LARP is an acronym for “Live Action Role Play”. There are many varying definitions out there and all of them are equally valid within their settings.

For Empire 6, LARPing involves taking on the role of a character, or characters and portraying them in a setting with a large number of other players doing the same. We use elements of improv and creative writing to collaboratively tell a story. 

Empire 6, or “Essex” is a space station in orbit around the planet Yantasha. It was built around 600 years ago by the Empire of Unified Species (EoUS) as a scientific outpost to monitor the species living on the planet. At the time, the local Uzkalla people were an industrial species, capable of mass production equalling that of Old Earth’s year 1970, but due to being an aquatic species, they had not extended their technology towards space flight. A primary mission of EoUS is to avoid interfering with a species’s evolution until they are capable of exploring their own solar system. 

Since the station’s construction, the Uzkalla have not only developed space flight, but some of the people have joined the Station as Occupants of the Empire. Others were enraged to find out that the religious icon of the bright light in the sky turned out to be a space station and not their God. You can find more information about this here.

Very recently, the Empire announced that the faster-than-light fuel source, Ferroxidite, that has allowed interstellar travel for the last thousand years, has been entirely consumed. There are no more sources of it in the universe. The government gave its people a simple directive: Get to where you’re going because you will not be coming back.

Now, a lone ship called the ESS Coopertino, a former ‘luxury’ cruise liner providing day-long tours of the Uzkalla home planet Yantasha to wealthy people from the inner worlds, has filled its hold to the brim with anyone who wanted to go to Empire 6 or the planet Yantasha. The final voyage began in tragedy as a large portion of the fuel required to get as close to Yantasha as possible was stolen by one of the Coopertino’s crew. While that person is dead, the ship came out of Pleat-Shift at the wrong time, its primary FTL drive tearing itself off of the ship and setting us adrift on only impulse engines. 

We’re lost somewhere between the core worlds and Yantasha and just trying to make it home.

Empire 6 is a Live Action Role Playing (LARP) game designed to allow players to choose and interact with their favorite type of gameplay. While the survival, science fiction, and western setting themes are quite specifically catered to in the overarching narrative, we aim to create an experience where players are given the agency to engage with the world in their own creative ways. 

We envision a game world where players and their characters can be engaged in the primary story as much or as little as they like while having plenty of unrelated threads to tug on. We want everyone to feel like the choice they make impacts the world around them as well as having direct consequences on either themselves, or the other characters. We want to empower our players to bring plot with them.

Overplot is the ‘main storyline’ of the LARP. This is the big narrative that drives world events forward. However, just because it’s the main storyline, doesn’t mean it’s the only storyline. Every character can engage with the  overplot as much or as little as they like. You will never be punished or locked out of benefits due to not participating. All rewards that come from the overplot are provided to the game as a whole. For example: one of the main story elements characters will interact with is finding a Proliferator to allow research into seed production within the Agriculture Sector. If/when a Proliferator is found, every character in the game would be able to rent it and use it, not just the group/people/team that found it. Overplot results in game-wide effects. 

If you aren’t interested in the overplot, all departments on the ship have ongoing storylines of their own. If you don’t like any of those, we welcome you to bring your own plot to the game and we will attempt to work with you to make sure it meets our community standards and add it to the narrative. While we can’t promise every plot will make it to the stage, we will do what we can.

We encourage you to give us a detailed backstory for your character. We read them all and love how rich and full it makes the world. There may be times that we check in with you to see if we can expand on the backstory to assist in fleshing out a part of the world. The universe is big and there are so many places in it! We can’t write every piece of history for every location, so we encourage you to carve out your space in it. 

We try to avoid engaging in personal direct plot. There may be instances where something out of your character’s backstory would appear in public narrative. Your character would be given the opportunity to participate and we’d make efforts to include them. However, we will not explicitly ensure your Character’s involvement and the plot may evolve past their involvement based on the actions of other characters.

For some players, crunching numbers and doing puzzles is peak game play. For others, it’s agonizing. Fortunately, you can choose how much or little you engage in those aspects of the game. The parts of the game that include numbers/puzzles are tagged as such. There may be moments when you are confronted with a puzzle and weren’t expecting to be. In the event that happens, we’re working to design alternative solution methods for addressing those situations. For example: You are working on doing scans in Engineering. Suddenly, there’s a critical error and you’re the only one who can fix it. You are faced with a wires puzzle. If you opt out of the puzzle, we want to provide a more role-play option that takes a bit longer, but can be done using your character’s skills, rather than your own.

Empire 6 is a game about player agency. This includes combat. We want to allow players to choose how much, if any combat they take part in. There will never be a situation where your character is forced to fight an NPC for any reason. 

On the flip side, we have provided a method for players to ‘kick in the door’ as it were. We have included ‘Away Missions’ as a mechanic where you can choose to leave the safety of the ship and travel to different places. These are similar to traditional North American LARP ‘mods’ where you go to a mod space and whatever happens there happens, though there will be entirely on-ship ‘mods’ as well.

Unlike most games of its kind, Empire 6 is intended to be a serial LARP with an ongoing overarching storyline. With the goal of a minimum of 1 event each month all year round, each event takes place following the events of the previous game. Players will continue to bring back their same character or characters each event.

In Empire 6, we want to explore some major genre themes.

With planets to explore and an endless sea of stars, the bounds of Empire 6 are limitless. The only things that separates us from explosive decompression are ancient bulkheads and some airlocks that were last inspected 8 years ago. Hydroponics and simulated sunlight keep our crops growing while away missions to the asteroid belts supply the ship with suitable materials for engineering. It’s been almost 1000 years since the colony ships first left Old Earth and we’re just scratching the surface of what’s out there.

Thematic References:

• Deep Space 9 - Politics, heavy themes, the ‘bar’, and conflicts between the crew
• The Expanse - Existential horror, stories about people
• Cyberpunk (genre) - Body modification, programming, hacking, visuals from the genre

Frontier living isn’t what it used to be. Back in the old days when any schmuck with a few hundred thousand dollars could buy a colony ship and launch into the great unknown towards a rock that humanity’s best telescopes were pretty sure was inhabitable. Now we’ve got all of the creature comforts. There’s always beer on tap at the cantina, the chips are flowing, and you’re more likely NOT to strike gold in the asteroid belts than you are to find it. However, now that the Empire’s gone quiet, the penal ships have stopped coming. The brig is only big enough for a few people at a time. There are a lot of rocks out there that could look like gold if you’re desperate enough.

Thematic References:

• Firefly - Things used to be ‘shiny’ but now that we’re on the frontier, the rust is showing through.
• American West (theme) - How much do the laws matter when we’re a thousand miles (light years) from the nearest ‘police station’?

██████ ████████ ████████████████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ███ ██ ██ █ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ █████ ███ ███ ███ ███ █ ████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ █ ██ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███

███ ██ ██ █ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ █████ ███ ███ ███ ███ █ ████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ █

The Empire’s reserves of Feroxidite are gone and we’re stuck in between areas of ‘civilization’. This area of space hasn’t been deeply traveled since the colonization age. Who knows what’s been living out here?

Thematic References:

• Star Trek (TNG) - We know the people and cultures in the universe. Now we are going to meet factions and explore our region.

With no Pleat-Shift drive and with only enough supplies for a few weeks or at best, months, we’re all alone out here. We’re going to have to fend for ourselves as we try to complete the journey to Empire 6. Will there be enough to go around?

Thematic References:

• The Walking Dead - We’re an island in the midst of the unknown and most likely deadly. Enemies come from without and within.
• Swiss Family Robinson - We’ve been marooned from society, but there’s plenty to go around if we work together.
• Waterworld - Nothing but open space around us and a few ‘atolls’ occupied by people cut off from the rest of the Empire.
• The Martian (Andy Weir) - What can we do with what we have?

In space, if you’re alone, you die. Sure you can get pretty far in a shuttlecraft by yourself, but what happens if you get attacked? Are you going to run navigation and weapons alone? Who is going to make lunch? Teamwork is the only way to survive out here. That, and knowing someone. Alliances with the local factions and working to get to know your neighbors might be the difference between life and death on the Frontier.

Thematic References:

• Battlestar Galactica - Politics, survival, resource management, trust

Create a compelling story revolving around the political intrigue of being a member of the predominant government of the universe that suddenly disappears from the stage. How do these people who used to ‘have it all’ survive now that their safety net has disappeared?

While we aim to tell amazing stories, we also want to do so inclusively. Our own staff is made up of a diverse group of LGBT+ folks and we accept all folks irrespective of their sexual orientation, gender, race, or religion. We subscribe to the idea that we treat others the way THEY want to be treated. Respecting each other is critical.

At events, there may be arguments and fighting. Characters will go head to head with each other and not everyone will come out ahead. The most important thing we want to encourage is that what happens in game, stays in game. Fight your in-game enemies at game. Love your friends always.

Empire 6 is not a protagonist-focused game. There may come a time where the actions of a single character direct a scene or change the flow of a story, but that isn’t how we envision the events of the game. We are here to collaboratively tell the story with all players of the community.

We are not guardians. While we welcome people from all walks of life and at all parts of their journey, we are not trained therapists, nor are we medical professionals. We leave it in the hands of each of our players to take their own health seriously and above all else. 

There are certain topics we, as a game, will not explore. Our simplest reason is that these topics, while important in life and in their space, do not need to be explored in this setting. This is not a trigger warning, as these topics are prohibited from our storylines, but the list itself might be triggering to some folks. Sexual assault, slavery, descrimination based on gender, sexual identity, race, creed, diagnosis, or other real-world attributes of our players, and on-screen (anything actively acted out) sexual acts are all prohibited.

We would like to note that portions of our Community Statement have been informed and in many places copied directly from similar guidelines/documents at Altered LARP and Mystfall LARP, and we greatly appreciate their assistance in helping us find the words to express our desires to continually improve our community and make it a safer place.

We are a community. Each and every LARPer shows up to events to have a good time, role play, hang out with their friends, and to tell great stories. Our goal is to lift our community up. We want to tell the greatest stories and while we may go home exhausted and emotionally spent, we want everyone to count the days until our next event. We want to explore topics that can be challenging but do so in a respectful way. To this end, we want everyone who attends to knows our community standards on the following:

18+ Player base
We deal with mature themes in our science fiction/survival setting, and as such we mandate that players be of at least 18 years of age to play.

Anti-Discrimination
Though in-game conflicts based on decisions your character makes are a cornerstone of the game, we do not permit discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality, physical/mental disabilities, religious/cultural identities, etc. Essentially, no one in our community, under any circumstances should be insulting, belittling, or otherwise behaving poorly towards another community member based on their OOG identity. Even in-game hostility is subject to our Character versus Character guidelines detailed below. To avoid allusions to real-life discrimination practices, we’ve made efforts to establish that conflicts in the Empire 6 universe are based around the actions of characters, not their specific species, gender, sexuality, physical/mental disabilities, religious/cultural identities etc. These are concepts we simply don’t feel the desire to explore. 

