Faction Overview: Exo-Guardians

Thursday, July 12, 2017

Illustration by Josef Kucera

The creed of the Exo-Guardians is to protect the Pact Worlds from external threats. In the context of their membership within the Starfinder Society, this most often relates to participating in missions to acquire relics or technology of a defensive nature. Exo-Guardians excel in missions that lead to such discoveries, but they also serve an important secondary role within the Society of "sending a message" to threats that interfere in Society business. Be it a derelict starship overrun with mindless alien vermin, or a supposedly impenetrable fortress operated by forces opposed to the Society, it's often the Exo-Guardians who come in to handle the situation.

One thing was clear when developing factions for the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild: some players just want to shoot bug-like aliens. The Exo-Guardians were one of the earliest factions we developed because we wanted players to have a faction with a clear goal that fit into a science fantasy universe. In the case of the Exo-Guardians, that goal is "make sure bad aliens don't punch us in the face, possibly by punching those aliens in the face (or other appropriate body part, in the case of aliens without faces) first." This is the faction that you can regularly expect to see going on a "bug hunt."

The Exo-Guardians have some recognizable elements of the highly successful Silver Crusade faction from Pathfinder Society, but there are several key differences. The Exo-Guardians are also a faction with a long history within the in-game Starfinder Society organization, but recent events have not been kind to them. In a setting without paladins as a core class, the Exo-Guardians are somewhat more flexible in terms of what they are willing to do to protect the Pact Worlds from external threats. The Exo-Guardians let us explore some tough questions, like how far would you go to protect your home from external threats?

Illustration by Sebastian Rodriguez

Luckily, if you're worried about this faction quickly becoming a faction of bloodthirsty evil characters, the Exo-Guardians faction leader has your back. Zigvigix (LG host shirren soldier) is a shirren with a plan—specifically a plan that aims to have the Exo-Guardians restored to their pre-Scoured Stars incident grandeur. I am already excited at how Zigvigix has turned out in print, and pretty soon you'll be able to meet them in Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Scenario #1-01: The Commencement. (And if you're worried about pronouncing Zigvigix's name all the time, don't fret. The Commencement's author, Eleanor Ferron, already coined a nickname I think will catch on...)

Before I go, here's a look at one of the faction-specific boons that members of the Exo-Guardians can purchase with their Fame. If you haven't already checked, I highly recommend giving that a read over last week's blog on Starfinder Society Boons.

Collector and Examiner (Ally Boon)

The Exo-Guardians host a variety of professionals interested in researching alien life from the Vast. You've become associated with one such researcher.

Prerequisites: Exo-Guardians: Tier 1

Cost: 2 Fame

Benefit: This ally boon represents a growing relationship between you and a researcher among the Exo-Guardians. At the end of a scenario in which you've slotted this boon, you can return one, and only one, "mostly intact" cadaver of a defeated significant enemy (Starfinder Core Rulebook 242) that your ally can study. Mark the creature type (such as aberration, fey, or ooze) of the collected cadaver on your Chronicle sheet. While this boon is slotted, you gain an insight bonus to Engineering, Life Science and Mysticism skill checks to identify creatures of the same creature type as previously collected corpses. The bonus is equal to the number of corpses of that creature type collected, up to a maximum of 3. The bonus represents your access to correspondences between you and your examiner ally; it does not mean the examiner is physically present during the adventure.

I'm really excited to see exactly what sort of wacky concepts players come up with for their "Examiner" allies!

That's all for this week. Stay tuned for next week's blog, where we provide an overview and some details for our next faction: the Second Seekers!

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer