Modern Gear & Foci
AX.GIL.09.01 - Modern Gear & Foci
This section defines the complete equipment and Focus catalog for the Iron Lattice setting. The world of the Iron Lattice is a hard fantasy modernity, every firearm has a rune-etched barrel, every body armor panel is Song-Smithed with Tectonic Harmonics, every device pings the Hearth-Net or the Silicon Demi-Plane. Gear is not merely functional, it is politically marked. A character's equipment communicates their org, their rank, their loyalty, and sometimes their crime.
Economic Scale: The Iron Lattice uses Credit (℃) as its standard currency, a digitally-tracked unit issued by the Linden-Green Trust and backed by Axiomatic Covenant. Prices reflect org-market retail; street acquisition, black market, or faction-issue gear is noted where applicable.
| Tier | Price Range | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | ℃50–500 | Open market; any ID |
| Restricted | ℃500–5,000 | Org credential or licensed vendor |
| Controlled | ℃5,000–50,000 | Org-issue, faction vouching, or black market |
| Classified | ℃50,000+ / no market | Faction-issued only; possession is a violation |
IL Equipment Rules:
- Signature Foci are defined per Profession in AX.GIL.07.x. They are faction-issued, professionally credentialed items that grant specific bonuses. This section defines additional purchasable Foci and general gear available to any character.
- Focus Bonus: Any purchasable Focus grants +1D to the Talent it supports unless otherwise stated. Signature Foci grant +2D, as defined in AX.GIL.07.x.
- Armor Penalty to Harmonics: All Harmonic Tradition rolls (Temporal, Tectonic, Technomancy, Marginal) count as "Spell Casting" for the purposes of the Armor Penalty rule (AX.C.11). Endurance offsets this normally.
- Tech Dependency: Devices with the [TECH] tag require power cells. Each power cell lasts one session of normal use. Running out mid-scene is a Standard (Threshold 2) Technical roll to hot-swap without losing function.
DESIGN NOTES
On Focus proliferation: Each Tradition has 4–5 purchasable Foci defined here, plus the Signature Focus defined in AX.GIL.07.x. Not every character needs multiple Foci, the 1D bonus from a purchasable Focus is meaningful but not essential. The variety is for campaign play, as characters find, trade, or steal Foci from opposing org contexts.
On price calibration: The Credit economy is deliberately tight at the standard tier. A ℃6,000 armor is a significant investment. Characters who start with Faction-issue Signature Foci are carrying gear they couldn't easily replace on the open market; this creates real stakes around equipment loss and maintenance.
On Signature Foci: The Foci listed in AX.GIL.07.x grant +2D and are org-credentialed. The purchasable Foci in Section 1 grant +1D and are commercially available. This gap is intentional, institutional backing means something in the Iron Lattice.
On the [TECH] tag: Several items are explicitly tagged as requiring power cells. This is not punitive; it creates one more resource vector that matters in extended operations, without being so granular it slows play. GMs should invoke power cell depletion when it creates interesting situations, not as routine accounting.
Vehicle combat and chase mechanics are defined in AX.GIL.13.08 (Vehicle Encounters: Structured Chase Rules). The Pilot Talent (Speed + Pilot + Vehicle Speed Rating) governs all vehicle operation.