Marginalized Groups' Ownership of Respective Content
At Empire 6, we recognize the extensive harm that has been caused by cultural appropriation and the silencing of BIMPOC voices in regards to their cultural heritages. As such, players are strongly discouraged from using culturally significant components in their character composition, whether it is backstory, equipment or costuming. Painting your skin or altering your features in such a way as to suggest/imitate another race is grounds for immediate denial of service.

People of Colour (POC) and other marginalized groups are frequent victims of cultural appropriation, in which elements such as symbols, images, traditions, etc. are taken and used by people outside of that culture. This presents an obvious source of harm to those from that group. As such, we reserve the right to direct the removal of any such items or roleplaying characteristics that DO or MAY constitute appropriation from groups outside your own cultural identity.

Instead, we encourage that players seek out non-appropriative ideas, especially encouraging that our community instead draw from the world we are creating together. If you require clarification on whether something could be perceived as harmful, please reach out to empire6.larp@gmail.com.

Similarly, all creations put forward by staff- be they props, factions, mods or individual NPCs- must have a member of the community represented leading that project should they draw on real life inspirations.

Explicit Consent for Physical Contact
Under no circumstances shall you have intentional physical contact with another member of the community without explicit and enthusiastic consent from that person.

Safe and Fun Character versus Character Engagements
We recognize that character versus character (‘PvP’ or CvC) interactions, be it stealing, fighting or simply even verbal altercations, are an important part of the game for many people. However, as our goal is to have a strong community of like minded comrades/friends, it is essential that we consider the person behind the character whenever CvC actions are undertaken. Thus, we mandate that in any sort of CvC situation, out-of-game discussions must happen where both sides acknowledge what has been happening and ask one another "what do you want out of this?" If the situation does not allow for an out of game conversation, the activity that took place must be reported to directors.

Accountability/Growth
It is essential that we take accountability for ourselves as members of a community, and for the community at large. Accountability means recognizing when we act in a way that harms others, and taking steps to redress that harm however possible. Often, this will simply mean offering a quick apology and resolving to seek education and betterment to prevent causing a similar situation again. Regardless, the most important thing to do is not dismiss the concerns of others, but to acknowledge their discomfort/pain and seek to help them heal. After all, they are members of the community too, and we need to take care of those in our community who are hurt.

Hand-in-hand with accountability is growth. We do not expect any member of the community to be perfectly versed in what might or might not upset others. Learning is a lifelong activity that we must all remain committed to for the well being of ourselves and our community.

When you make a mistake, we encourage considering the following course of action to address the issue and use it as a chance to grow:

• Recognize the harm that others are seeing. It may not have been intentional, but it is still something they are experiencing. Acknowledge that they are feeling hurt;
• Act on what you have learned through the first step- take appropriate measures to address the harm that others are feeling; and
• Follow through, by taking steps to reflect and understand what happened, and how to prevent it from happening in the future.

Self-care capable
We expect that all members of our community are capable of self-care. This entails being able to judge one's own well being and seek steps necessary to address any issues, both mental and physical in nature. We do not employ healthcare or mental health professionals, and knowing when to step away from game for some time to process what's going on, when to drink water, when to feed yourself, when to speak to someone in order to debrief something that happened because you're having difficulty keeping it in game, etc. are all skills that you must have in your 'toolbox'. While we are a community that works to support one another, you should not under any circumstances be placing responsibility for your mental and physical well being solely on other community members, as this is dangerous for you and unfair for them. Remember: This is a game and we’re here to have fun.

Before your shuttle landed, there were people on board the ship. Some have been here their entire lives. Others have landed recently. 

In order to keep the ship running at peak efficiency, the Empire employs a heavy crew of over 200 people. These folks keep the lights on, the engine running, the taps clean, and any other job that needs to be done. They are easily identifiable by their navy and sky blue jumpsuits and empire insignia badges. Whenever someone is displaying their insignia on their clothing, they are considered on-duty crew. 

While Security is technically a part of the Ship Crew, they are listed separately to emphasize their additional function. They are the peacekeepers of the ship and are tasked with ensuring no Occupants break that peace. They are authorized to throw anyone in the Brig at any time and for any reason. It’ll be up to the Sheriff to sort out who is guilty and who is innocent.

Members of Ship Security not only wear the jumpsuits and insignia of the Ship Crew, but also wear hats that indicate their role. While off-ship, security personnel have weapons and body armor, but those are unnecessary on-ship. It is rare to see them off-ship, but in the event that it occurs, they will be easily recognizable.

In addition to regular Ship Crew, there are Ship Staff. On an out-of-game level, these are the people who run the game. On an in-game level, these are the people who are in charge of Empire 6. They are denoted by having a similar uniform as the others, but with the addition of a more formal badge that says: “Staff” on it. If you are ever having a problem on an out-of-game level, you can approach a Ship Staff member for assistance.

Everyone within the Empire is considered an Occupant until they have earned enough LAPs to be considered a Citizen. This includes people who consider themselves ‘not members of the Empire’. It’s just simpler for Customs to give the designation to everyone.

When any person goes through customs for the first time, they are registered as an Occupant within the Empire. This is an unavoidable process. If you somehow find yourself on the ship without having gone through Customs, please report to Engineering as you have clearly gone through walls and they will want to figure out how to dissect your incorporeal body. 

Occupants can come from any walk of life or species. Everyone who comes in peace and is willing to conduct themselves with respect on the ship is welcome to come aboard to trade or participate in Assembly activities. 

On Empire 6, there are many different things to occupy your time. From joining the Engineering crews to research new gizmos to joining expeditions via the shuttlecraft. Some folks pick up missions involving fighting or gathering resources. Others work to further their political agenda or to get rich. Regardless of your interests on Empire 6, there is something for everyone.

This section covers important game rules that will come up over the course of play at Empire 6.

“In Game” and “Out of Game” are staple terms for Role Playing Games. Anything “In Game” is a part of the story and anything “Out of Game” is unrelated to the story. This section will cover rules relating to communicating on an out-of-game level. Any action performed once your character is on the Ship and the game has started that falls outside of this section will be considered an in-game action.

At Empire 6, we want all players to be in-game as much as possible. That said, there are moments when a player might need to go out-of-game for some reason. We have a couple of ways of representing this:

• A white headband on head
  
  • This means the player is entirely out-of-game. Usually they are part of the staff and are coordinating what’s going on in-game. 
• A hand, closed into a fist, and placed on your head
  
  • This should be used to ask another player for clarity on something if you are confused, or to coordinate consent.
• A ‘shaka symbol’ gesture by sticking your thumb and pinky outward (similar to the “I’m on the telephone” sign). Place your thumb against your chin and your pinky towards another person.
  
  • This is the sign for “quick clarification: [ask a question]”
  • If used in a combat situation, you are immune to damage until the clarification is complete. Clarification should not be a punishment
    
    • Don’t abuse this, please.

There are moments where emotions run high in a LARP setting. Sometimes the lines between role play and reality blur to the point where you or someone you’re playing with becomes overwhelmed out-of-game with the situation. In situations where you are unsure or are overwhelmed yourself, there are two options:

If you find you need to step away from an in-game moment for out-of-game reasons, simply tap your chest twice and say: “I need to step away from this scene”. This will signal to players that you are moving away and not your character. The scene continues without you and there will be no penalty to your character for it. Take all the time you need and if you need assistance, signal a Ship Staff member who can come help you on an out-of-game level. 

We highly value self-care and want every player to be able to care for their own needs, but in the event of an emergency, the staff is willing to assist in ways that we can. We can not provide formal counseling in the event of a crisis.

Using any of the methods to signify that you are out-of-game, connect with the person you’re asking and do a quick check in to ensure things are okay. This can be used in a moment of intense role play, or more commonly, to ask if physical roleplay is acceptable. When you ask someone if they are okay, they simply go out of game in a similar fashion to give you an answer. If they do not do so, try again. On a third attempt, assume that they are not okay.

Commonly, players refer to this concept as “PvP” or “Player versus Player”. At Empire 6, we want to emphasize that you are not competing against your fellow players. Your character is attempting to perform an action that would affect another character. Therefore, since it is all in-game, we call this CvC.

There are times that your character might have an issue with another player character, or another player character might have an issue with you. We do want to stifle anyone’s role play style, nor explicitly prevent situations like this from occurring. (Frankly, we love it). 

In the event that CvC happens when it shouldn’t, one or both players should go to a Ship Staff member and report the issue.

There is one incredibly important rule to follow in order to do this both respectfully and in a way that doesn’t hurt the game of your fellow players.

Like physical role play, and many other things, CvC requires you to have a conversation with another player on an out-of-game level confirming with them that both of you are okay with the idea of CvC. If only one person is interested, neither of you are permitted to engage in it. To repeat: you may only engage in CvC AFTER you’ve had a conversation where both parties confirm they are okay with it.

As the Ship contains a lot of (very expensive) props, lights, and other devices, we have a strict no-fighting rule in every room with the exception of the Mod Rooms (when they are in Mod Room shape). Anyone fighting in the Ship will be given a Yellow Card. This is an out-of-game warning. If you fight in an area not designated for it, you will be given a Red Card. This rule is hard and fast and will be taken extremely seriously.

Combat is covered in another section of the rulebook, but it is not a primary element of the Empire 6 game. All players who wish to avoid combat can do so by remaining on the ship. There is no guarantee that any away mission will not involve combat, regardless of how safe it looks on the surface.

In the unlikely event that combat breaks out on the ship, you may opt out by simply placing your hand in a fist over your chest while moving safely away from combat. This does not protect you from damage, however. If you are approached by someone with a weapon, they can simply use a 3-count “Killing-Blow” action (described in the “In-Game Vocalized Terms”) that you must stand still during and not interrupt. While another person can save you, at the end of this 3-count, you will be in the “Dying” state (described in the “States of Being” section) and may act accordingly. Otherwise, you can walk (not run) from combat.

In-game, Feroxidite is the unique metal used to power the faster-than-light Pleat-Shift drive and allow people to travel vast distances in relatively instant time. Out-of-game, Feroxidite is a special currency that is awarded to players for donating time, effort, or resources to the Empire 6 LARP. If you are awarded Feroxidite for any reason, you will see it represented in your player profile (not character profile) on the Empire 6 website. The exchange rate of Feroxidite awarded for contributions made to the game changes based on the needs of the game. [Exchange Rates Coming Soon]

There are many different ways to contribute to Empire 6. Simple monetary donations are always appreciated, but we want to provide options for any player to help out in the ways they can. Here are some examples of assisting the game that will earn Feroxidite:

• Becoming a member of staff as a storyteller, marshal, logistics coordinator, permanent NPC, social coordinator, etc…
• Playing a named NPC as part of an event weekend (not necessarily a full staff member, but having a larger NPC requirement)
• Donating props or costuming for the game
• Lending us time on your 3D printer for… reasons ;) 
• Helping us at build-days where we construct new sets
• Assisting with technology (coding, wiring, IT, etc…)
• An in-game activity, outlined in the Possessing Feroxidite In-Game section of the rules
• Or you could let us know how you’d like to help. We’re always open to new ideas or ways that folks would like to help.

