The Uv-Van

and the Ko-Us

BY JOHN WICK
© Eric Lofgren
 The Uv-Van &
the Ko-Us Link

Written by: John Wick

Interior Art: Nicolás Giacondino, Eric Lofgren
Cover art: Eric Lofgren, Wandelfalke
Book Design & Layout: Robert Denton III
Published by Gallant Knight Games, 2020
Some artwork © 2018 Eric Lofgren, used with permission. All
rights reserved.

Tiny Frontiers, Tiny Frontiers: Revised and TinyD6 are trademarks

of Gallant Knight Games. ©2020 by
Gallant Knight Games. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without the written
permission of the publisher is expressly
forbidden, except for the purposes
of reviews, and for the blank character sheets, which may be
reproduced for personal use only.
Gallant Knight Games, Layton UT 84041  
Premise
Your crew comes across a small shuttle in deep Frontier
Space. The shuttle’s engines are empty and the fuel cells are
nearly dead. Inside the shuttle are four individuals in cryo
sleep chambers (or whatever suspended animation your
campaign has). When awakened, the astronauts reveal they
are political refugees running from a tyrannical government
and they’re seeking political asylum. But there’s a catch.
All four of them are the result of cruel experiments meant
to unlock psychic potential. The experiments were a success,
however, each of them is also mentally linked together (the ko-
us link). This means they can anticipate each other’s actions
and fight as a single unit. Unfortunately, as an unexpected
side effect, they all feel each other’s pain as well.
There were five of them, but one was captured during their
escape. Now, the Uv-Van Tyranny is using him to find the
others. Soon, an Uv-Van frigate arrives, demanding return
of the psychics. How does your crew handle this demand?
Let’s find out.

The Uv-Van Tyranny

Yes, they call themselves that. Yes, they’re proud of it. For
centuries, the uv-van were a people ruled by democracy, but
after corruption and nepotism infected their government,
the uv-van decided to try out an enlightened dictator. At
first, everything was… mostly fine. But then, a charismatic
psychopath took charge and the Tyranny has been in place
ever since.
If your campaign has a confederacy of planets or some other
similar organization, the uv-van are either unmet or hostile
toward your group. They want nothing to do with aliens
dictating their way of life.
When it comes to military tech, the uv-van are ruthless and
cruel. They use weapons that cause severe pain so they can
capture their enemies and put them to work in slave camps.

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Aliens have no rights on uv-van. “If they didn’t want to be
slaves, they shouldn’t have come here,” is the common line
of thinking. Their leader, the Tyrant, is the head of state and
the head of the military. The current leader, Bri-khan Sho, is
the seventeenth Tyrant to rule the planet and she is one of the
most successful. The uv-van have conquered many planets,
expanding their resources and slave labor.

The Uv-Van People

The uv-van are evolved from a reptile species on their home
world. Their people have different hues of skin ranging
from crimson to dark blue with soft, scaly skin. They have
no body hair and their eyes range from silver to black. They
have no eyelids (so they don’t blink), but instead have a tiny
membrane that keeps their eyes moist. Their native language
is largely non-verbal, a series of subtle gestures with soft
sounds acting as punctuation and emphasis. They have no
noses, using their tongues for scent.
The uv-van have only one gender, although individuals do
express male and female traits—sometimes both.

New Heritage: Uv-Van

• 5 Hit Points
• Uv-van begin with the Cold-Blooded Snake Heritage Trait
Cold-Blooded Snake: The u-van are cold-blooded and
have a difficult time in extreme temperatures. Whenever
exposed to those kinds of environments, all rolls are at
a disadvantage. They also have a poison gland in their
throats that allows them to spit poison: a natural ranged
attack they are proficient with. If this ranged attack hits, the
target must make a Save Test or become Poisoned. At the
start of the poisoned targets turn, they must make a Save
Test or take 1 damage.

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 Our Refugees
The four refugees were part of a
series of experiments meant to
kick start psychic abilities in the
uv-van. The result was a success.
To keep the psychics from
escaping, each group of five was
given cybernetic implants that
make them all feel what the other
feels and see what the others see.
This is called a “ko-us link.” The
cybernetic tech is placed very near
the base of the brain and interacts
with the spine. Removing it
without the proper technology has
a high risk of killing the subject.
Our group of five tried to escape
together but only four of them
made it. The fifth is currently
being used by a hunting
party to track the other
four. They torture him to
force information from him.
Because the four are in cryosleep, his psychic link is greatly
diminished. He has a sense of which direction to go, but even that
is dodgy. However, once the four wake from cryosleep, his link to
them re-awakens as well. That is what
leads the hunters directly to our heroes. The Refugees
Do our refugees know they’re being Ja-Fen Duran: The Leader
followed? Perhaps. They do have a Tu-Rek Tav: The Angry One
psionic link with Iv-Too Bin, but that Ba-Lek Nimur: The Penitent
doesn’t mean they know what’s going Ash-Kil Gri: The Clown
on. He’s currently in a machine that
Iv-Too Bin: The Captive
diminishes his abilities, so that may
interfere with the link. The answer to this
question, of course, depends on your players and their decisions.

