Hearthship Kün Üyi

25 Dec, 2025

A Secret Santa post for KingDunadd on the Sci-Fi RPG Collective. Core ideas by me, with assistance and polishing by Sammy. Due to the time limit I didn't get all the ideas I wanted in here (but I did at least get it mostly done), so I may come back and expand upon this again.

Nomad Fleets

Through the space lanes of the Novarion Sector float the Nomad Fleets. These merchants, pirates, scavengers, messengers and lorekeepers are descendants of spaceborne colonists and scouts that survived when the Scream struck. Nomad Fleets ruled the sector in the time of Great Jian, but in the modern day, they exist only on the fringes of interstellar society. Nevertheless, a handful of fleets uphold the old ways, and live among the stars.

The people of the Nomad Fleets are stereotyped by the planet-bound as insular, untrustworthy, and barbarous. However, those who actually interact with them find them just as hospitable as any planet, so long as their customs are respected. A member of the Nomad Fleet spends their life centimeters away from instant death, and knows that rules exist for a reason. They live in cramped conditions, where propriety and politeness is not only valued but necessary for the survival of the fleet. Each Nomad Fleet has a different culture, but all of them view transgressive outsiders as not only rude, but dangerous.

Nevertheless, outsiders flock to Nomad Fleets for the highest-quality astronautic tools, the fiercest marines in the sector, or elusive data. Far Traders and interstellar adventurers who earn their trust may be given access to the heart of each fleet: its Hearthships.

While a Nomad Fleet has scouts, combat vessels, and usually a capital-sized flagship, the Hearthships bind the fleet together. These ancient, pretech troop carriers and colony ships were modified over the centuries into homey towns, where the majority of the population of the Nomad Fleet lives and works. Hearthships host farms, markets, and lore-vaults.¹ All of the children and almost all of the elders of a fleet will be found on their Hearthship. Fleets are loathe to risk them in war, and if one is threatened, they will respond ferociously. In ancient days, Nomad Fleets measured their power by the dozens of Hearthships they had; to capture a Hearthship was an act of immortalizing heroism, and to lose one a garment-rending embarrassment. In modern times, Nomad Fleets are proud to hold on to two or three.

The Kün Üyi is an illustrative example of a hearthship.

The Hearthship for Players

If a character is from a Nomad Fleet, their Hearthship is their home, a more solid ground than any molten iron-cored waterlogged ball of rock. It was their entire world as they grew up, and they will know its every nook and cranny. This is the place for them to rest, to express themselves, to renew their culture.

If a character is not from a Nomad Fleet, they will have a more pragmatic relationship. Nomad Fleets go everywhere, acquire many different things, and appreciate the kind of services assorted space weirdos can provide. If a character is willing to learn the customs and act on their behalf, they will find the Nomad Fleet to be a valuable ally. Nomad Fleets have a tendency to accumulate scarce, valuable, and unique items in their travels, and will trade them for the right price.

Customs

• If you board the Kün Üyi, you'll stay there for a bit, especially if you're trading. There are no hotels or visitor cabins. A family must host the visitor in their own quarters. It is important that they like you, because they can kick you out.
• Bring a present for your host. You'll be expected to provide one if there has been a good event in their life (and if it has been months, there likely will be). Be sure to share any of your important and significant good news, because you'll recieve a gift.
• Eat with your mouth covered by a cloth or bag. Your mouth's a dangerous vector for disgusting germs and crumbs to propagate, and a method for water to be lost. Plus, nobody wants to see inside or hear your mouth.
• Halt before any and every doorway or intersection. Newcomers barrel through walkways, guaranteeing collisions. Look both ways before you cross.
• Don't dangle accessories or leave segments of your kit loose. Bind them with perfect-length fasteners, magnets, velcro, or adhesives. Dangling things will catch on something, and one of those things will snap as a result.
• Bind your eyes when you sleep, especially when sharing quarters. This protects privacy and helps with quality sleep, both valuable in cramped quarters. Sleeping without blinders implies you don't trust your host, an especially rude gesture.
• Collect trash on your person. Newcomers are surprised by the lack of rubbish bins, and have a habit of leaving or pooling trash, ultimately making a mess and getting in people's way. Have a bag or large pocket to collect all your trash, and routinely deposit it at the central reclimator each day.