There are currently only a few uses for Feroxidite, but this will change as the game evolves. We don’t want to promise exact uses, but here is an outline of what we’re thinking it can be used for:

• Discounts on playing Empire 6
• Purchasing extra LAPs for your character (limited to a few per game)
• Purchasing a tailored, in-game ‘Resource Cache’ mission for you and anyone you want to bring with you that will guarantee in-game resources or items
• Unlocking additional playable species for use when creating a new character
• More to come! (And if you have suggestions for things that’d be cool to purchase with Feroxidite, let us know!)

The RIG is every Occupant’s most important tool. Whether you need to check up on the latest Solicitations, look in on your stock portfolio, make sure that your fellow Occupant is indeed Licensed to carry that systems manipulation tool, or perform scans of the local flora, the RIG is your do-all device. 

The RIG system at Empire 6 is what brings the game from a standard LARP to a fully science fiction event. No matter what the sci fi media, there is always a hand-held device that scans or beeps, or answers questions that the main characters have. For E6, that’s our RIG. In reality? It’s your smartphone (or internet-enabled device)!

‘Essex’ is the companion application used at E6. While playing, you will be logged into Essex and be able to use our local wifi to interact with the world around you. Using your phone, you will be able to scan QR codes throughout the ship and mod areas. These codes are connected to our central system and provide feedback to your device. Most/all modern cell phones come with QR code scanners built in, so you won’t need any new tech to play. 

In-Game, RIGs are considered to be software that is installed on a device. That way, there is no need to visually standardize your cell phone to others in the game. We do encourage you to either decorate your device, or in some way make it genre-appropriate, but it is not required.

RIGs are treated as in-game items, but can NOT be stolen by another player. In-universe, RIG devices are dime-a-dozen so there is no reason to ever need to steal one. Please do not take another player’s phone.

While we use “Essex” to be an abbreviated name for the game, it’s also the name of the in-universe application. This web application (no downloads required) was created by the Empire to allow its occupants to interface with the universe, but also keep track of their Licenses, banking, and other functions. You will be able to talk about the app in-game with no restrictions. Everything available on the app is an in-game piece of information with the exception of this rulebook, which is considered out-of-game.

Essex allows you to do many things. Here is a sample in no particular order:

• Register for game
• Manage your Occupant(s) (Characters)
• Access the Data Vault for in-game information
• View other Occupants’ equipped Licenses
• View your in-game bank accounts/stocks
• Book time on the replicator, smallholder plots, speaking podium, or shuttle flights
• Scan QR Codes
• View announcements/solicitations/jobs

Our goal is to make Essex a complete tool, similar to science fiction media’s hand-held macguffins. However, Essex and your RIG is not intended to be a distraction or the only part of the game. It’s designed to remove the need for immediate plot or marshal involvement in all situations. You can interface with the world and find out information without a staff member to be present and inform you of what you’ve found. You can take action immediately!

Another use for Essex is letting the staff know what players are doing. While you’re scanning, interacting, and otherwise using Essex, we’re collecting information. Fortunately, all of that information is in-game only. We learn nothing about you, the player! We’re only using the in-game information to be able to react live as staff.

We want to be sort of like an escape room. In a typical escape room, you might have an operator from the venue monitoring the players through a closed-circuit camera feed. Sometimes, they will be watching for players to perform certain actions and then they will manually trigger a door opening or something to that effect. We hope that by using the app, we will be able to set up triggers without needing a staff member present or observing.

First and foremost: We are not collecting any information about players through the Essex app. All information collected is encapsulated within the game world. 

For instance: you use Essex to scan a mineral patch to see if it’s worth collecting. Your phone scans the QR Code and prompts you to go to a web address (similar to a QR code). You confirm. Then, the app screen will show you a scanning visual that has a timer based on any upgrades you have on your RIG. Once the scan is complete, you will see information about that mineral.

On the back-end, the Empire 6 game collects the following information:

• Timestamp of the scan
• The logged in character who is performing the scan
• This gives us information like which RIG you have, upgrades, Licenses, etc
• The specific tag that you’ve scanned
• The model of device that has performed the scan. (ex: Your model of cell phone)
  
  • We do not save this information outside of our logs - It comes to us automatically because of the software we use to do the scans, but it’s irrelevant to our game uses.

That’s it!

We are only using the data to run the game and manage the system between games. The data never leaves our ecosystem and we do not sell it.

When you are getting ready to board the ship and pass through customs for the first time, there are a number of things you should keep in mind and be ready for. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What am I doing here? A lot of people will probably ask you what brings you to Essex. Being prepared to say what kinds of things you’re interested in, what your goals are, or being super cagey about your motives are all great ways to make friends.
  
  • Some folks come for the bar and stay for the friends.
  • You might be looking for a quick buck or to improve your gear
  • You heard there’s a trade meet happening between two factions and your stock prices are going to be affected
  • There’s going to be an away mission to a far away planet and you’ve always wanted to see pink grass.
• What do I do for a living? If this is your first time on Essex, you’ll be granted a few License Acquisition Points (LAPs) to get you started. What is your profession? On your homeworld or homeship, what skills did you learn there?
  
  • Were you a gladiator? Fighting every day for your supper?
  • Were you a medic? The sole person responsible for your village’s medical knowledge?
  • Was leading people your calling? Each day giving rousing speeches to your workers to encourage them on their daily tasks.
• What species am I? Looking into a mirror, what looks back at you? 
  
  • Are you a vanilla human, descended from the original colonies of Old Earth?
  • Do your mandibles click together whenever you try to pronounce “Body Armor”?
  • Did it take some time before you got used to the High Intensity Discharge Lights needed for photosynthesizing breakfast?

A year ago today, you were waving goodbye to your family and friends. A freighter was passing by and had an open contract for anyone who could hold a wrench with even decent competency. You’ve been wanting to see the universe, but there was your chance. Since then, it’s been a series of small jobs for crews in the sector. One of your mates on the last run told you about an Assembly happening at Empire 6. You’ve never worked for the Empire before, but the chips are good and apparently they have a full engineering department that gives out odd jobs to people like you.

When your shuttle arrives at the customs dock, there’s a few hundred people passing through. The line moves quickly and each time the blast doors open to let a group pass, you get a whiff of dinner in the Cantina beyond. While in line, someone with a data pad, an actual working data pad, comes and asks you if you’ve been registered as an Occupant. Their smile is friendly and a few moments later, you’ve been registered as a Technologist and you’re Licensed as a Surveyor and Replicator. The blast doors finally open for you and without a second thought you head off to your first hot meal in months.

On an out-of-game level, Customs is what most games refer to as “logistics”. It’s an in-genre method of checking players into game, verifying costuming, game mechanics, and registering players to play. Most logistical things should be taken care of online before the game, but any last-minute things can be handled here. Your official License Grid selection (covered later in the rules) happens here. In addition, whenever you play the game with a brand new character, you will receive your starting equipment (also covered later).

Building a character is simple in Empire 6. There are 5 steps:

1. Choose a species
2. Choose a primary Pillar
3. Spend 11 LAPs on your Starting Licenses
4. Choose a name
5. Submit your Character’s Backstory to Plot

There are 5 playable species at Empire 6, though you will encounter others during play. They are:

• Humans - Your standard fare, though trying to Do Better
• Kurile - Heavily mutated reptilian nomads whose home planet was destroyed due to unchecked capitalism and mining
• Rakkuri - Once a colony of humans, they genetically spliced themselves with animal DNA far beyond the limits of the human body into their own species.
• Solibract - Sentient plant and fungi life whose species rapidly progressed from ‘dark age’ to space flight in less than 2 centuries due to human presence on their planet.
• Uzkallan - Subaquatic species of coral miners whose population is still embroiled in a civil cold war over their planet’s induction to the Empire.

Every species has certain attributes that make them special in relation to the others. They are broken into 4 categories:

• Planetary Adaptation - Ability to withstand harsh environments
• Physiology - Your internal organs/functions that make your species unique medically
• Durability - How many times you can be hit in the torso before bleeding out
• Special Attributes - ‘Powers’, ‘Activatable Skills’, or ‘Passive Skills’ that each Species has that have no bearing on character progression or in-game Licenses

Every species has certain attributes that make them special in relation to the others. They are broken into 4 categories:

This stat explains which of the 5 Categories of planetoid that species can live upon. These definitions are loose, but each one corresponds to a general band of survivability. Old Earth can be considered a Category 1 planetoid while a planetoid with little to no atmosphere, extreme volcanic activity, and with a dangerous (and angry) population could be considered a Category 5.

All living species have a physiological classification. It describes the vast differences in biology between known species. Certain treatments may work on a human, but when you cut open a Felsectid to pull the buckshot out, you’ll be met with a spiracle instead of a lung. For example, emergency restoration Hypos only work on certain physiologies, so when your friend is dying on the ship, make sure you give them the right medicine!

Each species has varying abilities to take a hit, as it were. Durability describes the number of times that species can be hit in the torso without needing urgent medical attention. Never fear, though. With the correct Licenses, any species can wear body armor that affords significant protection.

Each species has a special passive attribute that makes them unique. These attributes are self descriptive when combined with either the relevant License or Primer.

Some species are locked and require you to have already played a character for some time before you are able to play them. In addition to requiring a character with a certain number of LAPs (not including the 11 you get at character creation), they also require Feroxidite, the special out-of-game currency awarded to players for donating time, effort, or resources to the Empire 6 LARP.

The Pillars of Civilization represent the different specializations an Occupant can have. Each pillar represents that Occupant’s specialty, but does not represent the entirety of what an Occupant is capable of. When an Occupant reaches the adulthood age of their species, they are registered with the Empire under a specific Pillar. This dictates the cost of purchasing Licenses within the Empire and is a reflection of the personality/profession of the person with that Pillar.

Think of the pillars as a wheel with your Primary Pillar at the top. The ones to the left and right are your secondaries. On the sides of those are your tertiaries, and the opposite is the opposite. For example:

With Technology as your primary, Medical and Statecraft would be your secondaries. 

If Corps was your primary, only Statecraft would be your secondary, while Agriculture and Technology your tertiaries. 

The redacted pillar can not be your Primary Pillar.

Each Pillar’s opposite is across the Grid from itself. For example, if an Occupant is registered under the Medical Pillar, Corps is their opposite. Likewise, Agriculture and Technology are the secondary Pillars, Statecraft is the Tertiary Pillars. This is explained more in the Licenses section.

Pillars are publicly accessible. Any Occupant can view your Occupant Profile and see what your primary Pillar is. All Occupants are required to represent their primary Pillar in some fashion in their uniform or outfit at all times. This helps ship’s personnel to identify Occupants who might be able to assist with any issues that arise during the Assembly.

