, Fitted ammo is recovered only via Restoration during a short rest -- see Restoration below.
• Linked. A psionic weapon that requires active miasma contact to function. Inert in miasma-dead zones. If the wielder loses concentration on a Linked weapon's tethered effect, the weapon goes dormant until the start of their next turn.

Weapon roster (working list)

This is the working brainstorm of recoverable and surface-made weapon designs. It is intentionally broad. Entries may overlap or duplicate one another across categories. The traditional historical-pattern entries (Simple and Martial sections below) carry stable damage, range, properties, and weight. The high-tech rosters that follow are still pending a balance pass and are listed as -tbd-.

Use this list as a salvage catalogue, not a locked roster. Some entries may be consolidated, renamed, or cut as the weapon system is tightened.

The Traits column lists base and high-tech properties first, then the weapon's mastery property after a semicolon. Mastery properties are usable only by characters whose features unlock them (see Mastery properties above).

Simple melee weapons

Hand-made and salvage-grade close weapons. Any settled smith or patient wanderer can produce these from common stock and time. They are the most common weapons in the surface world, and the ones that turn up in every freehold's wall-rack.

Club

A short, weighted swung weapon. The first weapon a child learns to carry and the last weapon many adults ever own.

Belt knife

A short, single-edged blade worn at the hip. Tool first, weapon second; the line between the two is the wearer.

Greatclub

A two-handed weighted club. Cheap, carriable, and devastating against a braced door.

Belt axe

A single-hand throwing axe, balanced for the hand or the throw. Common stock in any freehold smith's bin.

Javelin

A thrown spear with a hand-shaved haft. Easy to teach. Easy to lose under fire.

Smith's hammer

A compact peening hammer pulled from a foundry rack and put to other use. Plenty of foundry hands have killed with one without ever calling it a weapon.

Mace

A short haft with a heavy striking head. Built to crack armor where edges turn.

Walking staff

A long staff sized to the carrier. The walking stick that is also the weapon. Carried openly where blades would be challenged.

Harvest sickle

A curved blade meant for grain. The settler's last weapon, kept inside the door against raiders the wall did not stop.

Spear

A long hafted thrusting weapon. Older than any settlement still standing and the commonest armed-villager weapon in the surface world.

Simple ranged weapons

The standard standoff weapons of the surface world. Cheap to produce, cheap to learn, and the ammunition is recoverable on the trail.

Weighted dart

A short, heavy needle thrown overhand. Quiet at short range. A hunter's tool more than a soldier's.

Hand-crank crossbow

A light two-handed crossbow with a hand-cranked spanning hook. Slow to load, accurate enough that a freehold militiaman with one is worth two with a bow.

Hunter's bow

A short bow sized for the trail. Standard kit on the open road; the first weapon most wanderers learn to draw.

Shepherd's sling

A weighted pouch on twin cords. The ammunition is the ground at your feet. Older than recorded craft and likely to outlive it.

Martial melee weapons

Smith-grade close weapons that reward training. Most settled holds keep a master smith who can produce these to pattern; wanderers acquire them as inheritance, prize, or salvage. The peak-era patterns survive in foundry holds that kept the craft.

Hold axe

A single-edge battle axe on a swing-tuned haft. Widespread in hold militias; cheap to maintain, hard to outgrow.

Spike flail

A spiked head on a chain or hinged haft. Defeats parry and shield-rim alike.

Wall glaive

A single-edged blade on a long pole. The defender's weapon on a freehold wall, where reach matters more than mobility.

Cleaver greataxe

A two-handed wide-bit axe. Built to part shield and limb in one swing.

Hold greatblade

A two-handed war sword. A peak old-world pattern preserved by the foundries that kept the craft. Carrying one in a freehold reads as both threat and statement.

Watch halberd

An axe-spike-hook polearm. The standard crowd weapon for hold guards; the hook fetches a rider out of a saddle.

Saddle lance

A long mounted reach-spear. Awkward on foot, decisive from the saddle of a trained mount.

Hold longblade

A hand-and-a-half straight sword. The smith's masterwork in any settled hold, and the inheritance that fathers train their sons toward.

Foundry maul

A two-handed sledge with a banded head. Foundry-floor implement turned battlefield finisher.

Spiked star

A heavy spiked head on a short haft. Brutal against unhardened armor; common where smiths are short on subtler patterns.

Formation pike

A long thrusting spear. A crowd weapon used by trained ranks; one pike does little, twenty pikes hold a road.

Foundry rapier

A slim thrusting blade. Personal-defense pattern favored in foundry holds where dueling persists as a settled custom.

Caravan saber

A curved single-edge sword. The trail guard's standard, easy to draw from horseback and easy to swing in a column.

Soldier's blade

A short, straight single-hand sword. The standard sidearm of the settled world, paired with a shield or a free hand.

Brinefork trident

A three-tined spear of salt-fisher origin. Fights as a polearm, throws as a spear, and goes back to the catch when the fight is done.

Plate-cracker hammer

A heavy hammer on a long haft. Anti-armor pattern, built to break through where edges turn.

War pick

A pointed pick-head on a one-handed haft. Drives through plate where blades fail; useless against soft targets.

