BEYOND THE ICE WALL

A Degenesis fan supplement by PonchoTheCactus

Cast:

Dr. Heinrich Müeller - Preservist Captain

Borca, the Visionary, Spitalians, RANK 4 : Preservist
Attributes : BOD 4, AGI 4, CHA 1, INT 5, PSY 3, INS 3
Skills : Arts 2D, Athletics 6D, Cunning 4D, Dexterity 5D, Focus 6D, Force 6D, Leadership 2D,
Medicine 7D, Melee 8D, Mobility 6D, Navigation 5D, Perception 4D, Projectiles 7D, Reaction
5D, Science 7D, Stamina 7D, Survival 4D, Toughness 7D, Willpower 6D
Backgrounds : Allies 2, Authority 3, Network 1, Renown 4, Resources 5, Secrets 3
Potentials : Preservalis (K.43) 1, Phalanx (K.43) 2, Danger Sense (K.93) 1
Initiative : 5D / 12 Ego Points (Focus)
Attack : Preservalis Sword, 8D, Rank 1m, Damage 10; Pistol, 7D, Distance (10/40), Damage 9
Defense : Passive 1; Melee 8D; Mobility 6D; Mental (Willpower) 6D
Movement : 6m
Armor : Preservist Suit, armor 3, Sealed (+4S)
Condition : Spore Infestation 0/12, Flesh Wounds 14, Trauma 7
Special Equipment : Horse (Charger)
Bio:

Paradigma Radar
Franka, the martyr, Chroniclers, RANK 5 : Paradigma
Attributes : BOD 3, AGI 4, CHA 2, INT 5, PSY 6, INS 4
Skills : Artifact lore 9D, Brawl 5D, Conduct 3D, Crafting 6D, Cunning 9D, Deception 10D,
Domination 9D, Engineering 8D, Focus 8D, Leadership 3D, Legends 7D, Melee 7D, Mobility 8D,
Negotiation 3D, Perception 7D, Stealth 7D, Survival 5D, Toughness 4D, Willpower 10D
Backgrounds : Allies 1, Authority 6, Network 5, Renown 2, Resources 4, Secrets 3
Potentials : Marathon (K.93) 1, Danger Sense (K.93) 3
Initiative : 6D / 16 Ego Points (Focus)
Attack : Shocker, 7D, Rank 1m, - , Dazed (8); Cascader, Sonic weapon (Engineering 8D /
Domination 9D), Distance (10), 1+T Trauma, Thunder Strike, Area Damage (45°); Streamer
Glove, 5D (Hand. +2D), Rank 1m, - , Dazed (5)
Defense : Passive 1; Melee 7D; Mobility 8D; Mental (Willpower) 10D
Movement : 3m
Armor : Chronicler's Suit, armor 2, First Impression (+1D)
Condition : Spore Infestation 0/20, Flesh Wounds 8, Trauma 9
Special Equipment : Portable Uplink (K.130), Chronicler Suit Modules (K.130), Draft printer
(K.129)
Bio: Radar has reason to believe that the seed vault's computer system was disconnected from
all external networks long before the Eshaton for security purposes. If the servers are in good
condition, they will be invaluable to the Cluster.

Pawel - The Wilderness Guide

Pollen, the Righteous, Clanners, RANK 3 : Tribal warrior
Attributes : BOD 4, AGI 5, CHA 3, INT 3, PSY 2, INS 4
Skills : Arts 4D, Brawl 8D, Conduct 4D, Deception 3D, Dexterity 6D, Expression 4D, Faith 3D,
Force 6D, Melee 8D, Mobility 7D, Navigation 7D, Negotiation 4D, Orienteering 7D, Perception
6D, Primal 6D, Projectiles 8D, Seduction 4D, Stamina 6D, Stealth 8D, Survival 9D
Backgrounds : Authority 1, Network 2, Renown 3, Resources 1
Potentials : Could Be Worse (K.93) 2, Moving Mountains (K.92) 1, Asceticism (K.92) 1
Initiative : 2D / 12 Ego Points (Primal)
Attack : Short sword, 8D, Rank 1m, Damage 7; Shotgun, 8D, Distance (5/20), Damage 10,
Scatter, Double Barreled
Defense : Passive 1; Melee 8D; Mobility 7D; Mental (Faith) 3D
Movement : 4m
Armor : Leather armor, armor 3
Condition : Spore Infestation 0/6, Flesh Wounds 8, Trauma 6
Special Equipment : -
Bio: Pawel was once a Garganti but was excommunicated from his tribe because he broke the
rule of hospitality. He’s since made a living by using his survival skills to act as a wilderness
survival guide for expeditions into the frontier. This will be his first time venturing back into his
people's lands.