At Empire 6, there is no notion of “skills”. Every character can take any action during the game, provided they are physically capable of doing the thing, using the item, or accessing that part of the Essex Application. Instead, we use the concept of “Licenses”. On an in-game level, the question is not IF you can do something, but if you can do something LEGALLY. On an out-of-game level, there are rules throughout this book on what is allowed (primarily from a safety perspective), but when it comes to classic ‘character progression’, Licenses are what you spend your points on..

Living on the ship, there are jobs that anyone can do, especially with the assistance of the RIG. If there’s a medical emergency in the cantina, simply getting the patient’s body to the Medical Bay and placing them in the surgical pod is enough to help them get back on their feet. However, if just anyone did that, there’s no guarantee there’d be a pod available for larger ship emergencies. Getting licensed to use the Med Bay facilities shows that you are capable of making triage decisions and that your decisions take precedence over others who are not licensed. Licenses apply to certain actions, referred to as “Licensable Activities”. (Almost) Any activity not covered by a License can be done without any special training or authentication.

Please see the Licenses section of the Data Vault for an explanation of each License.

Licenses are acquired through use of “License Acquisition Points” or “LAPs” LAPs are awarded to denizens of the ship who contribute towards the ship’s goals and participate in the periodical Assemblies - events where the ship becomes open to any who come in peace to talk, trade, or more.

LAPs are the currency for purchasing Licenses. Depending on your character’s Pillar, the cost of purchasing each license may vary, but it follows a simple formula:

Everyone on the ship is allowed to have up to 6 licenses in effect at any given point, though you can have more than 6 Licenses available to choose from. 

After every Assembly, 3 LAPs are awarded to each Occupant who attended. An additional 2 LAPs can be purchased at Customs when arriving at the Assembly. These LAPs will appear in your Occupant Profile at the conclusion of the Assembly.

When going through Customs, each ship occupant selects up to 6 Licenses to add to their Grid.These Licenses will be considered ‘equipped’ for that Assembly. In order to keep the paperwork down, you are not allowed to change the Licenses in your Grid until the following Assembly for any reason. If for some reason, you can not use a License you have equipped, it will be considered unfortunate, but nothing can be done.

The Grid looks like the following:

This looks similar to the Pillars Grid, but please note: When selecting your Licenses, you do not need to place them into your Grid in any specific order. You may also have multiple Licenses equipped that are from the same Pillar.

Each License has a different graphic associated with it to make it easy to recognize which Licenses are in the Grid. When in doubt, you can always select the License from inside of Essex to see a detailed explanation of what it does.

Licenses are broken into multiple Tiers. Each Tier costs more than the last (see the table above). When you add a License to your Grid of a tier higher than 1, you are granted all of the benefits of the previous tier. For example, if you add the Long-Term Care License ‘Physiotherapist’ (Tier 3)’ to your Grid, it will count as though you have ‘Intake Analyst’ (Tier 2)’ and ‘Medic (Tier 1)’ Licenses equipped. In effect, purchasing Licenses in the same category as other Licenses increases the total number of things you are licensed to do!

The following sections outline which Licenses are available within each Pillar. Every Pillar begins with a single License at Tier 1. After the first Tier, individual Pillars are broken into specializations called ‘branches’. Each License has a Tier and in order to buy it, you need the previous Tier License in the same branch.

For instance, if “Medical” is your primary Pillar and you want to buy the “Physiotherapist (Tier 3)” License, it is within the “Long-Term Care” branch. You would need to buy the “Intake Analyst (Tier 2)” License because it requires the previous Tier License in the same branch.

Your name is what appears on your License Grid and is what’s visible to all other Occupants of the ship. Consider this your ‘legal’ name. While you may go by other names casually and with other Occupants, any official Empire business will be conducted using your legal name.

You can submit your character’s backstory to the plot team at any point either during or after character creation. We want to encourage every player to write out their character’s history in as much detail as they like, so in the interest of that as well as the plot team’s ability to read, we split this submission into two pieces. You can submit the short-form and the long-form versions of your history.

The short-form version is a paragraph or two that describe the high-level concepts about your character. Maybe that will include where they’re from, the type of work they do, their life goals, and their likes/dislikes. This will give our plot people a chance to understand your character at a glance so that when they read your whole description, they can keep that in mind. The long-form version can be as long and detailed as you like! 

Once you have submitted your backstory, the plot team will review it and give it a generalized approval. You can see that approval on the Essex app. If you ever want to change details about your backstory, you can feel free to do so, but they are not guaranteed to be accepted. A plot member will reach out to you if there are questions about your story.

All new Occupants in Empire 6 begin their career by coming in with a few things. When you first arrive at Customs as a new character, you will be handed your starting equipment. What you receive is based on your primary pillar. See the following table to see what you will receive:

As mentioned above in the Occupant Registration section, Licenses are what determine what you are legally allowed to do in-game. There are limited exceptions, mostly in line with real life safety, to what you’re allowed to physically do during the game. However, if you decide to perform an activity that requires a License that is not currently equipped to your License Grid, you are risking in-game punitive action due to Unlicensed Activity.

Example of an Unlicensed Activity: Attempting to scan an Iron Node while you do not have the Surveyor License currently equipped to your Grid.

In terms of legality, it does not matter if you have purchased the License using LAPs previously, had the License equipped last Assembly, normally had it equipped, totally meant to have it equipped, or ‘didn’t know how that worked’. If you’re caught without the License, you’re going to spend some time in the Brig and pay a fine.

Within the Essex app for your RIG, for most actions that could potentially result in an Unlicensed Activity charge, you either can not access that part of the app or it will warn you if you’re about to do something Unlicensed. Any time you see a warning that ‘what you’re about to do is Unlicensed’, you will not be punished if you say ‘back’ or ‘nevermind’. 

For actions not performed within Essex, you will be subject to the judgement of Ship Security.

The most common usage of your RIG during the game, aside from reviewing your Occupant Profile, is scanning. Throughout the game, you will find QR codes on various props. Using the Essex Scanner App (or your device’s camera app if for some reason the app doesn’t work), you can scan the code. One of the following things will happen:

• You will see an animation of a scanner that looks like this:

• You see a screen that provides a warning that the action you are about to take is illegal in-game, prompting you to confirm your intentions:

• You will be directed to a location within the Essex App related to your scan

When you see the scanner animation, this indicates that you have scanned something that requires you to ‘analyze’ it. Imagine this is like watching a classic science fiction show or movie and there’s something interesting the crew needs to examine. They hold their scanner device over it and begin to ‘scan’ the object. This is the same type of activity.

For the duration of the scan, you’re required to remain with the prop wherever the prop is located. You can not pick it up and wander off with it, or run from gun fire. You can’t take any other in-game actions outside of scanning. Please see the Complex Actions section for reference. In the future, there will be RIG upgrades you can install that will improve the scan times, making your RIG faster.

If you are in the middle of scanning something and wish to stop, you may use your device’s ‘back’ button or any other navigation tools within the interface. Please note: If you leave this page for any reason during the scan, you will lose all scanning progress and will need to start over.

The timer indicates how long you must perform the role play. Different types of objects will often have differing scan times. Upon completion of the timer, your screen will update to show you the results of the scan!

Here are some examples of things you’d be likely to scan, requiring a timer:

• Material nodes while on Away Missions
• Points of Interest (POIs) on the ship
• Another Occupant while performing an Intake Analysis

Important: This screen should be considered “Out of Game” and is a courtesy to provide a warning that prevents you from accidentally performing an action that is in-game illegal. Simply seeing this screen is not illegal in-game and there is no penalty for it. If you click “Proceed”, you have crossed the threshold into an illegal activity.

When you see this screen, it’s likely that you’ve scanned something that you are not Licensed to scan. For example: You may be trying to scan an Iron Node while you do not have the Surveyor License equipped to your Grid. On an out-of-game level, there is nothing wrong with clicking ‘proceed’ and scanning the object. On an in-game level, if someone catches you performing an Unlicensed Activity and reports you to the Ship Security team, you may find yourself in the Brig. 

Upon pressing “Proceed”, you will be brought to the scanner screen and can begin role playing scanning. If you press “Back”, there is no penalty for the scan and you can leave the scene.

Sometimes, when you scan something, you will immediately see a result. This can happen if you’ve already scanned a material previously, if you’re looking at someone’s public Essex profile, or a number of other reasons. Regardless, if you do not see the Scanner Screen, you have completed the scanning process and do not need to do anything else. You may view the resulting page and take actions as normal.

Whenever you scan something, your RIG begins to ‘heat’ up. This is a purely in-game mechanic and if your out-of-game device begins to heat up abnormally, this is not part of the game and we haven’t done anything to make that happen!

RIG heat is a mechanic where subsequent back-to-back scans take longer. For example, if you’re scanning an Iron Node on an Away MIssion, that scan may take 1:00 (1 minute). A few seconds after this completes, you shift and begin scanning the node next to it while your friend harvests the node. You will notice that the moment you begin scanning the second node, the timer now says 1:10 (1 minute, 10 seconds). Here’s an example of what you could see:

Note where it says “Scanner Heat (2)”. You can see how much your timer has been affected by heat, as well as how much heat you have gained. 

Heat is broken down into 3 intensities: Green, Yellow, and Red. Over time, your RIG will ‘cool off’ if you’re not actively using it to scan things. As your RIG gets hotter, it takes longer for it to cool off each degree. The degrees are not cooled simultaneously, but sequentially. This means that if you scan 4 things back to back, you will have spent just over 5 minutes scanning (1:00, 1:10, 1:20, 1:30) with a few seconds in between each scan. One degree will be cooled off, meaning you still have 3 heat remaining and will still have 300 seconds before you cool off another point.

If you scan another thing, bringing your total heat to 4, the timer that was originally 300 seconds jumps to 600 seconds, meaning it will take 10 minutes of real life time to cool off a point. Keep this in mind when planning your scans. 

Sometimes, the thing that you scan with your RIG is what we call a “Material”. This could be an Iron Node, a Fungle Cluster, an Ice Node, or any number of other similar things. Upon completing your scan, you will see a screen similar to the following:

Upon scan completion, you will be able to choose whether or not you wish to collect the material you’ve found. To collect a material, it must have been scanned by someone. The person doing the collecting does not necessarily have to be the one who scanned it. While we understand accidents happen, it’s an out-of-game rule that a player must scan a resource before it may be collected.

To collect a material, spend one minute of role play using your hands or tools to extract the material. We highly encourage you to bring the physical representation of appropriate tools with you.

Here are a couple reasons you might decide not to collect the material:

• The shuttle only has enough space in material storage for a limited number of resources and you need one thing more than another.
• You have upgraded your RIG and are able to see the quality of a resource (note: the person’s RIG from the screenshot above doesn’t have this upgrade) and it’s a low quality, not worth spending time on.