Heartship Kün Üyi

• The Hull: An oblong, mostly-guilded, curved hull painted with the evidence of struggle and reclamation in the form of transchromatic replacement panels. A central, ferrous strip follows Kün Üyi lengthwise, with regular branches resembling a ribcage. External maintenance activity is rooted in these ferrous ribs.
• The Shuttle Market: A market covering the hanger bay and connected hallways. The main hanger can hold four cargo lighters at a time, and has umbilical connections to handle dozens of shuttles or light craft. Several repair bays have been remade into artisanal workshops where craftsmen produce whatever the factory ships can't. The Kün Üyi specializes in clothing, medical supplies, and custom astronautic parts. Over their autolooms and ferrolathes,² the artisans chatter about everything and nothing. They do not take kindly to interruptions, something that frustrates convenience-addled visitors. However, patience is well-rewarded, because an artisan's handcrafted item will be made to order, and fit far better than a mass-produced part. Of course, should a visitor become too well-liked, they will inevitably be roped into hours of chatter themselves.
• The Alabaster Pool: The computer core of the Kün Üyi. Sleek white ceramoplastic, meticulously scrubbed of any speck of dirt, houses delicate pretech computing devices. They are arranged in towers from floor to ceiling; their Chernekov-blue indicators and screens bath the room in an otherworldly light. It houses one of the quantum phylacteries of the fleet's AI, Chishti. Stored here are centuries of vital records, honored memories, war triumphs - the entire collective memory of the Rafah Ebdi fleet. Chishti himself is considered to be a member of every family on the ship, and his "dwelling" is tended to in the same way one might care for a beloved relative. Due to its sensitive nature, access to the room is limited only to the engineers and those they deem necessary. Because of the importance of the computers and the irreplaceable quantum AI phylactery, every able-bodied person on the ship will fight to the death to defend it.
• Birinşi Şını Baqşa: The primary hydroponic production bay for the hearthship. It grows the potatoes, buckwheat and metarice staples of the Rafah Ebdi's diet. The area is far too small for tractors, and the systems for whole-field automatic harvesting were removed and repurposed long ago. Today, the farmers tend and harvest their crops as their ancestors have done since the fall of Great Jian: by means of four backpack-mounted manipulator arms, each with three modular tool attachments, all controlled by specific gestures while wearing control gloves. Skilled farmers are so adept at precisely moving the arms that they have their own artform: Qital Aleankabut is akin to professional wrestling mixed with pastoral commedia dell'arte.
• The Platinum Mosque: the Rafah Ebdi were descended from Shia Muslims.³ The ship's mosque was created almost immediately after the Scream eliminated the Mandate's orthodoxy enforcement. Originally just a classroom, it was decorated, gilded, and expanded by successive khans as acts of piety, thanking God for victories or awing their people. Now the mosque is the most opulent room in the fleet, resplendant in gems, holograms, and decorative plants, all set within wall-to-wall platinum plating carved with Islamic symbolism. Unlike many parts of the ship, where unescorted visitors might draw wary looks, the Platinum Mosque is open to anyone.

Inhabitants: the Kasim Family

A prototypical family, one that could host the players:

• Nazir al-Kasim. Doting patriarch who loves his family. Blooded in an action when he was 21, he is now considering another stint on a warship to bring himself more glory and hopefully get some treasure for his family. However, he dearly loves his family and would be deeply unhappy there. He ruminates on it, and will end up doing it if his situation doesn't change, he will do it, to the sorrow of his family.
• Fatima al-Kasim. Wife who is a excellent cook. She wants guests to be impressed and happy with their stay. Has a lot of anxiety from a near-depressurization in her youth. She knows that if she can attract guests, she might get better thing at the market
• Daliya al-Kasim. Daughter of Nazir and Fatima. She is trying to physically transition, but it's slow and intermittent because the fleet lacks flexible chemical production. She would do anything for a steady supply. Postech gender clinics could give her exactly what she needed in reasonable supply, but her parents are worried about her leaving the fleet, even temporarily. No matter how desperate Daliya becomes, they would only let her travel with someone they trusted with their lives.
• Rana al-Mazin. Grandma hacker, seniormost computer admin in the fleet. Fatima's mother. Her daughter's gregariousness towards visitors irks her; she is wary and suspicious of outsiders. She maintains the lore-vaults of the Alabaster Pool, and has the honor of directly caring for Chishti. Her passion is recounting to children nursery rhymes, fables, and stories from their fleet's history. She wields her badge of office, the Cerulean Reconciliator: a fantastic pretech quantum device capable of turning any technology more advanced than a laser pistol and less autonomius than a positronic brain against its user.

#lore #novarion-sector #rpg