Long lash

A weighted whip. Reach without a reach weapon's bulk; preferred by slavers, drovers, and the occasional duelist who likes to embarrass their opponent before drawing the blade.

Martial ranged weapons

Smith-grade and powder-grade standoff weapons. The crossbows and bows are produced in any settled hold with a master bowyer; powder weapons require a freehold or foundry with a working powder mill. Powder ammunition is heavy, finicky, and worth its weight in trade.

Dart-pipe

A long blowpipe firing weighted needles. Quiet and short-ranged; common with hunters who prefer the dart be poisoned.

Sleeve crossbow

A one-handed mechanical bow small enough to conceal under a coat. Favored by caravan factors who do not want to draw openly.

Wall crossbow

A heavy, cranked two-handed crossbow mounted at a freehold's wall or carried by braced infantry. Punches through plate at battle range.

Longbow

A long-draw bow built for standoff range. The standard archer's weapon; the draw weight is the practice.

Powder musket

A smoothbore powder-fired long arm. Surface manufacture in any freehold with a working powder mill, and the most common firearm in the settled world. Loud, slow to load, devastating on first contact.

Powder pistol

A powder-fired sidearm. The fallback of any traveler who can afford the powder; one shot, then a knife.

Capture net

A weighted throwing net. Restraint, not kill. A Large or smaller creature hit by the net is Restrained until it frees itself or is freed (DC 10 STR check, or 5 slashing damage to the net at AC 10). Useless against the formless or anything Huge or larger.

Kinetic and projectile

Railgun / gauss rifle

Electromagnetic accelerator. Fires ferrous slugs at hypersonic velocity along a coil track.

Gauss SMG

Compact coil weapon. Burst-fire flechette slugs from a stacked magazine.

Gauss pistol

Sidearm coil weapon. Single-shot or short-burst metal slugs.

Mass driver

Vehicle-scale or emplaced coilgun. Anti-material kinetic punch.

Gyrojet pistol

Rounds are micro-rockets that ignite after leaving the barrel.

Flechette gun

Sprays a cloud of small dart-like projectiles.

Shardgun / sliver rifle

Crystal or polymer shards under gas or coil propulsion.

Spike gun / nail driver

Industrial-tool origin. Drives heavy fasteners through tissue and plate.

Stake gun

Heavy oversized spike driver. Pins or impales.

Slugthrower

Old-world conventional firearm. Chemical-propellant solid rounds.

Hypervelocity dart rifle

Long-barrel coilgun firing tungsten darts for armor penetration.

Sabot rifle

Discarding-sabot rounds. Subcaliber penetrator delivered in a carrier shell.

Caseless burst rifle

Combustible-cased rounds. Low mass, high cyclic rate.

Smartgun

Tracking optics paired with guided rounds that adjust mid-flight.

Auto-shotgun

Cyclic-feed combat shotgun. Spread or slug at handler's choice.

Man-portable autocannon

Heavy shoulder-fired cannon. Sustained high-caliber fire.

Dual rocket-round carbine

Twinned rapid-fire rocket-round array. Sustained anti-personnel suppression.

Rocket-round carbine

Rocket-propelled HE-round launcher. Each round ignites after a short flight.

Needler

Homing sliver swarm. Rounds track and converge on the target.

Charged-bolt crossbow

Crossbow-frame weapon that energizes its bolt at release.

Crystal gun

Fires brittle silica shards that fragment on impact.

Monofilament caster

Fires a projectile trailing a single-molecule cutting filament.

Wire-guided harpoon

Heavy projectile tethered to the launcher by signal cable.

Energy beams

Laser pistol

Coherent-light sidearm. Pulse or continuous mode.

Laser rifle

Long-arm coherent-light beam weapon.

Pulse laser

Tight repeating pulses of coherent light.

Continuous-beam laser

Sustained beam. Cuts and burns by held contact.

X-ray laser

Hard-spectrum laser. Penetrates light armor before depositing energy.

Gamma graser

Highest-spectrum coherent beam. Cellular and electronic damage at depth.

Maser

Microwave-frequency laser. Cooks tissue beneath surface armor.

Heat ray

Directed thermal beam. Sets surfaces alight and cooks soft targets.

Death ray

Wide-spectrum cellular-disruption beam. Old-world classification, mechanism unclear.

Variable-effect projector

Variable-effect beam. Stun, kill, or disassembly settings.

Stun-calibrated projector

At lowest yield. Drops the target without lasting harm.

Molecular shear beam

Coherent particle beam. Tears apart matter at the contact point.

Blaster

Plasma-bolt sidearm or rifle. Common old-world military pattern.

Disintegrator

Beam weapon that reduces matter to dust at the focus point.

Plasma rifle

Magnetically contained plasma bolt launcher.

Phased-plasma rifle

Plasma rifle with shaped-discharge tuning across frequency bands.

Plasma cutter

Short-range industrial-cutter weaponized. Wide cleaving plasma blade.

Plasma pistol

Compact plasma weapon. Optional overcharge bolt.

Fusion gun

Sustained fusion-jet projector. Short range, very hot.

Particle beam rifle

Accelerated subatomic particles. Penetrating beam, not coherent light.