Khalil Onobanjo - The Patron

Neolybian
Bio: Once the owner of many Concessions across Hybrispania, Khalil has set his sight on the
profits new territory can bring in. He has matched the Cluster's funding for the mission to make
sure Africa gets its fair share of the spoils. His peers mock his investment, saying the Guerreros
have knocked all the sense out of his head, but he knows he'll have the last laugh.

Subaltern Ursula - The Angry Mole

Bio: Ursula has a long history of digging burrows. Her family hails from clan Emessa, who
emerged from their underground bunkers after the Eshaton, just to go right back down into the
mines. After the clan’s exodus from Leiden, Ursula made her way to the Hellvetics. Digging their
tunnels was the closest she’d felt to home in a long time. She quickly rose through the ranks
and now commands a full squad of Genies.
High Judge Sebastian Bergmann

Dumisai Kwame

Decker the Manufacturer

Théo the Vulture

Théo is a member of the Carrion Birds disguised as a Scrapper. The Apocalyptics have heard
word of the mission and don't want to be left out.

Garganti:

Food - dried meats, fruits, and mushrooms, seeds and nuts, pemmican, mammoth dairy, spruce
tip tea

Mammoth food - Processed fractal forest material?

Structure - Like the mammoths they hold sacred, the Garganti are a matriarchal culture. Family
groups lead nomadic lifestyles as they follow the migration patterns of the mammoths. The
Kagan makes decisions on the day to day workings of the clan, but any significant decision
must be agreed upon by a council of maternal elders.

Shelter - Yurts help keep the Garganti out of the elements. Often there is little firewood, so to
keep warm each yurt is packed with at least three families, and dried mammoth dung chips are
burned in the cookstoves. When traveling light, snow caves are dug, with expert care taken to
ensure the entrance can still be opened in the morning.

Traditions - Hospitality is incredibly important to the Garganti. They understand that life in the
wastes is difficult, so they ask for only what their host can afford to spare, even if that is just a
few crumbs of food and a weak fire. However, if you turn a Garganti away, prepare for the
worst. They know that the herd only survives when its members support each other, and they
will cull any who do not.

Hazards:

The Blizzard: North of the ice barrier there is a nearly perpetual blizzard raging. Without shelter,
resting is impossible. The endless wind and snow make the most simple tasks incredibly
difficult, and the cold ensures anything not tucked up against the body will freeze solid in
minutes. The snow drifts form huge dunes that slowly creep across the landscape, covering and
uncovering different landmarks. Combined with poor visibility, this makes it impossible for all but
the most skilled navigators to maintain their bearings.

Ice Floe: The ice on top of a huge pool has broken up and created an ice floe. The party
members must find a way to help the expedition cross safely before the ice drifts too far apart.

Polar Bear: A hungry polar bear is stalking the party across the ice, waiting for an easy kill. It will
use the blizzard to its advantage, exhausting its prey before it strikes. Should the party attempt
to scare it away using sonic weapons, explosives, or weapons with the “Thunderstrike” quality,
they risk breaking up the ice beneath them, either creating an ice floe or dropping them into an
ice cave or crevasse. (This threat should start early and continue throughout the adventure. PCs
should only ever catch a quick glimpse of the bear before the blizzard hides it and covers its
tracks.)

Geothermal Springs: The Reaper's Blow extends far north, and where it breaks through the
Earth's crust and meets the glacier, geysers form. Steam, ash, and globs of rapidly cooling
molten rock are sent flying into the air before raining back down into nearby pools of water, kept
liquid by the residual geothermal heat. The largest of these have vast beaches made up of ash
and pumice lining their shores.

