Housee Stalka is a small, specialised gene-clan that was originally a splinter clan of House Valka. It still retains close links with its parent gene-clan with the capabilities of the two warrior houses complimenting each other well. Stalka recce teams operating with Valkan fighting patrols are a feared combination within the slime jungles. House Stalka occupies a modest insula on the outskirts of the Hydran peninsula that is isolated by rugged terrain and jungle. Legend has it that this area was originally a major military training area prior to the Apocalypse. Located within this harsh environment, House Stalka quietly minds its own business as it raises and trains its scouts. While considered a warrior gene-clan, this house focuses more on reconnaissance and intelligence gathering than martial skill. In particular, it specialises in operating in the slime jungles that cover the southern area of Avernus and separate the Hydran peninsula from the rest of the continent.

While the house has its leaders and biomancers, the majority of its members are of a class known as Scouts. These scouts are elite reconnaissance troops trained to operate either alone or in small groups independent of any other support. The majority of their training is conducted out in camps located in the slime jungles and is harsh and unforgiving, just like the environment. Both serve to eliminate the weak or incapable with the survivors of this pitiless regime going on to become Stalka-scouts. These individuals would be considered Special Forces in other armies, and they are highly adept at infiltrating enemy forces to either gather detailed information about them or act as stay behind guerrilla units. In addition, the vast amount of knowledge they gain about the slime jungles makes them excellent guides through this type of environment. House Stalka has few bondsmen, and these serve mainly as labourers and administrative functionaries within their insula.

Stalka-scouts are not commonly encountered outside their insula, as they tend to stick to their own kind except when hired out for missions. The extensive time spent in the slime jungles has left them little disposed towards idle conversation and they tend to be obsessive about silence. Indeed, many will speak only in whispers and all are adept at using a highly developed form of sign language to communicate with each other. They usually avoid others as their training and upbringing lends them to being inward looking and even anti-social. On the few occasions they are contacted by outsiders, they are generally considered taciturn and insular. However, once they get to know people they can be friendly enough, in a quiet, guarded sort of way.

As specialist reconnaissance and infiltration troops, Stalkas mostly avoid combat and so don’t develop the same level of fighting skills as the Valkans or Typhonians. As a consequence they are not as effective as these houses in open battle. But as ambushers and guerrilla fighters they can be deadly, often striking and disappearing without their enemy knowing who attacked them. Stalka booby traps are rightly feared for their ingenuity and lethality. While they are capable of operating alone or in pairs, the standard Stalka patrol has four members. For deep penetration missions, two patrols will usually be combined to provide greater capability. Even though they may specialise in operating in the slime jungles, Stalka patrols are just as effective in the desert wastes further north. The tactics of stealth and concealment are paramount to Stalka-scouts and both they and their carapace armour have been genetically refined to merge with their environment. They also disdain conventional weapons, preferring to use bio-weapons, such as Death Guns and Shock Spears, as these are quieter and minimise their signature in natural environments. Although they operate primarily on foot, Stalkas do use Ornithopters and Zects for battlefield mobility. Indeed, many Stalkas have become excellent Zect riders, able to guide their steads through the dark recesses of the slime jungles with uncanny skill.

House Stalka has few enemies amongst the other Gene-clans as it keeps to itself and threatens no one. It has no competitors for the service it offers and so is valuable to most of the major gene-clans. These tend to guard its interests in the assembly and ensure it is left alone. Besides, any attacker would not only face the daunting prospect of fighting the Stalkas on their own inhospitable territory, but also the imminent arrival of the regiments of House Valka. No gene-clan, no matter how arrogant, would dare risk that for so little return.

Stalka-Scout
You are one of the highly specialised Scouts bred by House Stalka to operate in the Slime Jungles. Your entire genetic structure has been modified to optimise you for your duties in this environment. Combine this with the ruthless and thorough training you received and you have indeed become at home in this most hostile of environments. So great is your expertise that your house makes good money by hiring you out to others who have need to travel in these Jungles. Your extensive journeys in the jungles have made you quiet and reticent, so that others can find you insular. Still, no one under values your skill, especially when you are all that keeps him or her alive in the Jungle.

• Advantages: Unique Background - House Stalka, Keen Eyes, Keen Ears, Keen Smell/Taste
• Special Powers: Blending [See below]
• Skills: Handgun (Death Gun), Spear (Shock Spear), Dodge, Stealth, Climb, Awareness, Navigation, Tracking, Survival, Trapping, Sign Language, Lore-Slime Jungles
• Disadvantages: Obligation - House Stalka, Obsession - Silence, Anti-social [See below]
• Equipment: Carapace Armour (Symbsuit, Chameleon Skin), Shock Spear, Death Gun, Enzyme Grenades

House Tomil occupies a medium sized isle in the Hydran archipelago that is away from the main traffic routes through the city. In this relatively quiet back water this minor but prosperous clan conducts its business. House Tomil is a house that values history and knowledge for its own sake and see in it many lessons from the past to guide humanity forward into the future. The house focuses its efforts in the fields of history, geography and mythology and practices the science of archeology. It has accumulated a reasonable amount of wealth through finding, recovering and then selling lost knowledge about the land and its past. In the process it has also recovered many riches and valuable artifacts that it retains for its own benefit. To this end House Tomil is constantly sending out exploration teams to search for ancient sites or to follow up cryptic clues that its research has uncovered. Because of this, House Tomil has a large number of outposts established throughout the wastes and slime jungles to support these activities.

