Setting Perks

AX.GAT.08.01 - Setting Perks

Setting Perks are catalog-specific capabilities available to any character regardless of lineage or profession. They represent skills, adaptations, and social positions that are developed through experience on Astraeus Terminal and in the Ki Nebula, the kind of competency that is not a tradition ability and not a profession perk, but is specific enough to the setting that it belongs here rather than in the core rules.

Setting Perks are purchased with XP outside the profession progression track. Each perk has an XP cost; some have prerequisites. A character may purchase any Setting Perk they meet the prerequisites for, subject to GM approval that the acquisition is plausible given their history and current campaign context.

Setting Perks and Tradition Access: Setting Perks do not provide tradition access. A character who wants Psionics, Void Attunement, Cybernetic Integration, or Arc Theory acquires that through lineage or profession (AX.GAT.08.00). Setting Perks operate in the space between, the environmental competencies, social positions, and operational capabilities that do not require a tradition but that make a character distinctively suited to the Terminal's specific demands.

Perks

Void Readiness

Cost: 10 XP Prerequisites: None

The character has trained for, or accumulated enough time in, zero-gravity environments to function without the disorientation that affects unprepared operators.

The character does not gain Zero-G Disoriented when entering zero-g without magnetic boots or a thruster pack. This perk represents trained adaptation; it is equivalent to the extended multi-session adaptation described in AX.GAT.08.02, achieved through structured training rather than extended exposure. In addition, the character adds +1D to Speed + Acrobatics rolls made in zero-g environments.

Note: This perk does not provide vacuum protection, the character still requires a void suit in hard vacuum and is still subject to Vacuum Exposure if unprotected. It addresses orientation and movement, not survival.

This perk is referenced in AX.GAT.08.02 as one of the conditions under which Zero-G Disoriented does not apply. Survey Specialist (AX.GAT.07.05) lists it as a 10 XP profession perk; characters from other professions may acquire it here at the same cost.

Hull-Walker

Cost: 25 XP Prerequisites: Void Readiness

The character is a practiced EVA operator, someone who has spent enough time on the exterior hull and in open void to work there as fluently as most people work in corridors.

When operating in vacuum or zero-g environments, the character gains the following:

Suit Breach Response: When the character's vacuum suit is breached, they may immediately attempt an emergency seal as a Quick Action (Speed + Engineering, Threshold 2) rather than a Primary Action. Success halts Vacuum Exposure progression before it begins; failure means the breach is not sealed but the attempt did not cost a full action.
Void Maneuvering: When using a thruster pack, the character does not require a roll for directed movement under standard conditions. Only actively contested or hazardous void movement (navigation during a Confluence event, maneuvering under fire) requires a roll.
Tether Proficiency: Tether actions (attaching, releasing, using a tether to redirect momentum) are all Quick Actions rather than Primary Actions. The character can manage tether logistics without interrupting their operational flow.

Nebula Acclimated

Cost: 15 XP Prerequisites: None; requires at least one session of operational exposure to the Ki Nebula (GM confirmation)

The character has spent enough time in the Ki Nebula's operational environment, aboard Survey Corps vessels, on external operations near the nebula boundary, or in extended void work, to have developed resilience to its specific hazards.

Radiation Tolerance: Low Exposure radiation damage (AX.GAT.08.02) does not affect the character. High Exposure damage is reduced by 1 (minimum 1).
EM Familiarity: When an EM Surge begins, the character may immediately make a Wit + Notice roll (Threshold 2) as a free action. On success, the character identifies one specific system that is about to be affected by the surge and can take one action to protect or isolate it before the surge's effects apply.
Void Attunement Awareness: Even without the Void Attunement tradition, the character has developed an intuitive sense for environmental anomalies in the nebula. Once per session, the character may ask the GM: "Is something wrong with this environment that I should notice?" The GM answers honestly based on what a character with this level of nebula experience could reasonably perceive through instrument readings and pattern recognition, not tradition perception, but hard-won operational knowledge.

Gray Market Standing

Cost: 15 XP Prerequisites: None; requires an established relationship with at least one informal market contact (established in play or character creation history)

The character has cultivated relationships within the Terminal's informal supply economy, the Solis League's network, independent fixers, transient traders, or some combination, sufficient to source Restricted-tier goods without official faction credentials.

Once per session, the character may source one Restricted-tier item through informal channels without presenting a faction credential. The item takes one scene to arrive (or is available immediately if the character is in Violet Sector or an equivalent informal market space). The price is the standard Restricted-tier range plus the informal market premium (20–40% above listed value, as established in AX.GAT.09.04).

Limits: This perk does not provide access to Controlled-tier goods; those require faction issue regardless of informal market relationships. It does not work in every context: during a Vigilant lockdown, while the character is being actively monitored by faction security, or in situations where the informal network has been disrupted by recent factional action.

Relationship maintenance: The GM may occasionally require the character to do something for their informal contact to keep the relationship current, a favor, a piece of information, a job. This is not a burden tracked mechanically; it is narrative maintenance that reflects the reality of informal networks.

