All Are Welcome
The Under Dark is a coalition of many civilizations throughout the universe. These individual species and cultures are all united to stop humanity’s violent conquest of space and the destructive harvesting of the planets’ resources. The coalition is made up of many species, and we hope to add to this list as others join in our fight. When will you join this list, and the struggle?
Rentari:
Many generations ago, human corporations, in search of expanding their profits and finding new valuable elements to introduce to the marketplace, teamed up with paramilitary forces and began conquering and exploiting planets they deemed profitable. The planet Vespera was one of those targets due to a mined ore called Hextraenite. This ore was harder than iron and possessed light magnetic qualities. It was valued for its use in weaponry and space fleet internal structure.
Unfortunately, this planet was already home to the Rentari, a race of creatures native to the planet who had been mining the ore for their own use. The denizens of the planet had not yet achieved space travel and were easy prey for the advanced technology of humanity’s war machine. They were conquered, enslaved, and made to work in the mines, extracting Hextraenite for the corporation’s profit.
The Rentari, due to their planet’s high gravity, brutal terrain, violent weather patterns, and unique natural predators, had evolved into a shape and form suited for such extreme environments. They developed strong, muscled bodies capable of long durations of physical exertion. Their skin was tough and thick to withstand the frequent swings in temperature and many violent storms. Their eyes, suited to darkness, are a mustard yellow, and they possess a varying number of tusks in addition to their regular set of teeth.
Eventually, the Rentari rose up and reclaimed their planet. During their enslavement, they had studied, stolen, and improved space travel technology from humanity. Their planet now secure, they used their vast Hextraenite supply to build their own space force, and they began to liberate neighboring planets of their Human occupiers.
Thus began the Under Dark.
Rentari of note: Slag
Slag was born on Vespera. In the ancient tradition of the Rentari, he forged his own Hextraenite claw early in childhood and began training in the martial traditions of his people. His ferocity and skill in combat quickly garnered the attention of his local military outpost, and he soon joined the ranks of the Rentari Rippers. The Rippers are the Under Dark’s elite first-line troops. They are the forces sent in to break the human space marine defensive lines and strike terror into enemy troops. Rentari Rippers use their traditional Hextraenite claws to rend and tear open space marine mech suits and armor. They descend onto a battlefield slathered with their traditional yellow and black war paint, flexing Ripper Claws powered by NecroTech obtained from their ally Shrike (see below for more info on Shrike), and broadcasting their war drums. It’s a frightening sight for even battle-hardened Space Marines.
Slag quickly worked his way up the ranks and soon led first his own Ripper unit, then a battalion and eventually the entire Ripper Corp. After years of success in pushing back the various human militaries he faced, Slag’s success in combat, paired with his passion for freeing enslaved planets from human rule, led the Under Dark’s ruling council to pick him to lead their new efforts on Keplar 609C, and specifically within Neotropolis. They see this as an opportunity to land a huge blow to humanity’s expansion plans and ensure that Keplar 609C and its resources remain available to all species.e that Keplar 609C and its resources remain available to all species.
Cyborgs and Augmented Individuals:
In their conquest of planets and drive to extract all manner of resources from them, human corporations often find themselves dealing with extremely toxic and inhospitable environments. If the native population refuses to help, choosing death over compliance, the corporations have to turn to other sources of labor to achieve their goals. Oftentimes, that means using technology to modify and enhance creatures so that they can survive these hostile conditions and extract the resources they desire. Sometimes, this is done by dangling promises and incentives to individuals, enticing them to let the corporation alter their body for work on the planet’s surface or core, and almost always leaving them stranded once the resources of that planet are depleted. But more commonly, individuals are altered by the corporation’s cybernetic modifiers against their will, and forced into labor.
When the Under Dark liberates such a planet, these individuals are given their freedom and all the aid the Under Dark has to help them adjust to life in their new form. Many of these individuals decide to join the Under Dark in an effort to help others who have shared their same fate.
Cyborgs of note: Shrike
Not all cyborgs are created by the corporations. Some have a much older and darker history….
Shrike is the last X-E Mordifier class reaver cyborg to survive the great purge following the Secondus Servitor War. It is a necromechanical, artificially intelligent, life form created from cybernetic and galvanic processes lost to time. Shrike has become obsessed with extending its unnatural existence. It has become adept with the necromechanical arts, the reanimation of flesh and metal. It now haunts the human interplanetary colonizes seeking test subjects for its inhuman experiments into death, cybernetics and beyond. Even after Shrikes apparent destruction, It returns. Upgraded. Shrike has found refuge among the denizens in the Underdark of Neotropolis.
The Under Dark has embraced this dark creature as its ability to strategically plan attacks on a galactic level has been the tilting point in their fight against human expansion. Shrike sees the battlefield on a grand scale and is not afraid to use… unorthodox methods to achieve its desired result. It is a valuable member of the Under Dark, but one feared by even those that ally with it. Shrike will remain a valuable part of the Under Dark as long as its plans are being furthered.
Human Allies:
Not all humans take part in the corporations’ ravaging of planets. In fact, many humans actively oppose and resist this destructive expansion. Neotropolis is home to a powerful resistance, and many similar movements thrive on worlds throughout the universe. Many of these movements have allied with the Under Dark throughout the years to achieve the same goals of halting the destruction and defending besieged populations on planets under attack. The Under Dark welcomes all human allies, fighters and hackers that share the same vision.
Humans of note: Grymlyn
Grymlyn grew up on a beautiful and lush planet called Raconiste. Its surface was filled with ancient and vast forests, massive mountain ranges, and purple-hued oceans. Her people had long ago learned to build their civilization in harmony with the nature they so revered and respected. She grew up learning how to integrate technology with nature to help foster the growth and health of the natural environments of planets. The corporation she worked for was able to export this technology to other planets and civilizations. She loved her work and shot up the corporation's ranks due to her genius and innovation ability.
This all changed once Helix Corporation bought the corporation she worked for, making it a subsidiary. Helix had found out that there was a rare and valuable ore near the core of Raconiste and purchased her corporation to secure exclusive mining rights. The mining operation devastated the planet, destroying its ecosystems, reversing centuries of stewardship of the planet, and leading to mass deportations of residents off the planet. It crushed Grymlyn’s spirit, leaving her utterly disillusioned about corporate life and values. Protests flared up but were met with violence by corporate enforcers. It was at this point that she decided to dedicate herself to taking down her Corporation. Her years of corporate success and technological savvy made her the perfect weapon to sabotage it from the inside. She managed to damage the corporation severely, eventually causing its downfall, but not before her home planet was already rendered lifeless.
At this point, she left her planet, donned the name Grymlyn (no one knows what her actual name is), wiped out all records of her previous existence, and vowed to do all she could to take down any corporations engaged in such destructive behavior by infiltrating them and destroying them from the inside. Her success at this mission is what led the Under Dark to approach her to retain her services as a contractor. But once she learned of the Under Dark’s driving mission, she joined full time and became their top asset at infiltration, sabotage, and covert espionage. In addition, she gave the Under Dark the technology she had helped create on her home planet and is instrumental in helping bring back to life many of the planets that have been stripped of their resources and nature.
A major goal of hers is the destruction of Helix Corporation, so she requested the Keplar 609C post as a way to get close to them and find a way to gain access to their corporate ranks.