A shipping concern plying the uncharted routes ( predominately the Storm, I-Glathriel,
Zydar & Darkling Regions) in the Beyond sector, Dark Goddesses is owned and operated
by females of every race except for the Sred Ni. They combine legitimate cargo hauling,
piracy, and smuggling. They are allied (secretly) with Webrunners, but unlike
Webrunners do not normally bother with niceties as letters of marque to carry on their
darker trade. Another difference with Webrunners is that DG's primary operations are
piracy & smuggling with trade secondary. DG is also more involved in mercenary
operations than Webrunners. In the last two decades Dark Goddesses have re-established
a strong presence in the Mapepire, Liberty Hall, & Metchi Alagwa subsectors.
Dark Goddesses symbol is a black stylized serpent surmounted by black stylizied humanoid
female nude. Non-humanoid captains substitute a female of their specicies. However some
captains will use a female of a different species than their own to shield the true race of the
owner/captain.
All Dark Goddesses personnel conceal upon their person a tattoo of the stylized humanoid
female figure as mark of identification in deference to the founder of Dark Goddesses,
Captain Aki Roxanne hault-Huin. Most tattoos are techno-tattoos that can be altered by
the wearer to change into the DG symbol when needed.
DARK GODDESSES is run as a representive democracy with planetary Directors of
Operations (DO) and ship captains each having one vote each. They have a Chief
Operating Officier (COO) who is elected for a ten-year term. The COO oversees day to
operations and only votes when a tie-breaker is needed.
The voting on routine matters is handled by a vote of whatever captains and DO's are
available on Hichmakani (DG's home base). Major matters are handled by sending couriers
out to gather what captains and DO's can be recalled in two months time. A simple
majority will approve or reject a measure.
Even more important than Hichmakani is Shrine ( I-Glathriel 0502), the sanctuary
world which is the spiritual center of Dark Goddesses. Shrine was discovered by the
young exiled noble, Aki hault-Huin in 732. Scattered among the Ancients ruins was an
intact building containing representations of females of all the known (and some
unknown) species in the galaxy. Overcome by this museum, which she named the 'Hall
of Goddesses', Aki made shrine her new home. It was here in 777 that she formally
named her growing corsair concern 'Dark Goddesses. Her descendants still live there.
Over the centuries, 20% of all profits from DG operations go into maintain and
enlarging the shrine surrounding the Hall of Goddesses. Each DG captain, DO, & COO
is formally, invested with their rank here.
Dark Goddesses' is currently comprised of 40% humaniti & 60% non-humaniti. Overall
external policy of Dark Goddesses is to stay neutral in the various conflicts in the
Beyond. The only current ongoing external threat is the continuing investigation of DG
by the Interworld Division of Enforcement Services (IDES), a private extraplanetary
security service operated outside the Imperium and funded by Imperial funds. IDES has
been contracted by several Beyond governments to wage an anti-piracy campaign.
Unknown to both IDES & all the pirate concerns, IDES is hampered by the interference
of Imperial Bureau of Investigative Services (IBIS). IBIS' overall policy sees the pirates
as keeping the nominally and actively anti-Imperial governments of the Beyond &
Vanguard Reaches too busy with local security to pursue any active anti-Imperial
operations. IBIS has also found the corsairs useful auxiliaries in recent
Imperial-Zhodani conflicts.
Internal politics can be summarized in five factions:
THE PRO-PIRACY FACTION wants piracy stressed over trade. The second largest
faction.
THE PRO TRADE FACTION wishes to eventually phase piracy out of DG operations
in favor of trade. They have made a few gains lately, but are still the second smallest
faction.
THE TRADITIONALISTS who wish to maintain the balance of piracy and trade. Also
known as the AKIsts, they are the largest faction.
THE ANTI-IMPERIAL FACTION who wish to keep the Imperium out of the Beyond.
Actively advocates hitting IDES facilities and Inperial shipping in the Beyond. The
third largest faction. Have made some political moves during the 5th Frontier War at
expense of their rivals.