Ion cannon

Ionized particle beam. Disables electronics and constructs.

Proton blaster

Charged-particle weapon. High-energy, short-range punch.

Positron rifle

Antielectron beam. Matter-antimatter annihilation on contact.

Tachyon emitter

Causality-strange particle beam. Sometimes registers as hitting before the trigger pull.

Phase-polarized projector

Phase-polarized particle weapon. Penetrates conventional shielding.

Exotic-particle emitter

Exotic-particle beam. Effective against phased or shielded targets.

Lightning gun

Directed electrical arc. Chains between conductive targets.

Arc rifle

Sustained lightning beam.

Tesla coil weapon

Emplaced area-arc projector. High-voltage cone discharge.

Thermal resonance ray

Resonance-heat ray. Targets vibrate themselves toward vapor.

Mass-energy converter

Converts a fraction of target mass into energy on contact.

Spread laser

Multi-beam scatter optic. Reduced range, area coverage.

Active-denial projector

Wide-cone microwave emitter. Drives off targets through pain response.

Plasma-orb projector

Massive plasma-orb launcher. Crew-served or vehicle-mount.

Charge-beam lance

Hand-held high-energy laser. Briefly charges, then discharges a piercing beam.

Directed cutting beam

Light directed-energy weapon. Sustained low-yield cutting beam.

Spinal energy lance

Spinal-mount energy lance. Capital-scale weapon.

Sun-gun

Solar-pumped laser. Requires daylight or external focus.

Plasma-fusion cannon

Vehicle main gun. Plasma-fusion lance.

Thermal and state-change

Hand flamer

Compact flamethrower. Short-range fuel-jet ignition.

Backpack flamer

Heavier flamethrower. Sustained burn, large fuel reservoir.

Slag gun

Close-range thermal projector. Reduces armor and tissue to slag.

Plasma flamer

Plasma-charged flamethrower. Hotter, brighter, shorter range.

Dragonsbreath shell

Shotgun shell that ejects a burning ejecta cone.

Freeze ray

Cryogenic beam. Encases targets in fast-forming ice.

Cryo grenade

Cryogenic burst grenade. Freezes air, water, and contact tissue.

Cold-stream carbine

Cryogenic SMG. Sustained cold-stream, immobilizes on freeze.

Fusion torch

Industrial cutting torch weaponized. Plasma jet at melee range.

Thermal lance

Pole-mounted cutting torch. Bores through bulkhead or carapace.

Incinerator

Phosphorus or thermite thrower. Persistent burn.

Sonic and resonance

Sonic devastator

Wide-cone sonic blaster. Concussive area damage.

Sonic disruptor

Tight-beam sonic weapon. Pulps tissue at point-of-impact.

Subsonic stunner

Low-frequency emitter. Nausea, panic, loss of motor control.

Ultrasonic shatter rifle

Targets brittle materials and crystalline structures.

Resonance cascade lance

Tunes to material resonance frequencies. Shakes structures apart.

Harmonic detonator

Resonance-matched mine. Detonates only on tuned approach.

Gravitic, spatial, and exotic

Field manipulator

Field manipulator. Lifts and hurls nearby objects as projectiles.

Gravitic maul

Two-handed melee weapon. Discharges a gravitic shockwave on impact.

Singularity launcher

Fires a micro-black-hole canister. Brief duration, total devouring.

Implosion bomb

Reverses local pressure. Crushes inward on a point.

Crusher field projector

Localized high-gravity well. Pins or breaks.

Stasis field grenade

Freezes time within an area. Caught entities resume on expiration.

Phase-shift cannon

Knocks target partly out of phase. Movement and contact become uncertain.

Dimensional rift gun

Opens short-lived gates. Disposal or transit weapon.

Warp field projector

Distorts local space. Movement, aim, and range become unreliable.

Probability gun

Localized improbability discharge. Outcomes within the area become random.

Quantum decoherence pistol

Forces wavefunction collapse on living targets. Effects vary.

Mass amplifier

Multiplies target weight. Immobilizes through self-crushing load.

Tractor beam

Push-pull manipulator. Restraint or hurl.

Reality anchor

Suppresses substrate-resident phenomena. Anti-phantasm utility.

Radiation and exotic-particle

Neutron projector

Neutron flux beam. Kills crew, leaves hull intact.

Hard-rad emitter

Directed ionizing radiation. Delayed cellular damage.

Gamma burst rifle

Short pulse of hard radiation. Acute tissue dose.

Cosmic ray inducer

Mimics deep-space particle flux. Wide-area damage over time.

Tritium fog projector

Disperses radioactive vapor. Area denial.

X-ray strobe

Wide-spectrum burst. Blinds organic and optical sensors.

Bio and chemical

Acid sprayer

Corrosive liquid jet. Eats armor and tissue.

Toxin gun

Pressurized poison delivery. Direct injection or aerosol.

Venom syringe gun

Single-shot envenoming sidearm.

Nerve agent canister

Released by impact or fuse. Persistent area effect.

Tranq dart pistol

Single-shot sedative dart. Less-lethal capture tool.

Bio-disruptor

Targets organic cell structure only. Inert against constructs.