The elite of House Tomil are the Librarians, psycher-scholars with phenomenal memories who analyse, catalogue and store all knowledge recovered in the vaults of the central library. From this study they deduce clues that may lead to further knowledge and they often lead the exploration teams of the house in pursuit of these. By ancient edict of the gene-clan’s original rulers, no Librarian may indulge in any form of personal relationship with any of the lesser members of the clan. To be caught doing so is a very serious crime punishable by banishment. The majority of the gene-clan is made up of Explorers, hardy warrior-archeologists who form the bulk of the clan’s exploration teams. These men and women undertake the dangerous job of searching, mapping and recording the various old ruins and unknown territory that is usually the repository of the knowledge that the Librarians seek. It is also they that protect the Librarians in the field. The remainder of the population of the insula fulfill the other more mundane functions necessary to sustain the House. The best of these are adopted into the clan’s modest but efficient military and become Zect riders or pilot the various ornithopters and spider tanks they utilise.

Tomils tend to be regarded as quiet, pleasant but rather boring people and can seem quite shy when first met. However, get them talking about their particular field of knowledge and they become cheerful, enthusiastic and very talkative. Although also considered by many to be prudish, this is not really the case as Tomils simply like to keep their excesses as their own private concern. They see it as very rude to publicly brag about physical liaisons or other indulgences. Passive by nature, they are not an aggressive or violent people but will fight fiercely to defend what is theirs. However, while they may not have the same warrior ethos as some of the more martial clans, Tomils do display an almost child like enthusiasm and curiosity for new knowledge. This motivates them to go exploring and often places them in danger that they might other wise have avoided. Once committed to battle though, they become surprisingly determined and resilient.

As a result of their many exploratory missions, the Tomils have mapped and have first hand experience with many areas throughout Avernus. The knowledge they have gained through this is quite extensive and often extremely useful to the other houses. Consequently they have a profitable trade in information with many of the other gene-clans as well as numerous cartels in Janus. Despite this, the other gene-clans seem to look down on Tomils as harmless and mildly amusing people, always fussing with their books and data tapes before racing off into the wastes in pursuit of all sorts of esoterica. This mild contempt stems mainly from the fact that House Tomil uses only well established biomancy techniques and has pioneered little or no innovation in the field. Instead they have honed their ability to use tried and tested methods to produce specialist carapace armour for their exploration teams. Symbionics is most commonly used to provide ganglionic links to their members and to augment their Explorers with second hearts. Their gene-sculpturers focus on ensuring that all Librarians are intelligent, psychic and have eidetic memories. They buy nearly all the vehicles they require from House Meleus as their own production facilities are quite limited.

The tower of House Tomil is known as The Library and is a huge mushroom shaped complex with a large underground stem. This stem houses the brain that is the gene-clan’s vault for its treasure of knowledge. This brain has a fair degree of sentience and knows all the Librarians by name, relating to each as an individual via ganglionic link. All Librarians are introduced to the brain at their coming of age and they are the only people that it will release information to. The top of the mushroom is an armoured, chitin shell marked by the gates of numerous access ways that open to admit ornithopters or Zect riders entering the tower. This part of the complex holds the government offices, audience halls and control centres of the gene-clan. Located under the cup of the mushroom are numerous smaller structures of similar design which are the households of the Librarians. These are all connected to the main structure by underground tunnels. Also underground are the military storage bunkers and armouries. Further out are a plethora of cone shaped structures of various sizes that serve as the homes for the explorers and lesser members of the clan. The outside ring of cones are the tenement blocks of the House’s human bondsmen.

Unique to House Tomil is the fact that they are the only recognised gene-clan that actively pursues knowledge of the Ultramundae and its various computer networks. They do this only so that they may recover the knowledge and information that is in these systems and make no attempt to ever manipulate this virtual environment. Indeed, entry into the Ultramundae is treated as one of the most dangerous types of exploratory journeys, something only to be undertaken by the most experienced Librarians when necessary. These virtual journeys are kept as brief as possible with any information discovered being consigned to memory by the Librarian. It is then collated and analysed before finaly, where appropriate, being downloaded into the library brain via ganglionic link. Despite this familiarity with computers, House Tomil still has the same pathological distrust of machine intelligence as the rest of the metro-zone. They see any attempt at programming these entities as fraught with peril and do not delve into the sciences of robomancy or positronics.