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Ja-Fen Duran
Appearance: Red skin, black eyes, feminine features
Heritage: Uv-van
Traits: Cold-Blooded Snake (Heritage), Ambush Specialist, Resolute,
Medical Savant, Psionic (Danger Sense)
Weapon Group: Blaster Pistol (Light Ranged)
Family Trade: Revolutionary
Belief: Leave No-One Behind
Psychic Ability: Pyromancy
The four see Ja-Fen as the leader of the group. She was a
revolutionary leader before being captured and forced into the
experiments. Already showing some signs of psychic ability
(she had a keen intuition and was able to sense ambushes and
sneak attacks), the
experiments boosted
her skills to a profound
level.
Ja-Fen prefers to use
hit and run techniques,
keeping her followers
out of danger. She’s
seen too much pointless
death to throw lives
away. She is a master
tactician and strategist
and a good fighter, but
not as good as Tu-
Rek. The guilt she feels
leaving one of her own
behind wrecks her on a
minute-to-minute basis.
She will trade herself for
Iv-Too Bin if given the
chance.

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Tu-Rek Tav
Appearance: Blue skin, silver eyes, masculine features
Heritage: Uv-van
Traits: Cold-Blooded Snake (Heritage), Berserker, Brawler,
Cleave, Psionic (Burn)
Weapon Group: Mono-dagger (Light Melee)
Family Trade: Pit Fighter
Belief: Freedom or Death
Psychic Ability: Pyromancy
Tu-Rek was also a revolutionary but from a different faction in a
different part of the world. He does not agree with Ja-Fen’s philosophy
of “hit and run.” He prefers to rush in to the situation, kill as many
enemies as possible, relying on his strength and combat expertise
to carry him through. During his time, he was largely successful,
his daring often taking the Tyranny off-guard, but eventually, they
captured him and his entire cadre was killed in the process.
Tu-Rek may disagree with Ja-Fen’s tactics, but he respects
her leadership. It was her plan that got them off world and it
was his recklessness that got Iv-Too Bin captured. He says
casualties are always a part of war, but secretly, he wishes he
could have acted differently. If he wasn’t so brash, perhaps all
five of them would have escaped.

Ba-Lek Nimur
Appearance: White skin, black eyes, masculine features
Heritage: Uv-van
Traits: Cold-Blooded Snake (Heritage), Insightful, Martial Artist,
Learned, Psionic (Heal)
Weapon Group: Unarmed (Light Melee)
Family Trade: Drug Dealer
Belief: This too shall pass
Psychic Ability: Biomancy

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 Ba-Lek is a priest of the forbidden and illegal religion ku-da.
He has smade solemn oaths of pacifism and celibacy and has
worn to protect others, disavowing weapons, using only his
own natural skills and abilities. Ku-da had already allowed him
to tap into his psychic abilities to a limited degree, but after the
experiment, his powers have blossomed.
Before he was a ku-da monk, Ba-Lek was a criminal: a drug
dealing kingpin who killed with ruthless abandon. What’s more,
he liked the violence. The power he had over the lives of others.
When he was caught and put in prison, an old woman taught
him the ways of ku-da and transformed his life. He feels Ja-Fen’s
guilt in leaving Tu-Rek behind, but also knows that everything
happens for a reason, even if that reason is not fully within
sight. He follows the mantras of his faith: “Keep moving,” and
“Do not walk forward while looking backward.”

Ash-Kil Gri
Appearance: Green skin, red eyes, feminine features
Heritage: Uv-van
Traits: Cold-Blooded Snake (Heritage), Fleet of Foot, Defender,
Charismatic, Psionic (Shield)
Weapon Group: Unarmed (Light Melee)
Family Trade: Entertainer
Belief: Everything matters
Psychic Ability: Telekenesis
Ash-Kil was not a revolutionary. She was an entertainer, trained in
the Tyranny’s School of Entertainment, she learned gymnastics,
tumbling and clowning. After graduation, the Tyranny used her in
various media, making her a star. She never questioned her role,
performing as they demanded, until an underground movement
contacted her, showing her illegal pictures of the slave camps
she was never allowed to see. Suddenly, she understood the
purpose of all the slapstick comedy she was making: to distract
the public from the Tyranny’s real activities. She began working
for the underground, devoting her resources, providing food and

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equipment. But when she was discovered, she was put in prison
and forced to undergo cruel experimentation.
Part of Ash-Kil wishes she could go back to her previous life.
Making people laugh was her one true joy. Now, her life is grim
and dark and brutal and bloody. But she has also realized that
laughter is more important now than it ever was.