Salt Springs: When cracks form in the ice above the sea, the pressure from the weight of the ice
drives the seawater upwards. The water eventually breaks through, forming brackish pools on
top of the ice. Plankton and microscopic invertebrates make their way upwards along with the
water, and ecosystems begin to form. Time passes and the cracks become large enough for
fish and large invertebrates to pass through. Eventually, these pools will turn into full-on salt
lakes. A layer of less salty meltwater on top allows the surface to occasionally freeze over,
becoming nearly indistinguishable from safe, solid ice.

Crevasses: Huge splits in the ice can be covered up by snow drifts, leaving deadly pitfall traps.
Roll 1d100/2 (rounded up) to see how many meters deep they are. INS+Perception roll to notice
before it's too late if not specifically checking. Entire sled teams can be lost here if players are
not careful while crossing.

Outline:

Meet in the Protectorate

- Given gift for the Garganti & info on last known location
- The Garganti were last seen north of Danzig, heading east.
- Gift: pemmican, harness hardware, Drafts, alcohol, dried fruits, medical supplies - a
team of horses is needed to pull each cart
Trek to Pollen
- Must protect the delivery
 - Opportunity for theft/sabotage
- Bassham -> Mulhouse -> Basel -> [Bern/Alpine Fortress] (optional) -> Grionese
Customs Station -> The Hard Path -> Roppen -> Leipzig -> Osman -> North
Find the Garganti
- Track them down from last known location
- Use survival and social skills to gain info
Convince the Garganti to help
- Follow traditions, interact with fractal forests
- Camp in the forest overnight, harvest the fruits, plant a seed, make a sacrifice
Trek to staging point
- Should be mostly uneventful due to safety in numbers w/ Garganti
- North of the Reaper's Blow, first taste of what's to come
Trek to Svalbarde
- Note Hazards section
Digging
- The more they mine, the more the ice begins to flow. Constant digging is required to
keep the ice from covering the vault back up.
- Characters’ successes to save resources on the way here will determine how long they
can keep digging
- The machinery comes with full tanks of fuel. This plus one tank sled of fuel is just
enough to dig the mine, each new tank sled is enough to keep the mine open for a full
day. 3 tank sleds total go on the journey to start.
The vault
- High tech locks and AMSUMOs guard the inside of the vault
- Small nuclear reactor to maintain power, valuable schematics could be obtained for
replication
- 3 freezers, one for national seed banks, one for private collections, and one used by RG
for (Gusev? Nanite storage?)
Getting off the ice
- Should be mostly uneventful besides the blizzard & navigating previous obstacles
Getting home
- Once word gets out about the group’s success, every farmer is going to want these
seeds
- Opportunities for theft/sabotage

Conflict:

The Garganti are participating in their sacred rite - they follow the mammoth migration, sowing
the seeds of fractal forests as they travel, will not take kindly to strangers showing up in their
hidden enclaves

The Spitalians will not be happy if they find the Garganti planting fractal forests

Just getting there and back

SETUP:
A blight has appeared in the fields of the Providers in the Protectorate. The Spital is worried the
disease may wipe out their food supplies if they don’t find a resistant variety of wheat. However,
there is hope; the Chroniclers have found stream data referencing a bygone vault built just for
this type of scenario. The Spital has put together an elite Preservist squad with supporting
mercenaries from various cults to voyage north beyond the Ice Barrier in an attempt to locate
the bygone Svalbard seed vault. The numerous varieties of crops inside may have the potential
to save the genetic diversity of food.

Cult motivations:

Spitalians: Assigned to be part of the mission. We're facing the repercussions of dependence on
an agricultural monoculture.

Chroniclers: Assigned to be part of the mission. The Cluster mandates all missions involving
bygone computer systems are monitored and recorded for the purposes of preserving the
Stream. Those clean freaks will need our help getting inside once they find the vault.

Anabaptists: We are the farmers who bring life back to the wastes. Who better to pick the best
seeds to return with?