THE ANTI-ZHODANI (often call the pro-Imperium) FACTION is the smallest faction,
made up of ex-Imperials and other captains who hold Imperial letters of marque. Their
influenced lessened with their involvement in the 5th Frontier War.
The are three types of Dark Goddesses bases. PIRATE BASES, operated primarily for
support of piracy operations including disposal of loot. STARPORTS, where DG
controls or has a contract to run the starport. OPERATION CENTER, starports in
which DG maintains offices, terminals, sales reps, etc.
FORTUITOUS (ZYDAR subsector 0604). Starport operated by DG.
DEMIMONDE (ZYDAR 0204). DG pirate base.
THIEVES' WORLD (LIBERTY HALL 0102). DG Operations Center.
GUILDHEIM(LIBERTY HALL 0804) DG Operations Center
HARDASS(LIBERTY HALL 0308) DG Operations Center & pirate base.
JELDEMNAR(LIBERTY HALL 0403) DG pirate base.
SHADOWS(METCHI ALAGWA 0203) DG Operations center.
TRAYFOWEN(MAPEPIRE 0302) DG Operations center.
FARHAVEN (ZYDAR 0401). Starport operated by DG.
HICHMAKANI (I-Glathriel 0505). Starport controlled by DG. DG headquarters.
BLOODGARD (I-Glathriel 0703). DG pirate base.
HARD PLACE (I-Glathriel 0310). Starport operated by DG.
SHRINE (I-Glathriel 0502). Starport and sanctuary world controlled by DG.
BEAUMONDE (Mapepire 0402). DG Operations Center.
MESAWMI (Metchi Alagwa 0604). DG Operations Center.
DISMAL (Darkling Regions 0109). Starport operated by Dark Goddesses.
AMNESTY (I-Glathriel 0606). DG Operations Center.
NEW GROTON (Storm 0605) DG Operations Center.
BETE NOIRE (Storm 0410). DG Operations Center.
MAPEPIRE BALSYN. (Mapepire 0602) DG Operations Center.
KILOGREN(Mapepire 0605) DG Starport run by DG
LILITH(Mapepire 0405) DG Operations Center.
VLAD (Mapepire 0403). DG Operations Center.
NORTHSTAR (Darkling Regions 0409). DG Operations Center.
GREATER DISMAL (Darkling Regions 0410). DG Operations Center.
RABANITAS (Zydar 0102). DG Operations Center.
SIX MILE RUN (Zydar 0309). DG Operations Center.
ZYDAR (Zydar 0810). DG Operations Center.
DISENGAGE (Zydar 0804). DG Operations Center.
XERXES (Zydar 0701). DG Operations Center.
PHOENIX (Zydar 0205). DG Operations Center.
BATTELLE (Zydar 0410). DG Operations Center.
BABY TEETH (ESYLAT 0408). DG Operations center.
WEINLA(ESYLAT 0610) DG Operations Center
DENVA PAKU(ESYLAT 0807) DG pirate base.
IQUIQUE(KAJAANI 0610) DG Operations Center
ZUMPANGA(KAJAANI 0710) DG Operations Center
MODOX(JARNAC 0708) DG Starport run by DG
INIQUITY(JARNAC 0701) DG pirate base.
Dark Goddesses are a group from Paranoid Press' The Beyond Campaign. Much of the history
and organization were developed during my Traveller campaign-Darkhstarr
RECRUITMENT: Besides corsairs, traders, adventurers and misfits, DG recruits from
orphans and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. The policy has proven so successful
their ally, Webrunners adopted it in 967. However, a few DG captains have accused
(truthfully) of kidnapping despite DG's strict policy of voluntary recruitment. All
female recruits are required to make the pilgrimage to the planet Shrine to undergo the
'Serenity' ceremony to become full members of the sisterhood. It is rumored that some
recruits have echewed piracy after their visit to Shrine opting either in a nonpiracy
related service or to join the Guardians of Serenity. In the Traveller T5 sanity rules,
DG personnel who have undergone 'Serenity' have a permanent sanity rating of C.
