A group of religious die hards, criminals, the psychotically delusional and those who had been mentally programmed to serve states which no longer exist, the umbrella term of 'Tech Scum' covers an unknowably vast category of degenerate individuals still clinging to existence in the depths of Freehold Factory, System "Port Hope", various other forgotten hulks of former freespacer motherships, and space graveyards throughout the sector.

There is no overall direction or community past mere survival- Creatures like these group together merely because of a mutual hatred of the self proclaimed 'enlightened' races, because they had their name codes revoked when performing a criminal act within true Freespacer kind, or are on some holy mission that the cyber-gods of ancient lore have personally gifted them with.

Encountering them in any circumstance is not recommended. Their simultaneously self-repairing and disintegrating technology is known to project the worst aspects of toxicity and radioactivity of the Freespacer race. Some may seem friendly but have mysterious religious motives, whilst others are straight up looking to harvest the organic parts of others to heal or sustain their kin.

They seem to be using the Leyline network to jump planets, despite the fact the Astral Locksmiths should have secured such abuses.

Existing in high numbers on Freehold, it is natural that they increasingly engaging in armed skirmishes with Shasta No Sekai.

Arguably existing far before the Freespacers made contact with other races, Tech Scum have always been the simple result of social undesirables being rejected from the tightly knit wrungs of the original Free State.

After the genocide and YE 30 and subsequent splintering of the race, as well as general increased contact with other races, the size of secret Tech Scum communities exploded, mostly appearing as space pirates and general scavengers. Cyborgs too adapted to zero-G life were being abandoned by motherships turning back to planetary colonies. Political prisoners and religious zealots were becoming more radical, as the only voidfolk who preferred a civilized life, could now simply leave and become citizens of Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia.

The situation has simply snowballed out of control as Spacer factions continue to disintegrate, creating a seeping primordial chaos in every lost and abandoned place throughout the sector.

The majority of Tech Folk are, put simply, cyborgs highly adapted for survival in extreme environments and the general concerns of space travel. Originally servile clones created for the terrible working conditions of their late tyrannical state, their organic components are hardened to radiation and industrial toxins- In the present day, this is pushed to it's limits, with chemical burns and missing limbs being quite common. Almost every Tech Scum nomad is highly cyborgized (Both by description and necessity), sporting multiple varieties of crude cyber-limbs and ungainly industrial attachments- Often absconded from previous deceased owners and passed down the generations like holy relics.

Clothes tend to come in the form of old worn down space suits, military fatigues from failed revolutions, and the exotic yellow-blue checkered robes of the religiously stalwart. Those further on the road to turning completely feral might wear as little as some ripped rags and bandages, with a heavy metal pipe as their sole possession. Others higher up the food chain are fully encased combat cyborgs, covered in guns, coolant tubes and rusted blade-fingers.

Without complex and difficult to maintain Polysentience Relays, the Tech Scum have a sort of localized ECM noise emanating locally from every single one of them. This is because their all of their mind ware is completely infested with semi-sentient viruses. It is apparently a common belief that these voices are those of corrupted AI ancestors, and so the religious Children of the Dirge often invite such entities into their heads willingly.

Junkers are just as widespread as the Tech Scum, and thus share a lot of commonality- But some junkers operating under outdated orders or broken limiters can become truly monstrous and vicious animals. They will savagely attack any mobile being with a horrific variety of anti-organic weapons such as pyrophoric explosive missiles, acid sprayers, radiation projectors- Only tolerating the Tech Scum because of bootlegged security codes, never obeying them.

Perhaps the most unsettling of these are dubbed 'Liquid Enemy'- Oversized debased versions of the Liquid Ally, which have become lumbering gelatinous plant monsters, capable of squeezing through tiny gaps and spraying gusts of uranium spores.

Either metal or organic, the seemingly immortal and unconcerned creatures are living talismans for the Tech Scum, sometimes outright objects of worship and devotion.

• Freehold Factory
• The Great Lighthouse.
• Planet Osman.
• Null And Void.
• Port Hope.

Primitive Polygon created this article on 2023/07/11 08:54.