Jehammedans: Those dirty fishermen's sons can't be allowed to be the only ones with access to
these legendary seeds. Strong herds require healthy pastures. It would also do us good to make
ourselves useful in the eyes of the Protectorate.

Hellvetics: The mission wouldn't be possible without our equipment, and we depend on the
other cults to produce food.

Scrappers: The Spitalians will pay well for engineers to keep their tech working in the freezing
cold. Plus who knows what kind of bygone tech can be salvaged from beneath the ice?

Judges: Without a steady supply of grain, the peace in Justitian would crumble in mere days.
Plus, things can get dicey on missions like these. Best to have someone along to keep the
peace when things inevitably go sideways.

Apocalyptics: Fruits and vegetables aren't the only seeds they stored up there you know...
(Apocalyptics will have to stay in disguise or have a very good reason for the Spitalians to bring
them along)

Clanners: Can be any number of reasons

Neolybians: This is a fool's errand, but everyone knows a fool is easily parted with his money.
And if they do somehow succeed, new cultivars of fruits and vegetables in the markets will bring
exotic new flavors to our palettes and Dinars to our wallets.

Scourgers: There is glory in going where no other man dares go. What better way to prove
one's might than a journey to the edge of the world?

Anubians: A mysterious call echoes through the Ether, beckoning all who hear it to come north
and free it from its imprisonment.

Palers: Perhaps there is more than just seeds being stored in that ancient vault.

SCENE 1:
The characters have been gathered to receive their mission briefing. It is up to the GM to decide
how much background info the characters know before going in.

It's a rainy, misty morning in Bassham, and the city is just beginning to wake up. A Mediator and
a Protector stand outside the front door of the meeting hall, trying their best to keep their gear
dry. Across the street, a group of Scourgers stands in a ring, entertaining themselves by
watching pack members try to throw each other down in the mud. As the characters make their
way to the meetinghouse, the Judge moves to block the door.

“This is a private meeting. Identify yourself and my friend here will see if you're on the list”. He
motions to the Chronicler next to him, who is struggling to get their touchscreen device to
respond in the rain. Characters have most likely been hired by someone in the cast of NPCs, so
simply stating their job and their employer’s name will be enough to get the characters inside.

Inside the meeting hall it's full of life. People sit at tables arranged in front of one head table.
Servants walk between them carrying plates of food, offering breakfast to the guests. At the
head table sit Dr. Heinrich Müeller, Paradigma Radar, Khalil Onobanjo, High Judge Sebastian
Bergmann, Subaltern Ursula, & Vincent the Breaker of Bassham. They're clearly in the middle of
a heated argument, and the tension in the air could be cut with a knife.
As the characters walk in, the argument temporarily stops. Dr Müeller addresses them:
“Excellent! Our final participants have arrived, can we FINALLY get back to business?”

The characters are guided by a servant to a quiet table towards the middle of the room. Already
seated at the table are Pawel, Kwame, Decker, Théo, and a handful of other Scrappers. As they
get settled and are served, the Preservist tries to get back the attention of the crowd. “As I was
saying, the Providers’ last two grain harvests were the smallest we’ve had in the past twenty
years. The Spital has analyzed the plants and identified a rapidly mutating viral pathogen. We
fear that if left unattended, this could have drastic consequences for the food supply of the
Protectorate.” He motions to the Chronicler sitting at the table. “Thankfully our associates at the
Cluster have found a possible solution to our problems, but it's going to be difficult to make it
happen.”

Paradigma Radar quickly stands and sets up a tiny tripod projector. Their vocoder sparks to life
with static feedback as an image of a monolithic metal building jutting out of a mountainside
appears on the wall behind them. “A recently discovered static stream fragment has revealed
the location of a bygone vault built for the purpose of preserving food diversity in the event of a
disaster.” They pause as a video begins playing.

A streamcaster in a heavy winter coat stands outside the building that was just on screen.
Jangly upbeat music plays as the person speaks in an old dialect. They describe how the vault
is filled with seeds from around the world and was constructed to withstand any natural disaster.
An old map comes on screen briefly before an error message pops up and the program
crashes. “The Cluster has analyzed the map shown in the stream fragment and pinpointed the
location of the vault.