In the Empire 6 LARP, combat is incredibly deadly. We use the ‘hit location’ style of combat. If you are hit in the arm, your arm goes limp and becomes unusable until medically treated. The same goes for a leg. If you are struck in a limb that has already been damaged, there is no additional effect. However, you are not to use your damaged limbs as a ‘shield’ to prevent damage to other parts of your body. A hit to the torso inflicts the ‘dying’ state where, if not treated quickly, leads to death. 

When making any sort of attack with melee weapons such as blades or your old trusty crowbar, we encourage the use of ‘battle noises’. Give your enemies a good “hyah!!” or something similar to let them know you mean business. With ranged weapons, the sound of the prop firing or a scream as you hurl a javelin is a good indicator of what’s going on. If possible, increasing the noise of the gun props is encouraged!

When you are struck by any attack, you respond according to where you are hit. Let’s say you are shot in the arm. You could cry out and clutch at your arm as you dive behind cover. The other option is that you could be wearing armour that protects against that damage. As the shot lands, you could physically roleplay flinching in surprise as you call out: “Mitigated!” to indicate your armour has nullified the damage.

Head, hands, neck, and groin shots are illegal as we don’t want to actually hurt each other. If you are accidentally struck in those locations, they do not do damage. 

When you are hit in the torso, it counts as a ‘Life-Threatening Injury’. Any time your character has sustained a Life-Threatening Injury, they are considered ‘Dying’. For more information on that, see the Life, Dying, and Death section.

• 5 locations that are legal strike locations: 
  
  • Right Arm
  • Left Arm
  • Right Leg
  • Left Leg
  • Torso
• 4 locations that are considered invalid and Illegal strike locations:
  
  • Head
  • Hands
  • Neck 
  • Groin
• When any of the legal strike locations except the torso are hit, that limb becomes Injured. 
• Combat should be dramatic and roleplayed accordingly. There should be at least 2 seconds in between each swing. Each first attack against a target should be indicated with an aggressive attacking motion and/or noise.
• Injured arms cannot be moved or hold anything they are carrying. 
• One Injured leg cannot be used to run, you can only move at a walking speed of one hobbling step every one second. You may still stand by putting very little pressure on the Injured leg.
• With two Injured legs, you can no longer walk without the help of another character (Another character can help by holding you by the arm (or miming doing so to avoid physical contact) or using the “Carry” Basic Action). You may also choose to take a knee or lie on the ground as long as it is safe to do so. You may also crawl by dragging yourself if it is still safe to do so.  
• It is against the rules to use Injured limbs or illegal strike locations to purposely block hits. This could result in a Yellow or Red Card being given out. 
• Injured  limbs can be medically treated.
• A Torso hit results in the target falling into a Dying  state.

There are two main categories of weapons and armour. “Tagged” and “Untagged”. “Tagged” indicates there is a corresponding item ‘tag’ that provides information about the item including things like damage type, mitigation value, etc. “Untagged” indicates that this is something you picked up off of the ground or a table and want to use.

Attacking someone with a Tagged Weapon does not require an out-of-game verbal element. You simply swing or fire your weapon.

If you pick a combat-safe prop up from the ground, such as a foam brick or (prop/boffer) metal pipe, and want to hit someone with it, you will need to make your intentions of doing damage to them clear, then use the item as intended. It is considered ‘consumed’ and broken after your usage.

 If the object you’re intending to use is not combat safe (ex: a real metal pipe), you can pantomime an attack This can be accomplished by exaggeratedly role playing an ‘attack’, or by communicating out-of-game if someone is confused. Do not actually hit another person with an object that is not combat safe! 

If they are holding a weapon of their own and want to block you, one of two things happens:

1. If their weapon is Tagged, your weapon breaks immediately. No one takes any damage.
2. If their weapon is Untagged, both weapons break immediately. No one takes any damage.

In the game, there are many different types of weapons. No matter what the weapon is, it does ‘1 damage’. What’s important about Empire 6 is that each weapon does a specific type of damage. There are only 3 types of damage in the game and they are based on the physical representation (phys rep) of the weapon that is used to cause the damage.

• Melee - ex: Swords, pipes, knives
• Gun - ex: Pistols, Rifles, Shotguns (anything delivered via small caliber nerf projectile)
• Explosive - ex: Explosive charges/bombs (smoke), rockets (large caliber nerf projectile)

For each damage type, there is armour designed to stop it. Each armour in the game is designed to be worn on specific locations of the body, protecting one or more locations. They also list the damage types that they protect against. Armours do not necessarily only protect against one damage type, nor do they necessarily only protect one location.

When you are hit by a melee weapon, shot by a gun, or are within the radius of an explosion, the damage types are self-explanatory. If you have armour in the location you receive the hit, and the armour’s ‘Damage Type’ list includes that type, your armour counts for protection against it. If your armour would protect you, call out “Mitigated!” to alert the attacker that you both acknowledged the hit, and were protected against it.

Each Armour is designed to protect different places on your body. Some protect you from shoulders to toes while others are intended to mitigate damage to specific places. If you are fond of using knives, you might want something that protects your arms so you can use them longer, for instance. 

There are 3 armour locations:

• Torso - Protects your Torso
• Arms - Protects your Left Arm and Right Arm
• Legs - Protects your Left Leg and Right Leg

Some armour, such as a ‘Bulletproof Vest’ only protects one location (Torso). This means that if you’re only wearing a Bulletproof Vest and are struck in the arm by a bullet, you’re out of luck. 

Other armour, such as “EPF Stab Suit” protects all 3 locations.

You might be tempted to ask yourself: Can I just wear 15 suits of body armour and never die? Bullets might not get you, but the heat stroke will. 

You can not stack armour on a location. If you are wearing armour that protects your legs and torso, you can’t also wear armour that protects your torso and arms.  You would need to choose which 2-location armour you’d want to wear and acquire a second suit that just covers the remaining location.

This number is how many times you can be struck in a location covered by the armour and call out “Mitigated!” to an attack. If you are wearing armour that has a Mitigation Value of “2” and protects your Torso only, that means if you’re struck in the Torso once, you can call out “Mitigated!”. After that, you can only do this one more time before your armour isn’t protecting you anymore.

The mitigation value counts for each limb it protects separately. For example: if you’re wearing EPF Stab Guards, they provide 1 melee mitigation value to your arms. That means you can be stabbed 1 time in each arm, calling “Mitigated!” each time. If you are stabbed in the left arm, then stabbed in the left arm again, you can mitigate the first but not the second. In the same scenario: stabbed in the left arm, stabbed in the left arm, and then stabbed in the right arm once, you will still have use of your right arm until stabbed there again.

After your armour has been thoroughly ravaged in combat, you’ll want to repair it before heading back into the fray. To repair it, you will require the item “Basic Armour Maintenance Kit”. These kits are available by crafting them, getting them out of the vending machines, or acquiring them through trade/other means.

In order to use the kit, you need to spend the amount of time specified on the kit (some require different times), entirely focused on the task. You can not take any other game action while performing the repair, or you’ll need to start the timer over again. If you are struck or interrupted, you will need to start the timer over again.

Repair kits have a Tier value on them. In order to repair armour, your kit must be greater than or equal to the tier value of your armour. For example: if you’re wearing a tier 2 bulletproof vest, you’ll need a tier 2 or higher kit to repair it.

A single ‘usage’ of a repair kit can repair all 3 locations of armour in one go. This means that even if you’re wearing 3 entirely different pieces of armour, all 3 can be repaired in the 10 minutes. If each armour is of a different Tier, your kit must be at least that tier or higher to repair that piece. Otherwise, you will repair the lower tier items and not the higher one.

Primary Rule: Aesthetics and visual representation matters more than ‘realism’ when it comes to armour. We would prefer that the armor look as cool as possible than be made out of the most realistic materials (given it’s difficult to acquire Plasteel in the real world).

There are 2 main rules for determining if a piece of costuming counts as armour. 

1. Does it look distinctly like armour?
   Given that some species have skin that could be construed as armour and the fact that we do not require realistic materials, your armour should look distinct from the rest of your clothes, species prosthetics/colouration, and equipment. 
2. Does it protect more than 80% of the intended location(s)?
   We require at least 80% of each of the protected location(s) be covered by your armour. That means that if it protects just arms, 80%+ of your arms should be covered. If it protects arms and torso, 80%+ of your arms and 80%+ of your torso should be covered.

How do I know if my costuming will count as armour?

In between games, we encourage players who aren’t sure to post in our #props-kits-and-fits Discord channel to ask one of our armour marshals about a piece. At the game, we will have a marshal on hand during Customs (check-in) to verify costuming counts as armour. If you find that you do not have an appropriate rep, there might be options available to rent for a single game while you work on your props between games. Our creative team is happy to give advice in the Discord channel!

Shields infinitely protect you from Melee damage and do not require you to declare “Mitigated!” when hit. When you intercept a melee attack with your shield, there is no damage dealt to you. By default, shields do not protect you from bullets. If you are struck by a bullet in the shield, this damage is transferred to the arm holding your shield. The arm is then considered “Injured” and unless the shield is strapped to you, you must let it fall to the floor.

Some shields may be upgraded to either mitigate a number of bullets (similar to armour), or be entirely bulletproof. 

Shields are broken into 2 different categories: “Small” and “Large”. Small shields can be a maximum of 60cm by 60cm (or 0.36m2) and Large shields a maximum of 60cm by 120cm (or 0.72m2).

Melee weapons are any type of weapon where there is no projectile involved in your attack. For instance, you could be using a sword, baseball bat, or pipe. Melee weapons that contain a core can not be thrown and for safety reasons, will constitute a yellow-card warning for the first offense and a red-card warning for the second. Some melee weapons, such as throwing daggers, can be thrown if approved by a weapon marshal during Customs (check-in). 

Fighting in hand-to-hand can be dangerous if done recklessly both in and out-of-game. Our out-of-game rules are simple:

1. Lightest Touch - You only need to tap someone for the blow to count. There is no need to swing as hard as you can. If you are on the receiving end of someone swinging too hard, simply call out: “Check your Swing!” clearly. This indicates that a player should not hit so hard.
2. 90-degree arcs - Combat can move quickly and boffer weapons are considerably lighter than their real-world counterparts. Each swing must involve the weapon’s arc moving at least 90 degrees away from the target before coming back to strike again. 
3. 2 Second Rule - When your weapon strikes an opponent in some way (regardless of if it does damage), that counts as 1-Hit. There can not be more than 1-Hit in a row without a 2-second pause in between them. 
4. You may wield a one-handed weapon in each hand.
5. You can’t hold more than one weapon, shield, or item in one hand.
6. You must use two hands to swing or block with a two-handed weapon.

There are many different out-of-game vendors and weapons makers that create beautiful props that we’d love to see in our game. We won’t list them out here, but most of the major retailers’ weapons will pass our rules:

1. Must not be able to feel the weapon’s core
   
   1. If you press down on the striking surface of the weapon, if you can feel the core, it will not pass.
   2. If you can feel the core on the non-striking surfaces, you will get a caution to ensure you do NOT strike someone with that part of the weapon.
2. The core must be firmly in place
   
   1. If you press down on the weapon and can feel the core moving around inside the weapon, or the foam is not strongly adhered to the core, it will not pass.
3. The weapon must not bend or flex excessively when swung or blocked by another weapon.
   