Deist religious order propagated by Aki Roxanne hault-Huin after her 'religious experience' in the mind-healing
Ancients machine on the planet Shrine/I-Glathriel. The basic tenets of the belief are: 1. That one of the Ancients was
female and left the complex of mind-mending machines as a gift to all female sentients in the universe; 2. That Aki's
healing was a sign that the sisterhood must fight a neverending fight to cure all insanity in the universe; 3. Take a vow
to avoid deliberate harm of another sentient; 4. To give sanctuary & aid to refugees to the dispossed & injured.
A further mark of the Guardians of Serenity (& of Dark Goddesses itself) is a cult of personality around Aki Roxanne
hault-Huin herself: If the unknown Ancient who built the machines is a goddess, than Aki is her prophet. Another
quirk of this religion is that though it is gynocentric in belief (women are the blessed of the Ancient), men are still
treated as equals.
The main cult center on Shrine for the GOS is the Hall of Women, a restored Ancients' ruin. The first level includes a
university dedicated to the healing sciences built around a central forum. In this forum is are interesting relices of the
Ancients: representations of females of many sentient races many of which did exist as such in the time of the Ancients.
The forum also acts as a meditation chapel for students & faculty.
The second level, consists of a medical center center for the healing of physical ailments. The third level consists of a
mental hospital.
The fourth level, reachable only by private elevators is the real secret of Shrine. Here with modern facilities added
around them are 18th cubicles built by the Ancients that heal all mental disorders, but only on female patients. After 3
centuries of use the guardians have become expert with the machines operation, though now their use the machines for
only normally incurable mental illness. The machines themselves are called the Serenity machines, or Serenity for short.
All Dark Goddesses& GOS personnel undergo the Serenity treatment as a rite of passage ("the Blessing of Serenity").
The GOS will not allow examination nor access of the Serenities by outsiders. Female violators will be given the option
of joining Dark Goddesses or the GOS or imprisonment (20-40 years). Male or neutral violators will be merely sentenced
to imprisonment.
Though many members of Dark Goddesses belong to this cult(& are calledSsisters of Serenity), only the religious
personnel are called the Guardians of Serenity, or Guardians for sort. Each of these guardians are practioners of some
healing art before they inducted as guardians. The senior guardians of each medical field are referred to as Lady
Guardians and are chosen by medical achievement. The head of the sisterhood is chosen by the Lady Guardians for a
one year term. This Lady Guardian oversees the medical & bureaucratic life of the planet. The bureaucracy is made of of
Dark Goddess personal who are not of the sisterhood. The current head is Lady Guardian Fhastine, a former SORAG
spy who left that service after undergoing the Serenity maching treatment.
Though nonviolent in beliefs, Guardians do carry nonlethal weaponry & versed in many forms of unarmed combat.
Guardians also will serve aboard DK corsairs as medical personnel. Both guardians & DK personnel addresss each
other as 'sister'. Often DK personnel will enter the Guardians in later life.
Many Guardians can be found off planet either as psychologists or teachers as their training make them the most skilled
human psychologists in the Beyond. The GOS also operates 7 600 tonne medical scouts: Aki Guardian, Chela
Guardian, Thu Guardian, Serenity, Lucid Voyager, Soulhealer, Tyasi.
Though psionics is not part of their tenets (Aki hault-Huin's family was anti-psionic), the order has developed psionics
as another key to healing the mind. The Shrine Institute of Psionics is located 1/4 km south of the Hall of Women.
Though gynocentric in the nature, the Guardians have branched out in their healing and established another medical
center on the opposite side of the planet 2 centuries ago, replacing a clinic located at the starport. The GOS now operate
the starport clinic as an ER facility. The psychologists are as versed in male psychology as female psychology.
The guardians also maintain 8 refugee colonies on Shrine administered by DK personnel.
Over the centuries Dark Goddesses & The Guardians of Serenity have explored Shrine throroughly, finding no other
intact Ancients sites. There are many ruins patricularly near the Hall of Women, but their fragments give no clue to their
nature. So the Hall of Women & and the Serenity machines may have survived by design or as a fluke of fate. As for the
Serenity machines, both Dark Goddesses & GOS personnel keep the secret of their Ancient origins. Even so, a few
offworld sentients suspect something unusual about Shrine and send out spies.