Iv-Too Bin
Appearance: Yellow skin, yellow eyes, masculine features
Heritage: Uv-van
Traits: Cold-Blooded Snake (Heritage), Psionic (Communicate,
Quell, Timeview, Unmake)
Weapon Group: None
Family Trade: Psionic
Belief: Family is everything
Psychic Ability: Telepathy
Iv-Too Bin is the youngest of the five, only ten years old.
He’s also the most powerful psychic of the group. His family
tried to hide his powers from the Tyranny, but when they were
discovered, the Tyranny killed them for their treachery. Yes,
Iv-Too watched the Tyranny murder his family. They put him
through rigorous training and experimentation. He did not
break. Instead, his powers only became greater.
During the escape, Iv-Too stumbled and fell. Rather than go
back for him, Ja-Fen tried to go back for him. Iv-Too used his
abilities to change her mind, forcing her to turn and run. He
does not blame her for his capture nor his torture. Secretly, he
sees the other four as his family now, and would have rather
seen them escape than be killed like his previous family.
The hunting party uses brain scanning tech and his psychic
connection to track the others. They keep him bound up both
physically and psionically to ensure he cannot use his powers
on any of their crew.

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Precognition (New Psionic Discipline)
Precognition uses hyper-intuition to give the user a sense of
danger in advance of that danger’s arrival.
• Danger Sense: Test. If successful, you get the first
action in the next action scene regardless of any other
circumstances.
• Predict: Test. If successful, you can call the outcome of
any game of chance or randomly generated event.
• Dodge: If you roll a 6 on an Evade Test, you may immediately
take another action.
• Cold Read: Test. If successful, you can predict another
character’s next action.

The Hunting Party

The team hunting our political refugees are official Tyranny
bounty hunters led by Uli-Kun, one of the best in the business. He
has four thugs with him who follow his orders without question.
Uli-Kun has only one goal:
capture the other four psionics.
If he does, his government will
not only pay him a lot of money,
but he will also earn prestige
within the Tyranny which is
something he values more.
GM Warning: Uli-Kun is a beast.
He’s a physical foe with a lot of
tech and skill at his disposal.
He doesn’t pick fights he knows
he can’t win. In fact, he doesn’t
pick fights at all. He just waits
for the right moment, then kills
his enemy without mercy or
hesitation. He’ll wait for the right
moment. He’s patient. And that’s
what makes him so dangerous.

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Uli-Kun
Appearance: Spotted brown skin, red eyes, masculine features
Heritage: Uv-van
Traits: Cold-Blooded Snake (Heritage), Ambush Specialist,
Armor Master, Barfighter, Born Fighter, Brawler, Cleave, Diehard,
Heavy Weapons Expert, Marksman, Opportunist
Cybernetics: Augmented Reflexes, Cloaking Field, Subsurface Armor
Weapon Group: All of them
Family Trade: Bounty Hunter
Belief: Honor doesn’t pay the bills

Okay, What Next?

So, your group finds the refugees and a few hours later, Uli-
Kin’s ship shows up. What do you do now?
Friend, that’s up to you. I have no idea who your crew is or how
they’ll respond. But I can give you some ideas.
• Uli-Kun’s Bribes. He offers them a lot of money. Like, 1/3rd
of the Tyranny’s reward. After all, they’ve done all the work.
Your crew may reject this offer. That means he’ll go his
own way and wait to see what they do next.
• “Let’s Get Your Friend Back.” Uli-Kun has Iv-Too Bin captive
on his ship. And whenever he feels like it, he can just jab
a pain stick in the boy’s side and make the rest of the
psionics feel it. Yes, he can disable all of them if he wants.
For the rest of their lives.
• Careful Selection. Based on your crew’s abilities, you may want
to have more than just Iv-Too Brin be a captive on Uli-Kun’s ship.
It may be that only one or two of them escaped and the rest of
them are held captive. Again, this depends on your crew.
• Start as the Uv-Van. You may also want to try playing the
escaped uv-van who come across a ship of NPCs and try to
convince them to help you. This would make a great quick
start game with pre-made characters and a very difficult
diplomatic situation.

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© Eric Lofgren