Spore rifle

Disperses mutagenic, toxic, or parasitic spores.

Pathogen vector aerosol

Delivery system for engineered biological agents.

Slime cannon

Adhesive organic discharge. Restraint or hazard.

Viral injector dart

Subdermal payload. Effects manifest after a delay.

Nano and swarm

Nanite swarm canister

Releases a cloud of disassembler nanites.

Gray goo grenade

Self-replicating nanite burst. Spreads until depleted or contained.

Disassembler rifle

Beam vector for matter-untying nanite payload.

Smart-dust dispenser

Sensor or weaponized particle cloud.

Combat-drone swarm pod

Releases a coordinated drone flight.

Tracker drone

Pencil-thin assassin drone. Steered remotely or by signature.

Deployable turret canister

Self-installing autonomous turret.

Self-replicating spike infestation

Area denial. Spikes grow from any contacted surface.

Psionic and mental

Psi-amp

Wrist or temple focus. Amplifies the bearer's mind-blast.

Neural disruptor

Targeted nervous-system interference beam.

Empathic feedback projector

Reflects target's own distress back at them, amplified.

Migraine ray

Localized cranial-pain projector. Less-lethal but disabling.

Mesmer beam

Brief compulsion projector. Targets are pliable while irradiated.

Compliance lance

Directed authority weapon. Effects scale with bearer's discipline.

Voice projector

Compulsion command broadcast. Requires the speaker's trained channeling.

Brain-burner

Lethal psionic surge. Burns out higher cognition.

Wave and electromagnetic

EMP rifle

Directed electromagnetic pulse. Disables electronics and constructs.

ECM projector

Active counter-signal. Jams targeting, signal, and drone control.

Dazzler

Directed wide-spectrum optical-sensor flood.

Microwave gun

Cooks targets by heating internal water content.

Mag-cuff projector

Magnetic restraint launcher. Pins ferrous-armored targets.

Antimatter and conversion

Antimatter rifle

Magnetically suspended antimatter bolt. Annihilation on contact.

Antiproton blaster

Particle weapon with antimatter payload.

Antimatter warhead

Strategic ordnance. Container failure equals total release.

Nova bomb

Compact antimatter charge. Capital-scale.

Guided antimatter torpedo

Vehicle-launched antimatter warhead. Guided.

Zero-point warhead

Vacuum-energy enhanced antimatter warhead.

Conversion beam

Sustained mass-to-energy lance. Capital-scale.

Grenades

Frag grenade

Fragmentation explosive. Anti-personnel.

HE grenade

High-explosive charge. Concussive area damage.

Penetrator grenade

Shaped charge. Anti-armor, point-target.

Plasma grenade

Plasma burst container. Adhesive variants exist.

EMP grenade

Pulse charge. Disables electronics and constructs in a small radius.

Smoke grenade

Concealment aerosol.

Thermal charge

High-temperature explosive. Burns and concusses.

Sticky bomb

Adhesive demolition charge.

Marble-sized grenade

Small charge in a hardened bead. Thrown or load-fed.

Photon flash grenade

Blinding light burst. Less-lethal area effect.

Stasis grenade

Freezes contacted area in temporal lock.

Disintegration grenade

Disassembles matter within the burst radius.

Ordnance and demolitions

Sub-kiloton warhead

Sub-kiloton tactical warhead. Launcher-fired or planted.

Smart mine

Proximity-triggered explosive with selective targeting.

Demo charge

Engineered breaching explosive. Shaped or general.

Rocket launcher

Tube-launched unguided HE rocket.

Wrist rocket

Forearm-mounted micro-rocket.

Smart missile

Self-guided seeker. Multiple guidance modes.

Restraint and less-lethal

Net gun

Compressed-launched capture net.

Stickyfoam launcher

Expanding adhesive foam. Immobilizes targets in place.

Tangler / web gun

Strand-launching restraint weapon.

Grav-net

Localized gravity well in mesh form.

Stun baton

Contact electroshock melee.

Shock prod

Reach-extension electroshock pole.

Shock gauntlets

Worn melee shock weapons.

Capture rifle

Fires a tracking restraint round.

Pacification gas projector

Sedative aerosol launcher.

Melee, energy and exotic

Plasma blade

Energy sword. Cuts most materials at the blade plane.

Energy-tip polearm

Pole arm with active-energy tip. Reach weapon.

Powered gauntlet

Powered gauntlet. Energized strike.

Powered claw

Powered talon-set. Rending strike.

Chain-edge blade

Motorized chain-edge blade. Cleaves and grinds.

Chain-edge axe

Heavy chain-edge axe.

Monomolecular sword

Single-molecule cutting edge. Strikes through most materials.

Monofilament whip

Length of monomolecular filament. Lethal at full extension.

Powered maul

Powered impact club. Concussive strike.

Shock hammer

Two-handed power weapon. Stunning crash on hit.

Fang knife

Biological blade carved from a creature's tooth. Local tradition only.

Vibroblade

Vibrating-edge knife. Cuts through hide and light armor.

Vibrosword

Vibrating-edge sword.

Vibrostaff

Vibrating-edge pole arm.

Skull-drill drone

Latches onto a skull and drills through.

