7. Characters

7.1 Drives#

Each Character has two Drives drawn from the following set of eight:

Liberation: Wishes to break free of mental, social, or physical constructs.
Greed: Wishes to amass fortune.
Power: Desires control over politics and other people.
Connection: Longs for connection with others or society.
Justice: Has been wronged and seeks retribution.
Redemption: Has done wrong in the past and seeks redress.
Destruction: Wishes to see it all burn.
Knowledge: Explorer; needs to understand ideas larger than themself.

7.2 Morality#

Each Character has one Morality:

Virtuous: Acts with integrity and honor, striving to do what is best for all around them.
Expedient: Does what they must to achieve their goals; does not actively wish harm.
Ruthless: Has no concern for others as long as they achieve their goals.
Iniquitous: Amoral; often opts for pain and suffering, especially gratuitously.

7.3 Character Points (CP)#

Character points represent the ability for Characters to take actions as well as their "health." When a Character's CP reaches zero or less, that card is destroyed. If the Character is on their Prime face, the card flips to its Fallen face. If the Character is already on its Fallen face, it is removed from play and placed into its owner's Depleted Pile. CP movement is fully card-driven. There is no global tag system or universal alignment table. Specifically:

The Penalties block on each Character lists CP losses for executing Character Action Maneuvers whose Morality differs from the Character's. Penalties are calibrated per-Character — two Ruthless Characters may have different Penalty profiles based on personal history.
Aligned-action bonuses are printed as triggered abilities on the Character card (e.g., 'Gain +1 CP whenever this card liberates another card').
Activated abilities define how the Character spends and gains CP through play. There are two types of activated abilities, Character Abilities and Activated Character Abilities. Character Abilities are indicated by +/-X CP: Action. When this ability is activated, remove a number of Character points from the Character equal to X, then perform the specified action. If a Character has less CP than X, the Character Action may not be used. Character Actions can only be played once per turn and are played as a Slow Maneuver. The second type of Character abilities is the Activated Character Ability. This ability will be noted by A, Cost: Action. Where A is the activate symbol, Cost is some sort of cost (if any) and Action is the action. Activated Character Abilities activate the Character when used, may be played as a Fast Maneuver, and can be played more than once per turn (assuming the player finds a way to ready the Character again).

CP only moves when a printed trigger fires — there is no neutral-action erosion. A Character may exist on the board without losing CP for inactivity. There is no maximum CP.

7.4 Penalties Block#

Every Character has a Penalties block listing CP penalties for executing Character Action Maneuvers of mismatched Morality. A Morality not listed in a Penalties block confers no CP penalty for actions of that Morality.

Example: a Ruthless Character with Penalties listed as '-1 CP Expedient, -4 CP Virtuous' takes 1 CP loss when executing Expedient Maneuvers, 4 CP loss when executing Virtuous Maneuvers, and 0 CP loss when executing Iniquitous Maneuvers (Iniquitous is omitted; no penalty).

7.5 Combat Damage and CP#

Characters function as Ground Units in combat. When a Character takes damage in combat, the amount of damage they receive is subtracted from their current CP. Example: a Character with CP 6 takes 5 damage they would remove 5 CP. CP at 0 flips the Character to their Fallen face. CP at 0 on a Fallen face sends the Character to the Depleted pile.

7.7 Fallen Faces#

Fallen is a general state label, not exclusive to Characters. A face whose type line is labeled 'Fallen' represents a corrupted, awakened, or degraded state of the permanent. Characters flip to a Fallen face when CP reaches 0; other permanents may flip to Fallen faces when specified by card text (e.g. a Device with a Fallen Weapon Tech state).

A Character's Fallen face is the other side of their story, not a uniform 'controller-unfavorable' state. Some Fallen faces are darker and mechanically stronger (corruption arcs); others are weaker and more sympathetic (humility or redemption arcs). Each Fallen face has its own printed Drives, Morality, Penalties block, abilities, starting CP, Rank, and combat stats.

For non-Character permanents, the Fallen face has its own printed stats and abilities as appropriate to its type. The thematic naming on the type line ('Fallen Cosmic Event,' 'Fallen Weapon Tech,' 'Fallen Soldier') is flavor.

7.8 Redemption (Flip-Back)#

A Fallen permanent can flip back to its Prime face via a card-specific Redemption clause printed on the Fallen face (the Redeem keyword on the card). Examples include: completing a specific Storyline, sacrificing a specific resource, or the destruction of a triggering card. Some Fallen faces print no Redemption clause — those falls are permanent. Combat or Liberation on a Fallen permanent does NOT flip them back to Prime face.

A Fallen Character whose CP reaches 0 a second time is sent to the Depleted pile. The first fall is potentially reversible; the second fall is final.

7.9 Rank#

Rank is a card's resistance to Liberation — the number of Liberation counters needed to destroy it. It also represents standing/importance/scale and is referenced by Maneuver targeting, Acquisition, and card text.

Rank is NOT a measure of ability to conduct Liberation. Rank is a target value only.

Rank appears on: Homeworlds, Planetary Locations, Surface Locations, Spacecraft, Characters, Ground Units. Any permanent with printed Rank is a legal Liberation target unless an ability says otherwise (Indoctrinated, Fortified).

RANK X (CHARACTERS) Characters print "Rank: X", not a numeric Rank. X denotes that Liberation counters directed at a Character are NOT accumulated — they convert immediately to CP loss. One Liberation counter removes 1 CP. Counters never remain on a Character.

A Character is never destroyed by counter accumulation. It is destroyed when CP reaches zero, by the ordinary §7.3 rule — flipping to Fallen on the first fall, to the Depleted Pile on the second.

Thematically: you do not capture a Character, you wear down their conviction until they become someone else. The Fallen face IS the conversion.

RANK BANDS (guidance, not rules)

Character X (always) Ground Unit 1–3 Surface Location 2–4 Spacecraft 3–10 (own scale, per §4.5) Planetary Location 4–6 Homeworld 6

The former Character band (0–2) and Ground Unit cap (1) are RETIRED. Rank no longer carries Liberation offense, so Ground Unit Rank is set on durability grounds alone.

7.9a VOX

VOX is a permanent's capacity to project or resist ideas. It is the sole statistic used to conduct AND to contest Liberation.

Printed on CHARACTERS AND GROUND UNITS ONLY. Abbreviated VOX on cards.

There is no separate offensive and defensive value. A card's Vox is used identically whether liberating or defending. A Character's Vox is how loudly they can speak, in either direction.

Vox is not generated automatically. It enters the Resource Pool only when its bearer is Activated during a Liberation, and is lost at end of phase like any other Resource Pool contents.

VOX BANDS (guidance):

Ground Unit 0–1 Character 0–2, rarely 3–4 (great agitators, missionaries, envoys, demagogues)

VOX SCARCITY IS THE PRIMARY BALANCE DIAL. Attacker Vox minus defender Vox is throughput no allocation can stop. Vox 2 = strong Character. Vox 3 = rare. Vox 4 = signature card.

7.10 Other Stats#

Characters also have Attack values for combat. Some Characters have one or more Votes. Each Character has a Currency cost to deploy from hand.

7.11 Deployment and Movement#

When a Character is deployed from hand, they are placed at a Planetary Location or a Capital Ship the controller controls (§10.5). A Character deployed to a Capital Ship enters the Map activated. Characters reach Surface Locations and other permanents by movement (§14), not by deployment.