Dark Goddesses personnel would adhere to GOS beliefs will always avoid (or try to help ) the insane. Incurably insane
males (such as 'Black Dog' McKimmon) are treated as agents of evil when identified. Many a Beyond serial killer has
met his/her fate due to secret or overt Dark Goddesses help. In fact many verifier & mind scan technology in the Beyond
owes its existence/refinement to the work of the Guardians of Serenity.
Though the connection between DG & GOS is a secret(despite that the GOS symbol is the DG with the colors reversed),,
some individuals & organizations have figured the connection out. The attitude of these groups run from puzzled
bewilderment to accusations of impiety & fraud.
The IISS's laison branch has long standing ties with the Guardians, dating almost the the order's foundation. Several
scouts serve on Shrine doing covert Ancients survey work in conjunction with the sisters. Part of this survey work involves
the hypothesis that a male version of the Serenity complex exists somewhere on Shrine.
The Guardians of Serenity unlike the members of Dark Goddesses, wear a distinctive uniform. This consists of a black
jumpsuit emblazoned with a white version of the DG logo on the left chest (or its equal on nonhumanoid members). The
jumpsuit includes many self-sealing pockets and an equipment belt. The Guardians carry normally nonlethal weapons
or use unarmed combat to subdue/disable an oppenent/patient.
1. Dark Goddesses are currently negotiating for an Ops Center & base in the Jarnac Pashalic, an Aslan client state in
the Vanguard Reaches.
2. DG has several agents infiltrating their old nemesis, Parallel Lines, Ltd.
3. Several renegade Zhodani have joined DG since the 5th Frontier War with the result that SORAG has sent more
agents into the Beyond for retrieval operations.
4. Several invitro children of Dark Goddesses captains have disappeared from their storage on Shrine. Investigation
have proven fruitless. DG has offered a 10 MCr. reward for information leading to the recovery of the invitros.
5. All members of DG are also part of the Huin Hierarchy's Naval Reserve.
6. Dark Goddesses are a major investor in Northstar Ringworld.
7. 8 DG vessels returning from service as privateers for the Imperium in the 5th Frontier War are in extended vacation
in the Mapepire Cluster. This is due to the Pro-Imperial Faction's fall from influence in 1110.
8. The Comsentient Alliance has several agents to induce corsair captains to forgo piracy & join the Alliance navy.
Most of the target captains are DG personnel.
9. Jen Toert, DG crewman on the corsair 'Kliopess'(Capt. Ghali Ochiro) is actually Lady Toli Hierthes, the 17 year old
runaway daughter of Baron Kort Hierthes. The Baron has offered a 3Mcr. reward to find her.
10. As part of an pact with the Huin Hierarchy, The Aokhalte Tlaukhu's female criminals are now inducted into DG
after transport from Aslan space.
11. DG has secretly signed a pact with Storm, Baron Cahokia to smuggle technological data & goods in & out of Storm
subsector.
12. Tuablin has recently unmasked & imprisoned all of DG's agent's on Phyllis' Surrender. They intend to hand
them over to the IDES after interrogation. DG is unaware of this event.
13. DG is secretly behind the anti-slavery laws being presented to the Grand Council of the Comsentient Alliance.
14. A hot rumor out of Die Weltbund implies the DW medical scout 'Helga Galland' is reality the 'Dreamstar', a 200
tonne Guardians of Serenity medical ship.
15. Bette Noire, captain of the Aarabella has been declared a Hazard due to the bounties from Trelyn Domain(1Mcr.)
& Die Weltbund (500,000 Cr). & also due a feud between her & her uncle 'Black Dog' McKimmon that has recently
broken out.
16. Many of the Pro-Imperium Faction (all ex-Navy personnel) have increased their cooperation with Imperial
intelligence services since the 5th Frontier War.