Strange and one-off classics

Disintegrator ray

Reduces matter to dust at the focus point.

Shrink ray

Temporarily reduces target's size.

Growth ray

Temporarily increases target's size.

Aging ray

Accelerates a target's biological clock.

De-aging beam

Reverses a target's biological clock.

Petrify ray

Converts living tissue to stone-like material.

Polymorph beam

Reshapes target into another form, with chance of reversion.

Devolution gun

Reverts a target along its evolutionary lineage.

Sleep ray

Wide-spectrum sedative projector.

Doomsday device

Planet-scale strategic weapon. Recovered as ruin, not used.

Biosphere charge

Terraforming charge. Weaponized as area effect.

Capital charge cannon

Spinal capital weapon. Single-shot, multi-cycle charge.

Orbital beam weapon

Orbital-scale beam weapon.

Orbital sterilizer

Orbital ring weapon. Sterilization-class.

Black-hole bomb

Singularity bomblet. Contained briefly, then released.

Time-stop charge

Halts time within a small radius for a short interval.

Armor and shields

Armor improves survival but may change how you move, sneak, or channel. A character may equip one armor set and one shield at a time unless a rule says otherwise. Screens, Fields, and detection-defense gear (ECM, Faraday cowls, refractive cloaks) are worn separately and stack with armor and shields.

Defense in the Lethean Age comes from five different worlds at once:

• Historical and contemporary. Steel, plate, kevlar, riot panels. The understood things.
• Peak-era manufacture. Nanite weaves, adaptive plate, hardlight devices. Crafted before the Forgetting.
• Bio-engineered. Symbiont skins, chitin, grown bone. The fruit of the Upvolving.
• Pre-collapse field tech. Screens (Wind-keyed barriers), Fields (cell-powered barriers), ECM units, Faraday cowls. Both Screen and Field types require maintenance and power of different kinds.
• Salvage and improvised. Mirror-coated stillcoats, cargo-cult festival plate built over buried relics. The work of people who needed to live.

A salvage mirror coat and a peak-era polarized panel may be mechanically identical. Provenance is flavor. Use it for the story; rely on the table for the table.

The numbers below are first-pass calibration drafts. AC, charge counts, and regen rates will tighten once the weapon roster is finalized and the early encounters playtest in.

Damage categories

For armor purposes, the canonical damage types (Book 5, §damage-types) group into player-readable categories. Resistance halves incoming damage in a category. Vulnerability doubles it.

Detection is not a damage category. It is a separate axis: some gear makes you harder to scan, target, or track even when nothing has hit you yet.

Defense mechanisms

Every armor entry advertises one or two mechanisms in addition to its Base AC. Mechanisms describe what the armor is good against; they do not change Base AC.

A mechanism appears in an armor's slot list at most once. A second copy extends parameters (more charges, higher N) without stacking the effect.

The mirrored stillcoat is real. So is the concrete fence post. A polarized panel may shrug off a laser and then crack under the same fence post a moment later.

Weight tiers

Armor and channeling

Some classes care deeply about armor. Furyborn rely on miasma surge through unarmored tissue and lose their core feature if armored beyond Light without a class option. Unfettered need an open body conduit and the freedom of motion that Heavy or Powered armor takes away. Sage and Mage can wear Medium without penalty but pay if they take Heavy. Sworn and Fighter expect Heavy as default. Read the class chapter (04-classes.md) before you spend hard-found plate on a character who cannot use it.

Mechanism-by-mechanism, the rule is simpler than it sounds. Plate, Ablative, Reactive, Polarized, Spaced, and Sealed do not interfere with channeling beyond what the weight tier already imposes. Bio-symbiont, Faraday, and Augmetic shock plate do not interfere either. Adaptive and ECM-lined operate on nanite-mediated state and can flicker in dead zones; consider them unreliable when the Wind is gone.

Scarcity: market tiers and upkeep

Two things govern whether a character can actually field a piece of armor: where they can routinely buy or repair it, and what keeping it working costs between sessions. Provenance (the historical flavor tag) is a separate question and does not constrain availability.

Market Tier (T1-T5). Each armor entry lists the tier at which it is routinely available. A character at a lower tier can still find higher-tier items as ruin loot from old-world wrecks, Fallen Redoubts, and deep strata. The constraint is market access, not item existence. A wanderer who scavenges Combat Power Armor wears it until the cells run dry; the next step is finding a hold that will sell cells.

Upkeep. Each armor entry lists one upkeep tag indicating the most demanding maintenance burden among its mechanisms. Base AC and Self- sustaining mechanisms continue to function even when other upkeep fails; only the mechanism requiring upkeep goes inert. A powered armor with a depleted cell still has its plate; a Lattice-tied weave in a dead zone still has whatever it is sewn into.

The pairing of Tier and Upkeep is what makes scarcity interesting at the table. A wanderer in salvaged Combat Power Armor is the campaign hook for finding a Foundry Hold; a Lattice Hold's smith who can repair the suit but will not sell cells is the next negotiation; a Bio-bonded shifter whose symbiont skin will starve in a dead zone is the reason the party turns back.

Light armor (sample)

Medium armor (sample)

Heavy armor (sample)

Powered armor

Powered armor is a fourth tier with its own rules. It is worn, not driven, and is not a vehicle.