Militarily, House Tomil is a very defensively minded gene-clan that seeks only to protect what it regards as its own. Its army is small and is configured for protective tasks only. Consequently it is not seen as a threat by the other houses and is so usually left alone. It is not a weak house however, as its army is well trained and equipped and its insula is heavily prepared for defensive battles. Bunkers, tunnels, traps and prepared demolition sites are all carefully situated throughout the insula and the troops are well rehearsed in their use. The house has invested heavily in high quality war machines and heavy weapons and its troops tend to be quite good shots. Finally, the very nature of the houses Explorers makes them excellent irregular troops and guerrilla fighters. Although Tomils tend to lack the raw aggression needed to make good hand to hand fighters, their marksmanship and talent for ambushing goes a long way towards ensuring that this is not a problem. Tomil tactics revolve around well defended strong points breaking up enemy attacks with interlocking heavy weapon fire while hard hitting mobile units of spider tanks and Zect riders counter attack those elements that get past these points. Meanwhile numerous small teams of Explorers infiltrate the enemies rear areas and conduct guerrilla operations against the foes logistic elements, destroying their means of continuing the battle. Specialised ornithopters are used to provide transport and mobile heavy fire support to these operations. The Librarians are found at all levels in all units and use their psychic abilities to nullify any threats of this type. Most other houses are aware of the tenacity and cunning of House Tomil troops in defense and the few assaults that have been launched on their insula have been expensive failures. In the end, what can be gained from invading Tomil territory is simply not worth the cost, especially when you can usually buy it at a reasonable price.

House Tomil has secured a niche for itself in Hydran society by becoming the major provider of knowledge outside of biomancy to the metro-zone. It also has a reputation for fairness and honesty, rare traits in Hydra and something that is regarded as quaintly reassuring by the other gene-clans. As it is unlikely to ever become a threat to any of the major houses, many of them regard the clan as a useful friend and valuable resource. Consequently House Tomil is usually left free to pursue its interests without competition or obstruction from others.

Librarian
You are one of the elite keepers of knowledge, the psycher-scholars of House Tomil. You have been genetically modified to enhance your intellect and have a phenomenal memory. A graduate of intensive schooling, you continue to study widely and have a powerful thirst for knowledge. As a junior Librarian you work as an assistant to your mentor and often accompany the Explorers into the field to coordinate their efforts. You thrive on the dangers inherent with this work and use your great intellect and knowledge to create your own luck. Your secret desire is to one day achieve the recognition that comes with achieving a major discovery.

• Advantages: Unique Background - House Tomil, Eidetic Memory, Luck, Psycher
• Psionic Powers: Dispel, Psychometry, Scanning, Telekinesis
• Skills: Hand Gun, Security Systems, Scholar, Ancient Lore, Ultramancy, Lore - Science (Archeology), Lore – Geography
• Disadvantages: Obsession - Ancient Knowledge, Obligation - House Tomil
• Equipment: Light Carapace Armour + Symbsuit, Ganglionic Link, Auto-pistol

Explorer
You are one of the tough, self reliant warrior-archeologists who form the bulk of the exploration teams employed by you house. Genetically engineered to be resilient to the trials of operating in all sorts of inhospitable terrain, you are a hardy and capable survivor. Although not a particularly violent person, you are also a determined and ruthless foe when pushed. In times of war you serve as part of one of the elite guerrilla units so vital to your gene-clan’s army. You don’t mind wet nursing the Librarians out in the field, for that is what you have been raised to do. However you do appreciate it when they acknowledge your efforts in their successes.

• Advantages: Unique Background - House Tomil, Hardy, Innate Sense of Direction, Sixth Sense
• Special Powers: Nil
• Skills: Hand Gun, Rifle, Heavy Weapon or Demolitions, Climbing, Stealth, Pilot Ornithopter, Ancient Lore, Trapping, Survival, Healing
• Disadvantages: Personal Code of Honour, Obligation - House Tomil
• Equipment: Medium Carapace Armour + Symbsuit, Second Heart, Auto-pistol, Assault Rifle, Fist Aid Kit

Blending
Prerequisite: Unique Background - House Stalka
You have been specially gene-sculptured to allow your body to adjust its smell, colour and even temperature to fit your surroundings. This only works with natural environments, as it is primed to react to flora and fauna. This modification makes you much more difficult to detect when you are in these environments. Any enemy receives a -2 DRM penalty to all perception tests when they try to detect a character with this power. Costs: 5 points

Anti-social
You are either introverted or socially unskilled, although not necessarily abrasive. Regardless of the reason, people do not warm to you quickly although they do not hate you on sight either. As a result, you are often awkward in social circumstances and tend to be clumsy at interpersonal relationships unless they are with people you know well. This tends to make you a bit of a loner and makes it difficult to curry favour with strangers when you need to. This disadvantage inflicts a -2 DRM penalty to all reaction rolls involving Seduction, Oratory or Persuasion. Cost: -5 points

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