   1. If your weapon flexes by more than approximately 6” at the tip when swinging at a target, the core is either too flexible or the diameter is too small for the length of your weapon.
4. The weapon tip must be sufficiently padded as to not feel core
   
   1. We know that a lot of games allow thrusting provided the tip is padded enough. However, there are quite a few safety standards around that and we would frankly rather avoid thrusting as a mechanic. 
   2. Weapon tips should be padded to still maintain safety in the event of an accidental thrust.
5. One-handed weapons must be between 8” and 44” in total length.
6. Two-handed weapons must be between 44” and 72” in total length.

Guns in Empire 6 are incredibly deadly specifically because of how easy it is to ‘kill’ someone (put them into the ‘dying’ state. As such, we have implemented a series of rules to slow guns down and make them less of a menace on the battlefield. Most notably, E6 uses ‘slug thrower’ sci-fi weapons (bullets) as opposed to energy weapons, so we are incorporating some realistic in-universe concerns to explain the rules. To put it simply: guns can poke holes in ships/shelters, ripping a hole into the void and killing everyone inside. 

A gun’s item tag will specify whether the gun is:

• One-handed: The gun can be fired with only one hand.
• Two-handed: You must have both hands on the gun in order to fire it (even the gun’s physrep doesn’t require two hands to fire).
• Manual: The gun’s physrep must have a manual firing action. This may be further specified with a specific kind of firing action, such as bolt, break, pump, hammer, etc. 
• Semi-Auto: The gun’s physrep must have a semi-automatic firing action.
• Full Auto: The gun’s physrep must have a fully automatic firing action.

Guns in E6 are plentiful. It’s extremely easy to make a gun, given that it’s basically just steel and maybe plastic or wood if you’re feeling fancy. The difficulty comes in acquiring bullets. Bullets are a heavily controlled resource and require a special License to craft. Only certified vendors can sell bullets.

Every bullet requires an associated tag on your person (meaning not in your bank) to be used in a gun. After you have finished loading your gun (or at an appropriate moment post-combat), you are required to mark off the number of bullets used from your tag and, if fully consumed, destroy the tag. 

Guns have a set in-game magazine size, as stated on its item tag. Once you have fired that many bullets, your magazine is empty. (Your gun’s out-of-game magazine size can be smaller or larger than its in-game size.) 

In order to start firing your gun again, you must take a knee and spend 15 seconds of roleplay reloading your magazine. (No actual reloading is required; you only need to complete a 15-second count without moving.) At the end of the roleplay period, your gun is reloaded to its maximum magazine size. If you move from your position or take damage, you are interrupted.

Guns are represented by Nerf (or equivalent) blasters that fire foam darts, disks, or balls.

Velocity

• Gun physreps must shoot at 100 FPS or below.

Ammunition

Most types of ammunition that are designed for the average blaster can be used. Ammunition tips must have compression. Homemade darts can't be used.

• Ammunition can't be modified in any way.
• You must write your real name and/or player number on your ammunition for easy retrieval (in marker; never in paint). 

Gun Modification

• You can modify the internal components of your gun physrep. 
• Gun physreps that use compressed gas or explosive decompression can't be used.

Gun Design

• You must decorate your gun physrep to suit Empire 6’s setting aesthetic. At the minimum, you must apply a coat of black paint to your gun to cover its original colour scheme.
• We strongly encourage you to fully repaint your gun physrep in a way that fits Empire 6’s setting. Guns that aren’t painted, aren’t decorated, or look like a toy won’t be approved for use.

Much like classic sporting events, Yellow and Red cards represent a warning and a removal from play, respectively. Unlike regular sporting events, instead of receiving a second warning, you will be handed a Red Card. These may not be real cards that are handed to you, but metaphorical ones.

Yellow Cards represent a warning in that you have performed an action that is considered unsafe, unsporting, or rules-breaking. It is up to the marshal handing you the Yellow Card whether you will be asked to sit out of the current activities. If you are handed a Yellow Card, the decision is final for that situation. When the scene is over, you can feel free to go to the Mayor’s Assistant’s Office to discuss the issue with a Staff Member, but please do not interrupt gameplay to debate a decision.

Red Cards represent that you have continued to ignore the warning you were given. You will be asked to report to Customs with a Staff Member who will discuss next steps with you. Depending on the offense, we may ask you to sit out-of-game for a period of time, up to and including until the end of the event. Under extreme circumstances, a Red Card might include being asked not to return to Empire 6. A Red Card does not entitle the recipient to any form of refund or recompense. 

As you interact with various elements of deep space, you may find yourself exposed to unhealthy situations whether by choice or by force. It is important to know that not everything is Alive or Dead. There are states of being in between.

There are 5 states of being at Empire 6:

You are the picture of perfect (enough) health. Your limbs are intact and you are not immediately dying. You’re healthy enough to walk, run, fight, and carry out actions.

At least one of your legal strike locations has been hit and those limbs are injured. You will require medical aid to fix those injuries and your movement will be impaired. It is possible for all 4 non-torso strike locations to be injured at once, leaving you unable to move your arms or legs during this time, but you will at least not be dying.

Injured limbs will heal naturally but not until the beginning of the following Assembly (game). They can be treated by having a Licensed medical professional administer a Limb Restoration Hypo. While the hypo can be administered instantly, the medicine takes time to work through your system. This duration will be listed on the Hypo’s consumable tag.

You enter the Helpless state when you are in the Dying state, are unconscious in-game, all four of your limbs are injured, have the Restrain basic action used on you, are asleep OOG, or are subject to certain IG situations.

You can be in the Helpless state and the Functional, Injured, or Dying state at the same time.

You can't move, fight, use basic actions, or items. If you are unconscious in-game, you can not speak.

Another character can use the Carry basic action on you, whether your character is willing or not. (If you were put in the Helpless state by the Restrain basic action, you can roleplay struggling against the character carrying you.) 

Another character can spend 30 seconds of roleplay to force-feed you an item.

You leave the Helpless state when the condition that conferred it ends. (Example: Another character uses the Remove Restraints basic action on you, you wake up out-of-game, or the reason for your in-game unconsciousness ends.)

When you have sustained a Life-Threatening Injury (any unmitigated injury to the torso), you will begin to die. While you are ‘Dying’, you must begin counting the 5 minutes, or 300 seconds, you have remaining. If you do not receive treatment within that time, you will die. This can be avoided if a Licensed medical professional administers an Emergency Measures Hypo - [Your Physiology]. Your Physiology matters greatly as an incorrectly administered hypo could have terrible medical side effects in addition to simply not working. While the hypo can be administered instantly, the medicine takes time to work through your system. This duration will be listed on the Hypo’s consumable tag.

When you are ‘Dying’, you are still conscious. During your count, you are able to talk or call out for help and we encourage you to accurately role play your injuries. The louder you scream, the more likely the nearest doctor will be to hear you.

If your doctor is successful in treating your injuries, you are able to stand up and carry on as though you had never been injured, but it is considered good roleplay if you continue to play up your former injuries. In the future, getting shot in the chest might be a quick fix, but you’ll certainly remember just how much pain you were in until the doc was able to patch you up.

Whatever spark, magical, mystical, or otherwise, that made up your body has left. What remains is a corpse on the floor and the memories of the people you left behind. You are now “Dead”. 

If you reach the 5-minute mark of your Dying countdown, you can begin to remove the costuming that represents your character, leaving any base-layers on your person. All gear, items, weapons, bags, or other physical objects you were carrying at the time of your demise should be left on the ground where you died. From there, please either place a hand upon your head to represent you are ‘out-of-game’ or put on a white headband. Then proceed to the Captain’s Assistant’s Office for further instructions.

███ █████ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████ █████ ████████ █████ █ ██████ █ █████████ █████ ████ █████ █████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███ █████ █████ 

Card types break down into the following categories:

• Armour
• Consumable
• Game Rule
• Helmet
• Schematic
• Shield
• Material
• Weapon

These serve to tell you what the general purpose of the tag is.

All tags have a quality tier associated with them. This ranges from 0-3. With equipment, this indicates the frequency of maintenance required on the item and what types of upgrades can be applied to them. With Schematics or Consumables, it indicates the generalized ‘efficiency’ of the item either how easy it is to make or how good the results.

This is what the item is called in-game.

For armour and shields, this tells you how many times you may call “Mitigate!” per location.

These 3 symbols represent the 3 damage types in game:

• Melee
• Gun
• Explosive

With armour and shields, you may call “Mitigate!” if the damage you’re receiving is one of the highlighted types.

This indicates where on the body the item protects you. Note: this visual represents not just armour, but also helmets and shields. The 5 locations are:

• Head (Helmet)
• Torso
• Arms
• Legs
• Shield

The highlighted location(s) are the only ones affected by this item.

This is how many bullets can be loaded at a single time in your gun. Only this many bullets may be fired in between reloads.

Weapons require a specific minimum number of hands to be used in order to wield them effectively. This number is specified on the associated item tag. If you are holding a two-handed melee weapon and swing with a single hand, this will do no meaningful amount of damage to the target. If you’re holding a pipe wrench, which requires one hand, with both hands, there is no extra benefit but you are able to use the weapon effectively.

You can’t have more than 2 hands in use at any one time, regardless of how many legs your species have.

These 3 icons correspond to the 3 damage types:

• Melee
• Gun
• Explosive

The highlighted icon indicates the damage type done by this weapon.

Combat in Empire 6 is designed to be exceptionally dangerous. Teams of medical doctors throughout the Empire have developed incredible solutions to prevent people from dying prematurely. 

There are 2 primary methods of providing medical aid during combat:

• Limb Restoration Hypo
• Emergency Measures Hypo

The bare minimum role play required to administer a Hypo is the following:

• Ensure that the correct physical representation of your medicine has been loaded into your hypo prop. This takes 15 seconds of role play, including the time it takes you to unload any medicine or empty cartridges still in your hypo prop, gather the medicine from your pocket or storage, and then load it into your hypo prop.
• Bring the hypo towards the area of the target you intend to provide medicine to. Do not press the prop against the person in real life. It must simply look like you intend to inject them with something. For instance: to fix a right arm, you would raise the hypo prop towards, but not touch the target’s right arm, stopping a few centimeters away.
• Declare out-of-game the medicine you are administering. For instance: to fix a right arm, you would declare “limb restoration hypo”.
  At this point, you have provided care!

We encourage you to add additional role play or flavor to the way you personally administer medicine to patients. This could be reflected in your bedside manner, the intensity or roughness of your role play, or the extreme confusion you show when selecting the correct medicine.

A single-target curative that, when applied directly to an injured limb, restores that limb to “Functional” after the required time has passed. If multiple limbs are injured, multiple hypos will be required. Each ‘pill’ on the bottom indicates the number of doses remaining in a given hypo.