• Suit HP. The suit has its own HP pool, tracked separately. Damage taken while suited applies to suit HP first. When the suit reaches 0, it is breached and further damage applies to the operator.
• STR floor. Wearing the suit sets the operator's effective STR to the suit's listed floor for carry, encumbrance, and melee damage if the operator's STR is lower.
• Encumbrance. Armor encumbrance from the suit's mass is ignored.
• Mounts. The suit has one built-in weapon mount and one accessory mount (ECM unit, search light, claw, breaching ram, or similar).
• Power. Drains 1 cell per round in combat and 1 cell per hour out of combat. At 0 cells the suit is depowered: disadvantage on all physical ability checks and attacks, speed halved, and doffing takes 1 minute.
• Donning and doffing. 3 turns in combat, or 1 minute out of combat.
• Proficiency. Requires Powered Armor proficiency, distinct from Heavy Armor proficiency.
• Channeling. Restricted, as Heavy.
• Feature slots. 3, plus the weapon and accessory mounts.

Suit HP is repaired with a Repair Kit outside combat.

Shields

A shield occupies the off-hand. A character may equip one shield in addition to armor unless the shield's description says otherwise.

Screens

A Screen is a worn Lattice device keyed to the ambient Wind. It stacks with worn armor, shields, Fields, and detection-defense gear.

Most Screens look like a thickened bracer, a ribbed plate at the sternum, or an oversized belt clasp. You cannot see the barrier they project. You notice it when something hits you and the hurt does not arrive as expected.

How a Screen works

Every generator is keyed to one or more Wind colors. The six spectrum colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet) cover most generators recovered from old-world ruins. The two extremes -- Black and White -- appear only in pieces taken from deep Redoubts and Vril-ya installations.

When worn, the generator draws from the ambient Wind in its keyed colors and holds a pool of Field Points (FP) that absorb incoming damage before the bearer's own HP are touched. The size of that pool is the Wind level for the generator's keyed color multiplied by the generator's resonance rating -- or, for a multi-color generator, the sum of Wind levels across all keyed colors multiplied by the resonance rating.

Most generators have a resonance rating of 1. A Red-keyed generator at rating 1, in a location where Red Wind is at 5, holds 5 FP. A rating-3 generator in the same location holds 15. Exceptional generators at rating 2 or 3 exist; finding one is the kind of occasion a party remembers.

When the Wind level changes, the field's maximum changes with it. A field holding 4 FP when the Wind for its color drops from 5 to 3 immediately loses the 2 points the Wind no longer supports.

Mechanism resistances on worn armor apply to any damage that reaches the bearer -- whether because the field was depleted, because the attack bypassed the field, or because the generator has stopped cycling.

Depletion and the depletion baseline

When a field is reduced to 0 FP, it is depleted. The generator records the Wind level at that moment as the depletion baseline for each of its keyed colors. Until the field completes a full recovery cycle, the FP available is limited to the amount by which the current Wind exceeds that baseline.

A field depleted when Red Wind was at 2, now in a location where Red Wind has risen to 5, holds 3 FP -- the 3 points above the baseline. If the Wind falls back to 2, the field holds nothing. If it rises to 6, the field holds 4. The baseline only resets when the field completes its cycle.

Waiting for the Wind to rise does not restore a depleted field to full strength. Only the cycle can do that.

Cycle

Every generator has a cycle: the interval at which it fully recovers, resets its depletion baseline to zero, and refills to the current Wind maximum.

A round-cycle field is aggressive protection -- it catches up quickly but must be managed. A long-cycle field is a commitment: durable across a sustained engagement, but once depleted, the bearer lives on the depletion baseline until the next full rest.

Burnout

Some generators carry the Burnout trait. A Burnout generator that absorbs a single hit equal to or greater than twice its current maximum FP overloads. The device stops cycling entirely and provides no protection until the bearer makes a successful Tools check to restart it. The DC is set by the device's quality.

Burnout risk scales with Wind. When Red Wind is at 1, a rating-1 Red generator's maximum is 1 FP -- a single hit of 2 burns it out. When Red Wind is at 6, the same device requires a hit of 12 before overload is a risk. Deploying a Burnout generator when its Wind color runs low is a gamble on how much the next hit weighs.

Generators without the Burnout trait are built to a higher tolerance and cannot overload regardless of damage absorbed.

Reserve

Some generators carry the Reserve trait at a listed level. A Reserve generator is immune to Burnout.

When a Reserve generator is depleted, it does not stay at zero. At the end of the initiative turn on which the field was depleted, it restores to its Reserve level -- provided Reserve has not already fired this cycle. Reserve fires once per cycle. After it fires, a second depletion before the cycle completes leaves the bearer unprotected until the cycle resets.

The Reserve level does not scale with Wind. Reserve-5 always restores to 5, regardless of the current Wind level for the keyed color. That fixed floor is most valuable in locations where the matched Wind color runs weak -- the field delivers consistent protection that Wind-based math cannot.

Multi-color fields

A generator keyed to more than one color draws FP from each color separately and pools them additively. A Blue/Green generator in a location where Blue Wind is at 6 and Green Wind is at 3 holds 9 FP. That pool absorbs incoming damage from any source, regardless of category.