17. Many DG ships have clashed with those of the League of Free Worlds in the Liberty Hall, Die Weltbund, Middle
Beyond subsectors. This is the result of LOFW terrorist attacks on planets where DG carries on legal & clandestine
trade since 1108. These terrorist activities are in violation of the DG/LOFW alliance of 1097.
18. Lt. Cmdr. Ien Vhilliesh of the Trelyn Domain Navy carries a Knight of the March dress cutlass. It was formerly the
possession of DG captain Bette Noire, whom he illegally arrested in Trelyn space. Bette has sworn to take it back over
his dead body. In the event they never meet again, she has offered a 250,000 Cr. reward forthe cutlass' return.
19. Dark Goddesses' agents have recently discovered that 11 Imperial Far Traders taken in the 5th Frontier War were
actually taken by units of the Die Weltbund Navy & their crews impressed into the DW merchant marine. Eight of the
vessels (Dareugh, Ilvion, Castour, N. H. Gholiour, Swiftsure, Beaulios, Hon Miir, & Heustych) are still in service
with Stern-Hansa. This information has been passed on to Imperial authorities.
20. Agents of several Imperial traders have approached corsairs in the Mapepire, Liberty Hall, & Middle Beyond to
recruit them in a clandestine anti-piracy campaign.
21.The following Die Weltbund planets are regularly visited by smugglers (DG, Webrunners, St. Foy & independents):
Abeitlung Drei(LH602), Nervenheilanstalt (LH707), Quatsch(DW108), Beinbruch(DW202), Bierstube(DW208),
Gasthof(DW303), Nietschze(DW309), Ewie Weibliche(DW401).
22. Hichimakani & Bloodgard's (in the I-Glathriel subsector) recently (1113) formed alliance is secretly influenced by
Dark Goddesses.
23. DG psi have been trained at the Psi institute on Kilogren(Mapepire subsector) since 1106..
24. Dark Goddesses personnel roster include many Imperial scouts, marines, & navy personnel. While some are
renegades many serve as part of Operation Darkling Orb.
All planets in the Sanctuary Worlds & the Huin Hierarchy are pirate bases for DG personnel(see other sectors for data).
HAZARD LIST: Dark Goddesses personnel placed on this have gained some notoriety
(feud, bounty, attention of some private or public police unit, etc.) that has made them
a danger to their fellow corsairs or have created a situation where they must hide or
cease illegal activity. This category makes it hard (but impossible)to recruit crews
from a DG pool. Such personnel are commonly called 'hazies'.
BAN LIST: Personnel on this list have broken requlations of DG or usually, betrayed
DG. Such sentients if not executed are cast out of DG & are banned from recruiting
DG personnel or landing anywhere there is a DG base or operations center. Called
'traitors', 'banners' or 'the banned'.
'THE CORSAIR GIRL' (Tune: The Minstrel Boy)
|
'The Corsair Girl to the stars has gone
where the cold of space will hide her.
Her father's gun strapped to her thigh,
And her mother's armor clad about her.'
'Although she fights for no state,
and all hands be against her.
One proud ship shall guard her life,
And one loyal crew will stand beside her.'
"Insane? Commander, in the sisterhood, insanity is not an option." Excerpt
from the interrogation of Coresi Sanae Ki Darkhstarr.
FOREVEN SECTOR
AQUILA(RULL 0810) DG Operations Center
CAIRN(HAREM 0110) DG Operations Center
LHERZ(HAREM 0605) DG Operations Center
SPINWARD MARCHES
No actual bases exist in the Marches, but there is a lot of clandestine activity,
especially since the capture of Coresi Darkhstarr by the IISS. In both the 4th &
5th Frontier Wars, Dark Godessess heavily raided anti-Imperial states (such as
Die Weltbund), though DG captains deny holding any Imperial letters of marque.
Countess Asa Aoyayu Huin, sister of the current ruler on the Huin Hierarchy
made a secret visit to Duke Norris' court in 1111.
BOWMAN(DISTRICT 268 0302) DG Operations Center.
MIRRIAM(FIVE SISTERS 0303) DG Operations Center.
"Every thorn has its rose." Ayesha Rani St. James, DG corsair captain.