A cure-all solution that, when applied directly to someone in the ‘Dying’ state, will return their entire body to the ‘Functional’ state. There is one major caveat: Emergency Measures Hypos require you to administer them to a character of the appropriate species Physiology. 

If you administer the incorrect physiology hypo to a character, there is no effect and the character will remain in the “Dying” state. On an out-of-game level, please inform the Captain’s Assistant Office that a mistake was made as there may be in-game consequences for the wrong type of medicine being applied. 

Once a dose of Emergency Measures Hypo has been applied to a patient, their “Dying” count stops. However, if they are struck again in the Torso, either during or after the 15 second recovery count, they must begin their Dying count from the beginning.

Afflictions are a sort of a unique “status effect” that you can acquire in game. There are Physical and Mental Afflictions and can either be Temporary or Ongoing. It is important to get Afflictions treated as soon as possible and to do so, you will need to see a medical professional. Excluding the event that you received the Affliction, if you do not receive treatment, the severity of the Affliction will increase.

Temporary Afflictions can be solved in a single Assembly, if given enough attention. Sometimes you just need to talk something through, or you need to walk off a particularly bad fall. Ongoing Afflictions are much worse. They need dedicated time and effort to work through. They must be addressed at least once per Assembly and you can only reduce one rank of severity per Assembly. If you do not address at least one rank of severity, the Affliction severity will increase by one during the next Assembly.

Severity measures how bad you are Afflicted. All Affliction severity is measured from 1-6 where 1-3 is “Mild” and 4-6 is “Severe”. Example Affliction status cards are shown below:

All Afflictions can be reviewed within your Occupant Profile, though they are private so that only you can view them. If and when you seek treatment for an Affliction, there will be a record in your Occupant Profile so you can go back and review.

There are various activities in-game that could cause you to receive an Affliction and the severity can be anywhere from 1-5. You will never receive an Affliction at Severity 6.

While an affliction is Mild, you will not be penalized. However, treatment is always recommended to avoid worsening conditions.

Once an Affliction has reached Severe status (including the event where you receive the Affliction), you will receive a penalty based on if the Affliction is Mental or Physical.

If the Affliction is Mental, you are unable to perform any action in-game that would reduce a timer. For instance: if you were to try and take a stimulant to reduce the time it takes to fabricate a weapon, you would not gain any time reduction benefits from the stimulant. Additionally,███ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ ████████ ████████████ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ██████ █████████ ███  ███ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ██████

If the Affliction is Physical, your body is simply trying to keep up. Any strain on your body affects you more intensely than it otherwise would. If you are brought into the “Dying” state, your count is reduced by 50%. This means you will only have 150 seconds to receive Emergency Aid before you pass to the “Dead” state. Additionally, all Maneuvers take you twice as much time to drill. Remember, a Squad is only as strong as its weakest member. Their time to drill will also be doubled while you are drilling with them.

Within the Empire 6 universe, there exists the concept of “Primers”. These are a catch-all term for any document that teaches you how to accomplish something, or about something specific. If you want to create an item, learn about Felsectids, or teach your squad how to be more effective in combat, you will use a Primer to do it.

Primers are used to outline the rules of certain actions. Any crew can strategize and work together to come up with ways to be effective in combat. Hiding behind something big and popping out when someone walks by to surprise them is a solid plan. However, by using a Maneuver Primer, your squad will be able to perform actions that affect the rules of the game.

Example: Breech - Squad Maneuver for 4 or more people

Breech is designed for 4 or more squad members to be able to break through a door that would otherwise be inaccessible. The door will have an out-of-game icon on it that says it can be breached, but it is mag-locked, or ram-proof. If your squad got ready with the Breech Primer, they would be able to perform a series of tasks that end in the door being blown open to create a passage. 

Example: Item Fabrication: Simple - Technology Primer for 1 or more people

Item Fabrication: Simple lets you create items in-game using the ship’s fabricators. The Primer lists out the time required on the Fabricator, the time it takes for you to assemble parts yourself, what parts and materials are needed, etc. To actually perform the fabrication, you need this Primer in hand.

There are several different crafting systems at Empire 6. While each one has a different theme around it, they all follow the same series of out-of-game steps to complete. For all methods of crafting, you will need:

1. A physical copy of the Crafting Primer. Crafting Primers contain the material and time requirements, any prerequisite Licenses you must have, a description of the thing you are making, and extra details that might be pertinent.
2. All of the required materials represented on the Primer. If you are using a special tool such as the Replicator or Proliferator, you may utilize materials currently stored in your Essex Bank account. 
3. All of the required Licenses listed on the Primer
4. Any additional requirements listed on the Primer such as: “Replicator Access”, which means you must book time on the Replicator, “Proliferator Access”, which means you need to book time on the Proliferator, etc…
5. To spend the required time role playing crafting appropriately to the thing you are crafting. If the Primer requires a special tool like the Replicator or Proliferator, you will need to do your role play at that tool during the time you have rented it.
6. Once you have completed your role play, you are sometimes required to proceed to the CAO to complete your crafting. This is specified on the Primer.
   
   1. If you do not have all of the required materials in your Essex Bank account, you will need to hand over the remaining materials to the Captain’s Assistant at this time. 
   2. Depending on the type of crafting you’ve done, they will provide you access to the result. This may be a consumable item tag, a program for your RIG, an upgraded RIG module added directly to your Essex app, or something entirely different!

There are currently 3 different ‘types’ of crafting, though additional will be introduced over time::

1. Chems / Pharmaceuticals 
2. Tech / Equipment
3. Programs / Manuevers

Chems and Pharmaceuticals are both under the Medical Pillar and work to create consumable items that either provide medical assistance or would be considered ‘performance enhancements’ whether that involves combat or other situations. 

Tech and Equipment fall under the Technology Pillar and allow you to create both consumables such as proximity scanner fuel or permanent items such as weapons or armour. 

Programs are under Technology and Maneuvers are under Corps. The end product of each is unique and they are described under their own sections, but they utilize the same fundamental principles to be ‘created’. 

All crafting primers require a combination of Licenses, Time, Materials, and possibly Special Tools. 

This represents the quality of a crafting schematic. They range from 0 -> 3 where 0 is the lowest quality. Quality can dictate how ‘good’ an item is, but can also describe how ‘good’ your particular schematic is at making this item. There may be more than one schematic that produces “Emergency Measures Hypo - Anthropoid” where higher quality schematics either produce a result with more charges, or they are cheaper to produce.

The Schematic Type indicates generally which ‘type’ of crafting you’re performing. It’s a good indicator of where you’ll need to be to make the item, or what types of Licenses will be required.

While the Licensing system typically describes what you are legally allowed to do in-game, when it comes to crafting, these are out-of-game requirements. You MUST have the required Licenses equipped to your Grid.

What you’re creating.

How long you’ll need to spend role playing the crafting process.

This is a combination of Atomics and Interstitials (both explained in the next section) that you will need to either have on your person, or in your Essex Bank account to craft the item.

Here is a guide that describes both the in-game requirement to craft as well as a pseudo out-of-game suggestion for role playing the crafting process.

Here you can find how much of the item you’re going to produce along with a simple summary of what it does.

This describes how you utilize the item in-game. You will need to follow these instructions closely.

Depending on the type of crafting you’re doing, you may need to acquire a physical tag that represents the item. These are the places you can go to get the tag. If no location is listed, you will not need to acquire anything and the crafted result is either not something you will need to have in your out-of-game possession  (meaning it’s a role play effect), or you will have the result already.

If there are any special tools required to create this product, such as the Replicator or the Proliferator, these will be listed here.

‘Atomics’ is short-hand for “Atomic Elements”. These are the raw building blocks of the universe and conveniently operate as the foundational components for usage in modern-day crafting tools. All crafted items in the game begin with Atomics. At this time, the following Atomics can be found and utilized in Empire 6:

• ( 1 ) Hydrogen
• ( 6 ) Carbon
• ( 7 ) Nitrogen
• ( 8 ) Oxygen
• ( 13 ) Aluminium
• ( 14 ) Silicon
• ( 19 ) Potassium
• ( 25 ) Magnesium
• ( 26 ) Iron
• ( 29 ) Copper
• ( ?? ) Trace Elements

Each of the Atomics can be acquired through trade or use of the on-ship Recycler. 

Every crafting recipe will require some number of Atomics whether the recipe needs them directly or through the interstitial products. These items are not typically represented with out-of-game physical representations (phys reps), but instead are stored in your Essex Bank Account:

Occasionally, you will receive a phys rep for an Atomic. If so, we encourage you to deposit it into the bank as soon as possible as this will assist you in crafting more easily.

Many crafting recipes, especially those of higher qualities, require interstitial products to complete. These items typically have no in-game function on their own. In addition, many interstitials are multiple-use items. 

For example: “Liquid Casings” are reusable containers that can be used as an ingredient in many schematics such as “Scanner Probe Fuel” or “Pure Water”. Whenever the liquid inside them is consumed, you are given back an empty container and can refill it with another liquid. In order to create the “Scanner Probe Fuel”, you’d need the Atomic ingredients as well as an empty Liquid Casing.

All materials you scan will come with a quality score. By default, your RIG will not have the technology to be able to detect a material’s quality, but there will be upgrades you can purchase that reveal quality. This quality rating is similar to the quality rating of Crafting Schematics in that a quality of 0 is bad, 3 is great. The higher the quality of the material, the more Atomics you can refine from it. 

Aboardship, there is a device in Engineering called the “Recycler”. Anyone, regardless of their Licenses, can deposit materials into the Recycler to refine them into Atomics. After the deposit has been made and the device has been initialized, you will receive the refined Atomics in your Essex Bank Account along with a receipt that describes how the refining went. 

A single sample of material gathered will comprise more than one atomic. Iron Nodes, for example, typically contain Iron, Silicon, Oxygen, and some trace other elements. When you refine that single node in the recycler, you will receive a small amount of the relevant Atomics. It requires several nodes to be recycled to make up a single Atomic that will be useful for crafting. If you are refining and end up just short of a full Atomic, you will still receive that material. However, it will not be useful for crafting until you refine more. 

CAUTION: Your bank will not show the fraction, but it will be there.

Crouching down, she selected the correct head for her screwdriver and began to remove the side panel from the unit. It’d been a few hours since the proximity sensors went off to tell them there was an unknown object in the Swing Riders beneath Ag-Sec. Carefully, she lowered the panel to the ground and let out a held breath. In front of her, a clearly homemade piece of tech blinked cheerily in the low light of the tunnel. “No explosions, but it’s definitely Reva’s. How the hell did they get in here with no one noticing? I think it’s one of their RIG sniffers, so they probably know we found it.” Seravox whispered into her own RIG mounted on her shoulder. 

On the other side of the ship, a team of engineers are looking at a screen broadcasting the feed from the front camera on Seravox’s RIG. A couple started flipping through binders containing specs of previously found RIG sniffers to see if there was a way to easily dismantle this one. If it is set to explode, it’ll likely only take out Seravox and the nearby tunnel equipment, but it might be enough to punch a hole in the hull, venting Ag-Sec. 