Multi-color generators cover Wind fluctuations that would leave a single-color generator exposed. A generator drawing from all six spectrum colors retains substantial coverage even when one or two colors drop. They are correspondingly rare and do not appear in ordinary trade.

A multi-color generator requires no minimum across all its keyed colors. It functions wherever at least one keyed color has a Wind level above zero. Colors at zero simply contribute nothing to the pool; the generator does not shut down because of them.

Black fields

Black fields are recovered artifacts, not traded goods. They draw from all six spectrum colors plus the Black spectrum -- seven keyed colors. The Black spectrum runs deep and irregularly, strongest near Fallen Redoubts and at sites whose Wind profile resists ordinary mapping. A Black field functions wherever at least one of its seven colors shows any Wind at all.

A Black field carries a listed number of autonomous responses per round. When the field is depleted, the generator detects the collapse and restores the field on its own -- without consuming any of the bearer's actions, bonus actions, or reactions. The field returns to its current maximum. A generator with 2 autonomous responses can do this twice per round in addition to its normal cycle behavior.

In a sustained engagement, a Black field with multiple autonomous responses behaves as though it cannot be removed from the fight. The field keeps coming back. The engineering behind this is not understood by anyone alive.

White fields

White fields draw from all six spectrum colors plus the White spectrum -- seven keyed colors. Like a Black field, a White field functions wherever at least one of its seven colors shows any Wind at all.

White fields carry a listed resonance return DC. When an attacker inflicts damage that the White field absorbs, the field resonates the disruption back. The attacker must make a DEX saving throw against the listed DC. On a failure, the attacker takes Force damage equal to half the damage they inflicted on the field.

No action from the bearer is required. The return is a property of how the White-spectrum channel responds to a disruption -- the same way a struck wire vibrates back. The attacker struck the field; the field answered.

Field Points, stacking, and absorption order

The protection a Screen or Field provides is measured in Field Points (FP), not Temporary Hit Points. Each worn Screen or Field maintains its own independent FP pool. Wearing a Red Screen alongside a Green Screen gives you two separate pools -- damage that depletes one does not affect the other. Each device tracks its own Burnout state, Reserve state, and Cycle timer independently.

When you take damage, absorption follows this order:

1. Field Points -- your FP pools, depleted in an order you declare when you equip the devices. All FP pools are active simultaneously.
2. Temporary Hit Points -- HP from abilities, traits, and other non-device sources. Only the highest single grant of Temp HP is active at a time (the keep-highest rule).
3. Hit Points

Field Points and Temporary Hit Points are independent. A Red Screen that depletes does not reduce your Temp HP; a Temp HP grant from a Tradent encouragement does not interact with any Screen or Field pool.

Sample Screens

Fields

A Field is a worn device that projects a protective barrier from an internal cell. Unlike Screens, Fields do not draw from ambient Wind -- they draw from stored power. This makes them usable in miasma-dead zones and in locations where the needed Wind color does not run.

Bubble. At the start of each of the bearer's turns, gain X FP that absorb incoming damage of any category. If reduced to 0, the bubble breaches: no FP are generated on the bearer's next turn, and the Field remains breached until the generator recovers (N turns after combat ends, or one long rest, depending on the device). While active, the bearer has disadvantage on Stealth -- the field is faintly visible at close range. Drains 1 cell per round of active use.

Bias. A Bias Field generates X FP that absorb only one named damage category (Kinetic, Energy, Chem/Bio, or Radiation). A Bias generator may carry multiple category slots, switchable between encounters. Same breach and drain behavior as a Bubble.

Threshold variant. Some military-grade Bubbles also ignore any single hit dealing less than threshold T; this does not consume FP. Raider-grade Bias fields are flat soaks without threshold.

When a Field absorbs damage, mechanism resistances on worn armor still apply after the bubble breaches.

ECM and detection-defense gear

Standalone gear that defends against targeting, scanning, and tracking. Each item is worn or carried and stacks with armor, Screens, and Fields. Armor may also carry the ECM-lined or Faraday mechanisms as integrated alternatives.

Ammunition

Ammunition is grouped by class rather than exact old-world caliber.

Screen and Field piercing

Some weapons and ammunition are designed to bypass Screens and Fields. Where the bypass property lives depends on the weapon type.

Physical-projectile weapons (mechanical ranged, ballistic, kinetic) use piercing ammunition. The pierce colors are a property of the rounds, not the weapon; the same weapon can fire standard or piercing ammunition interchangeably.

Energy weapons carry pierce as a weapon property -- written as pierce:Red, pierce:Blue/Green, and so on. All shots from that weapon are treated as piercing the named color or colors, regardless of what cell or charge is loaded. This represents an emitter tuned to disrupt the named Wind-color resonance rather than be absorbed by it.

For Screens, the bypass rule is coverage: the named colors must cover every color the Screen is keyed to, or the Screen is fully effective. A pierce:Blue weapon against a Blue/Green Screen is resolved as though the weapon had no pierce property at all -- the Green layer is untouched and the Screen holds.

