d10 Divers in the Deep

Knights of Sidonia, Tsutomu Nihei

Gradient Descent is a glorious dungeon dive filled with paranoia, claustrophobia, and all manner of nasty traps and tricks scattered throughout. At any point in the dungeon, players can run into other Divers from the random encounter table or occasionally from keyed encounters. Thought I'd kit out some weirdos to encounter in the Deep to help out with those random diver encounters.

Gradient Descent

 

1. Cosmos (C:50 Rigging Gun AP:7 I:75 H:3): A jet black armored vaccsuit covered in patches with a lumatat skull on a tinted visor. Cosmos came here with a crew of divers back in the early days and one by one they stopped returning from the Deep. Now it's just him, making long dives and wandering the Deep. Soft spoken, knowledgeable of Monarch and artifacts, willing to help out new Divers. 2 in 6 chance of encountering him in [46E] VOID. Never takes his helmet off.

2. Romanov Company: A group of ex-troubleshooters who have been leveraging their experience in the Deep to sell their services to high bidders. Recently they've been offering "Asset Recovery" contracts to recover personnel lost within the Deep. 3 in 6 chance they are escorting an asset.

Carr (C:55 SMG/Revolver AP:7 I:75 H:4): Lieutenant of the Romanov Company. Brutal, demanding, fully aware that some of what they return from the Deep just serve Monarch's goals. 

Tomak (C:50 Smart Rifle AP:7 I:50 H:3): Company scout, she's wiry and paranoid. Clutches at a rosary around her neck. Stimpack addict.

Zebra (C:45 Foam Gun AP: 3 I:50 H:2): The tech of the team. Liberally uses hand welder to seal rooms. Carries a noisemaker that can summon 1d10 security androids in 1d6 rounds when powered on.

3. Kadaspala (C:50 SMG AP: 3 I:60 H:3): Off tune singing, haunting melodies, voices of many children, these are all signs you're nearing Kadaspala. A torn clown mask stretched over a vaccsuit helmet. Kadaspala slinks through the Deep creating macabre art pieces from torn apart androids and making meticulous recordings that they then spread throughout sector nets. Really enjoys using their Espernetic Feedback Loop. Quite well known amongst underground art scenes.

4. Ryder (C:55 Combat Shotgun & Vibechete AP: 7 I:75 H:3) & S11 (C:45 Tranq AP: 3 I:60 H:3): Ryder and S11 are experienced salvagers but relatively new to the Deep. They look for untapped datacaches that they can rip and sell back on the Dream. Ryder is jovial and brazen, usually on lookout while S11 digs through networks avoiding Monarch. Lately Ryder has been trying to get other divers to help him meet the Troubleshooter captain he fell in love with and now keeps running into in the Deep.

5. Shelly (C:50 SMG & Grenades AP:3 I:60 H:3) An artificial ecologist in a previous life, after seeing some diver videos of the Pseudoflesh farms and Skeleton Works she left everything behind to study Monarch's ecologies. On cordial terms with Silus, but never stays long. Will trade an artifact for captured drones. Keeps a hacked bee and spider drone on her.

6. Sword and Shield (C:60 Vibechete & Pulse Rifle AP:7 I:70 H:3) A pair of combat model androids, they speak in tandem and are nearly indistinguishable. Manic and giddy in combat, there's a 1 in 6 chance on encountering a Troubleshooter team that Sword and Shield will join the fray. Want to know about any troubleshooters seen nearby, otherwise generally friendly with other divers. None of the other divers has ever seen them outside of the Deep. Always ask whoever they meet to wish Arkady a happy birthday.

7. Donny the Suit (C:50 Revolver & Flare Gun AP:1 I:70 H:3) A generic model-A sleeve always encountered in a grey suit. Looks like an all middle sliders corporate drone. Seems like genuinely a nice guy, will share supplies with divers and give warning of hazards ahead. There is always a trap in the direction he comes from though and he never warns about it. 3 in 6 chance that your next random encounter is also Donny the Suit, slightly more disheveled and with no memory of the previous encounter.

8. Fool Bastian (C:50 Random Weapon AP: Random Armor I:40 H:2) Decked out with an OGRE, Black Box, and Remote Uplink. Always the latest designer sleeve using the same perfectly sculpted face with a camera drone in tow. Usually loudly chattering to his viewers. Has been doing stunt dives and uploading them afterwards with high scores, lets his viewers pick what gear he brings in on his next run. Will pay creds for locations with the most interesting "content". Keeps a Panic Button primed for comedic timing. Half his runs never get uploaded, some divers say they've seen old Bastians horribly altered still running around in the Deep muttering madly to a cameradrone that isn't there. Current Bastian will pay 50kcr no questions asked for any black box of his that is recovered. 1 in 6 chance when encountered you meet a feral Bastian (Use random chokespawn).

9. Red Shuilong (C:60 Smart Rifle AP:7 I:70 H:3) More hardware than any other diver, dangerously close to being subsumed by the machine. Spider Rigged with two Sockpuppeted SMGs and a cloakskin to boot. Voice is heavily modulated. She hunts forgotten androids and anything else that looks like it has some interesting cybermods to reap. When encountered on the Bell will be friendly and can perform cybermod installations for a 20% mark up. On good terms with the Babushka.

10. Pig (C:50 SMG & Vibechete AP:3 I:65 H:3) A bulbous man in a tight vaccsuit, he's been diving ever since he tasted a packaged meal salvaged by another diver. The flavors within were like nothing he'd had before and he keeps diving to try and recreate it. If encountered on good terms will offer his latest creations to the party. Usually includes synthflesh. Willing to trade for any rare ingredients or critters in the Deep. 

Biomega, Tsutomu Nihei

How To Run Divers

They all want something and they've all been encountering the same things that your party has been. Each and every diver is coping with the Bends, each one has a story about terrible things encountered in the Deep, so all of them should be more than a little unhinged. Any NPC could be an infiltrator android, so I recommend really playing that angle up especially if your party takes to a particular diver.

I use a 1 in 6 chance for encountered divers to have a random artifact as well, this can add some tension in the Deep. Likewise if the party is hauling out an artifact and runs into another diver, everyone knows these things can be worth millions outside the Blockade. Mix some divers in to other settings as well to make them recurring characters; the Bell works great for meeting some other divers before encountering them in the Deep. Prospero's Dream and Gradient Descent mesh together extremely well, so throw some divers recovering from the bends on the Dream.