“Should we evac the department?” someone asked Commander Heska, head of Engineering, who shook her head.

“There’s something off about that sniffer.” She replied and leaned closer to the screen and its mic. “Seravox. There’s something weird about the lower left corner of the readout panel. Do you see it?”

Before the Commander had finished speaking, Seravox had already positioned the head of her screwdriver under a section that looked like it’d been pried off a few times before. With barely any pressure, the section popped off and a softly glowing set of LEDs originally masked by the readout panel became visible. A hush came over the engineers as all eyes turned to the screen. Seravox’s breath caught for a second time in the past few minutes as she sat back and stared at the hidden partition. 

“Seravox, listen to me. You know you have two options. Either you get that container back to Engineering, or you can try to get to one of the shuttles before security does. Do the right thing.”

The Commander’s voice barely registered to Seravox as she stared at the container. If the readout was accurate, there was enough in here to buy herself half a moon. When she woke up that morning, she never would have considered wanting half a moon, but here she was, faced with the option…

Feroxidite, the fuel used to power faster-than-light Pleat-Shift drives, can still be found in the universe, though not in any meaningful quantities. In very rare situations, a container of the material can be found as a physical prop in-game. This creates an incredibly complex situation and we are going to outline it in this section.

Empire 6 has an interesting ‘mini game’ that occurs in each event. During each full weekend, there is a possibility where Feroxidite can be intentionally found either through story related events, or through cleverly locating a hidden cache. When this happens, the player who found it will be required to scan the container using their RIG to identify that it was found. This is not optional and will have no in-game consequences. It is simply to alert staff that the Feroxidite container has been located.

On an out-of-game level, we want to encourage players to attempt to locate the Feroxidite each event. When the caches are scanned, every single player attending that event will automatically be awarded out-of-game Feroxidite to their player profile. The amount gained is still to be determined, but will not be a negligible amount.

The player who scanned the Feroxidite then needs to make a choice in-game. Do they alert ship officials that they have located Feroxidite and turn in the cache? Or do they attempt to smuggle it in the hopes of some large payday later? 

The ship, and by extension The Empire, use discovered caches of Feroxidite for government-level activities. Feroxidite is a controlled substance and can be critical to use in emergencies, or for capital used in running large superstructures in space. However, other organizations can sometimes quickly jump on a discovered cache and use it for less… legally sound operations. With great risk comes great reward, and they might be willing to pay for it. 

If you turn in the Feroxidite to the authorities, you will be given monetary or material compensation for your efforts. At this time, we are not going to be publishing the exact reward, but for context it will be similar to the total awards given for a highest-difficulty mission. This reward is entirely separate from any mission rewards already promised, meaning that if you were on an ‘easy’ mission and found a cache, you would get the ‘easy’ mission rewards and ‘imperial’ mission rewards for the cache. 

What if I intended to turn in the cache, but was ‘caught’ before I had the opportunity?
This is the most likely case, but also a very difficult one to adjudicate. Our recommendation is that if you’re going to turn it in, you should alert staff as soon as you can that it is your intention. Someone seeing or finding Feroxidite in your possession before you’ve had a chance to tell staff members can be avoided if you’re simply open with the possession. 

What if I’ve made the intention to turn the cache in clear, but get ‘caught’ on my way to?
To avoid misunderstandings, your first destination should be to bring the cache to staff. Spending time on-Station talking or decompressing with friends can wait until you’ve passed the cache on to a staff member.

Who can I turn the cache into?
You can turn your Feroxidite cache into Station Commanders (heads of each department), the MAO, or Station Security personnel (NPCs with security badges, not PCs)

Is there any way to stop being hunted if I was caught smuggling Feroxidite?
No. That’s why we’re warning you so severely ;)

Are there any options left for my character if I am caught smuggling?
Yes! A director will work with you on this. FOIG (Find out in game).

This seems like it could be un-fun for the average player. Why does this rule exist?
You’re absolutely correct. We are trying a new game play concept that could very well be terrible. We’d like to try it out anyway. One of our hopes with attempting to create such a polarizing situation is that we want to create a level of play that is incredibly high risk, high reward. If you are someone who does not mind the idea that you may lose your character, you may want to try and play as a Feroxidite smuggler. This is a no-holds-barred style of play and we want to encourage it for players who are interested in it. We still want all players to receive rewards for Feroxidite caches being found, so that’s why we’ve implemented the scanning requirement, but if you like the idea of playing a heel, we want to build a game that supports it. 

We want to play test how organic it feels to turn in found caches versus players who try to hide their acquisition. If it turns out that there are many genuine misunderstandings where players try to do the legally-right thing, but are accused of smuggling, we will re-evaluate the rules or how communicating intent is accomplished.

While there will be players who see this and view it as a challenge to hunt down caches, not every cache will be discovered during combat missions. Sometimes, a character who does not typically ‘get involved’ could potentially come into possession of something that has Big Consequences. We don’t want caches to be discoverable only by characters or players looking for them. This allows for newer players to have just as much an opportunity to find caches as seasoned veterans.

Lastly, this rule is intended to create pressure and friction. There is a legal entity in the world who has a zero tolerance policy in regards to something so significant in-game. We want you as players and as characters to see the level of control that is being exerted in the game world. We want you to react to it and to have strong feelings in relation to it. There should be a sense of ‘Big Brother’ looking over your shoulder and while they typically don’t involve themselves in the day-to-day workings of the station, they get VERY involved in this element. We want you to ask yourselves why.

You can engage with the game world by speaking to other characters, fighting enemies, or interacting with objects you find. You don’t need to use Licenses to do these things. However, certain actions you can take are bound by specific rules. These are called Basic Actions. Any character can use these actions, so long as they’re in the Healthy or Semi-Conscious state (unless otherwise noted). 

You can move a character who is willing, or who is in the Injured, Dying, or Dead state.

Hold your hands with your palms facing toward the target character. (If you have the player’s OOG approval, place your hands directly on the character.) Call “Carry.”

You can now move the target character. While carrying a character, you can’t run, fight, use basic actions, or items. Carrying a character occupies both hands. To stop carrying a character, call “Drop.” (Alternatively, if you had OOG approval for physical contact, roleplay putting the character down.)

The character who is being carried can continue to take any actions they’re currently capable of.

You can work together with another character to carry a third character. When moving a character this way, it only occupies one of each carrying character’s hands. The carrying characters can use their other hand for other actions, including fighting.

Once another Occupant has scanned a material, you can spend 1 minute of uninterrupted role play harvesting a material from where it was found. Once the minute has completed, you may take the prop and bring it with you. The prop will need to be scanned as part of using the Recycler on the ship.

There are many actions you can take at Empire 6 that aren’t listed in the rulebook or on your character sheet. Half of LARP is RP, otherwise we’d just be playing LA! 

While a Storyteller is marshalling a scene, you’re encouraged to engage in roleplay that utilises and combines your Licenses and character’s interests in unexpected ways. Ask questions, think outside the box, and don’t be afraid to try things simply because there are no clear mechanics for them.

Some things can only be discovered by learning about the nature and mechanics of Empire 6’s universe, then applying that knowledge. When you perform and observe experiments about how the world works, you may come away with fascinating discoveries that impact all of E6’s players. However, experimentation doesn’t always result in new revelations or advances.You may also find that your efforts do not result in any new or space-shattering revelations. Do not assume that experimentation will always lead to profound new discoveries.

If you plan to experiment or improvise in a way that may affect your PC, another character, or the larger world (such as affecting characters’ bodily integrity, affecting game setpieces, or similar), there will be rules in place for governing this.

To avoid requiring physical contact between players and avoid confusion, you may step within arms reach of a character performing a timed action such as a Killing Blow, a medical procedure, or a gun reload, then declare “Interrupt!” to convey that your character has knocked aside their hands or stopped them in some fashion. 

You must not be in the Helpless state to perform an interrupt.

You can execute a character who is willing, or who is in the Dying or Helpless state.

Spend 3 seconds of roleplay using a tagged weapon to kill a character in an obvious fashion. During this time, clearly call a “Killing Blow” 3-count. (Example: “Killing Blow 1, Killing Blow 2, Killing Blow 3.”) If you complete the 3-count, the character is put in the Dead state. You must remain within arm’s reach of the character for the full duration of your count.

If another character hits your weapon aside, attacks you, or places themselves between you and the target character, you must restart your roleplay period from the beginning. Alternatively, they can use the “Interrupt” action.

Using the Recycler on the Coopertino, you can deposit raw materials. This will refine them into Atomics that can be used for crafting.

You can tie up a character to restrain them.

Spend 30 seconds of roleplay restraining a character. At the end of the roleplay period, the character enters the Helpless state. 

You must use a prop, such as real rope or a rope analogue (like handcuffs). The character who is being restrained holds the restraining prop. Don’t restrain the player OOG unless they grant explicit consent.

You can escape restraints applied by the Restrain basic action. 

Spend 5 minutes of uninterrupted roleplay trying to escape your restraints. At the end of the roleplay period, you leave the Helpless state. (If you’re affected by other effects that put you in the Helpless state, you remain in the Helpless state until all of those effects end.) If you are interrupted during your attempt to escape, you must restart your 5-minute count.

You can also spend 30 seconds of roleplay breaking, cutting, or otherwise freeing another character. At the end of the roleplay period, that character leaves the Helpless state. (If they’re affected by other effects that put them in the Helpless state, they stay in the Helpless state until all of those effects end.)

You can take items from a character who is willing, or is in the Dying, Dead, or Helpless state.

Spend 15 seconds of roleplay searching a character’s boots, pockets, bags, etc. At the end of the roleplay period, the player gives you all the item tags they possess.

If an item tag has the Hidden trait, you don’t find it during the search, and the player keeps it. Your character isn’t aware of any Hidden item tags they see while searching.

You can interact with other characters in order to gain information.

Talk to, question, schmooze, interrogate, or threaten another PC or NPC. If they’re so inclined, they can reveal information they know.

Empire 6 is a roleplaying game set within an interconnected web of mysteries and conspiracies. Other characters may possess crucial knowledge on important topics. Engaging other characters is a vital part of building your character’s understanding of current events and the wider universe.

You can activate an item you possess to gain its benefits. If you don’t have a physrep for an item, you can't use the item. Information about items coming soon.

Spend a moment of roleplay appropriate to the item tag you’re using. (Example: Drinking from a vial, or applying defibrillator patches.) At the end of the roleplay period, you activate the effects on the item tag. You must use the item’s physrep as part of your roleplay. The item tag description will explain any time or roleplay requirements that are explicitly required.

These are actions that are granted as a result of a License or special game mechanic and require those to be performed during the game. This means that, on an out-of-game level, it is not allowed to perform these actions without the prerequisite License.

These are words you must say when performing the various associated actions. You only need to be audible to your target unless otherwise noted.