A Red-piercing round (or pierce:Red weapon) defeats a Red Screen. It does nothing against a Red/Green Screen. A Red/Green-piercing round defeats a Red/Green Screen but still fails against a Red/Green/Blue Screen. Coverage must be complete or the barrier stands.

Piercing (all) covers every color. It bypasses any Screen or Field regardless of color count or combination.

Color-specific piercing does not bypass cell-powered Fields. A Field draws from stored power, not from Wind resonance -- there is no color channel to disrupt. Only Piercing (all) can bypass a Field.

An attack that bypasses a Screen does not trigger a Burnout check. The Screen is not processing the impact; there is nothing to overload. Burnout checks apply only to hits that the Screen actually absorbs.

Attunement

Old-world ammunition was not universal. Two boxes of "small" ammunition may come from manufacturing traditions separated by ages.

The miasma can mediate between ammunition and weapon. Given roughly one hour, ambient miasma, and the right class of ammunition, the Miasm may reshape fit, propellant behavior, casing interface, connector geometry, or energy frequency.

Limits:

• Ammunition attunes only within its class.
• The miasma reshapes; it does not create mass from nothing.
• Miasma-dead zones prevent new attunement.
• Attuned ammunition may need another hour to re-attune to a different weapon.

This is why ammunition can function as field currency. It is portable, useful, and wanted by anyone who leaves the walls.

Restoration

Fitted ammunition fired from a weapon does not simply vanish. Most of it lands somewhere: in a target, in a wall, in the dirt. The Miasm can reforge spent rounds back to spec -- but only if the weapon they came from is present to serve as the template.

During a short rest, a character carrying a Fitted weapon at grade 0 or better may attempt Restoration. They gather what they can of the spent rounds, expose them to ambient Miasm alongside the weapon, and let the weapon's calibration signature guide the reshaping. The process consumes the rest. Half the Fitted ammo spent since the last Restoration is recovered and re-calibrated. The remainder is unrecoverable -- too fragmented, embedded in material, structurally failed, or simply gone.

Restoration has its own limits:

• The weapon must be at grade 0 or better. A corroded weapon has lost the precision tolerances the Miasm uses as its template. Restoration fails.
• Miasma-dead zones prevent Restoration entirely. No ambient Miasm, no reshaping.
• Restoration does not trigger grade degradation. The rounds are returning to the weapon they were already calibrated for; no new reshaping is involved.

Restoration does not apply to Cell-Fed weapons. Spent cells are consumed, not deformed -- there is nothing left to reforge.

Tools

Tools let characters solve problems without turning every scene into combat.

Lockpick Set

Bypass old security or simple locks.

Medical Kit

Treat injuries outside combat.

Repair Kit

Restore or stabilize equipment.

Signal Flare

Mark position or reveal nearby terrain.

Climbing Gear

Cross vertical or unstable terrain.

Hacking Rig

Interface with pre-apocalyptic systems.

Tool proficiency matters when the regulations call for it. In handbook play, the useful question is simple: did you bring the thing that makes your approach possible?

Toxins and antitoxins

Toxins overlay other delivery methods. They may be applied to weapons, ammunition, ordnance, or direct administration.

Common toxin families:

• Poison: chemical or biological harm.
• Radiation: hard energy and cellular damage.
• Mutagen: biological rewriting.

Common counters:

• Antivenom for poison.
• Rad-Purge for radiation.
• Stabilizer for mutagen exposure before it resolves.

Vehicles and mounts

Vehicles are old-world mechanical conveyances. Mounts are living creatures used for movement, cargo, and travel. Both can change what terrain the party can cross and how much risk they can carry.

Vehicles need repair and power. Mounts need food, rest, training, and trust.

Relics

A relic is valuable when someone can use it, demonstrate it, repair it, trade it, or learn from it. Mystery alone is not value. A device that hums but cannot be operated is a gamble. A device that purifies water changes a settlement's future.

When you find a relic, ask:

• What does it do?
• What does it need?
• Who can appraise it?
• Can ordinary people use it?
• Does it become dangerous if moved?
• Does it produce future value?

Currency and trade

The current regulations use Scrap as standard earned currency and Crystals as a premium resource. They are independent currencies with no direct exchange.

At the table, many settlements also barter in capability: ammunition, working cells, tools, medicine, beasts, safe routes, maps, salvage lots, and services. The Everett sandbox develops a richer local economy around power cells, ammunition, Verdant Glass, and productive relics. Use that material when the campaign is set in or near Everett, or when the World Master promotes those rules into broader canon.

Verdant Glass

Verdant Glass is the Everett working term for old glass, cards, slabs, and relic interfaces that can organize the miasma into repeatable output. A Live Seed that makes water, food, signal, or medical supply is wealth because it produces tomorrow's value.

Until promoted into the general handbook, Verdant Glass is local module material. See rulebooks/gammago/everett/ for the current split documents.

Trade and The Law

The Law forbids breaking a trade freely made. That is what makes trade possible between beings who may not share origin, language, faction, or trust.

Fraud is not colorful bargaining. Selling Cold Glass as Warm Glass, hiding burnout, passing false cells, or lying about yield can put a trader outside the trusted market and, in some settlements, outside protection.