Station Knowledge

Cost: 10 XP Prerequisites: None; requires at least one full session spent on Astraeus Terminal

The character knows the Terminal, its rhythms, its geography, its gap between official layout and actual function, at the level of someone who has paid attention to where they live and work.

Navigation: The character never needs a roll to navigate between any two known locations on the Terminal, including through maintenance corridors and unofficial routes that do not appear on official maps. Travel time may still be a factor; getting lost is not.
Station Read: Add +1D to all rolls that depend on understanding how the Terminal operates, identifying anomalies in normal station behavior, reading social patterns in community spaces, knowing which systems are under maintenance and which are officially functioning but practically unreliable.
Shortcut Access: Once per session, the character may identify a route through the Terminal that bypasses a checkpoint, avoids a faction patrol, or reaches a destination faster than the official path allows. The route exists, the character knows the station well enough to find paths others miss.

Note: This perk overlaps with the Station-Born profession's 10 XP progression perk (Station Intuition). A Station-Born character who has already taken Station Intuition through their profession track does not need to purchase this perk separately, their progression perk covers the same ground. Characters from other backgrounds who want comparable station familiarity acquire it here.

Faction Fluency

Cost: 20 XP Prerequisites: None; requires demonstrated experience operating across at least two factions (established in play)

The character moves through the Terminal's faction landscape without triggering the friction that normally accompanies an outsider's presence in factional space, not because they are affiliated, but because they are recognized as someone who understands how the landscape works.

Cross-Faction Navigation: The character does not apply the social Disadvantage that unaffiliated characters normally face when interacting in faction-controlled spaces. They are received as a known quantity who operates across faction lines rather than as an unknown quantity of uncertain loyalty.
Faction Read: Once per scene, when the character observes a faction NPC's behavior, they may ask the GM one question about what that NPC's faction position motivates them to do in this situation. The GM answers honestly from the NPC's perspective, not necessarily what the NPC will do, but what their faction interest points toward.
Neutral Ground Standing: In spaces maintained as neutral ground (the Stellar Equinox, certain Span guild halls, Survey Corps public briefing areas), the character's presence does not generate faction-based tension. They are not affiliated; they are not suspicious. They are simply someone who belongs to the space in the way that neutral-ground professionals belong to it.

Note: This perk does not provide Restricted-tier supply access, faction credential and social standing are different systems. A character with Faction Fluency can walk into an Oryx administrative space without generating friction; they still cannot requisition Restricted equipment without an Oryx credential.

Hardened

Cost: 10 XP per instance; may be taken up to three times for different conditions Prerequisites: Narrative justification for the specific condition (prior exposure, biological adaptation, professional training)

The character has developed resistance to one of the Terminal's specific environmental hazards through repeated exposure, professional preparation, or the specific biology of their lineage pushed further than baseline.

When taken, choose one of the following conditions. The character's relationship to that condition is changed as specified:

Hardened: Vacuum, The character progresses through Vacuum Exposure stages one Turn slower than standard (matching Gorrathi's 3-Turn Exposed tolerance without requiring the Gorrathi lineage). This reflects training in controlled depressurization and a practiced ability to manage physical response to vacuum onset. Does not apply to Gorrathi characters, their tolerance comes from lineage biology, not training.

Hardened: Radiation, Low Exposure radiation damage does not affect the character. High Exposure damage is halved (round down). This reflects either biological resilience (appropriate for characters from high-radiation origin environments) or professional preparation (appropriate for Survey Corps or Span characters with extended Zone 2/3 operational history). Does not stack with Nebula Acclimated's radiation benefit, characters with both apply the better result, not both.

Hardened: EM Surge, During an EM Surge, the character's personal equipment is treated as one tier more resistant to surge effects. Standard equipment is treated as faction-grade (no Disadvantage); faction-grade equipment continues to function at full capacity. The character has learned to shield, isolate, or rapidly recover their critical equipment through the specific protocol that works in the nebula's EM environment.

Setting Perks Quick Reference

Perk	Cost	Prerequisite	Key Effect
Void Readiness	10 XP	None	No Zero-G Disoriented; +1D zero-g Acrobatics
Hull-Walker	25 XP	Void Readiness	Quick-action breach seal; no-roll thruster movement; tether as Quick Action
Nebula Acclimated	15 XP	Nebula exposure	Low radiation immunity; EM Surge early warning; nebula environmental intuition
Gray Market Standing	15 XP	Informal contact	Restricted-tier access without credential, once per session
Station Knowledge	10 XP	Station time	No navigation rolls; +1D station-operation reads; once-per-session shortcut
Faction Fluency	20 XP	Cross-faction experience	No outsider friction in faction spaces; faction-read question once per scene; neutral ground standing
Hardened (Vacuum)	10 XP	Justification	+1 Turn per Vacuum Exposure stage progression
Hardened (Radiation)	10 XP	Justification	Low immune; High halved
Hardened (EM Surge)	10 XP	Justification	Personal equipment one tier more surge-resistant