Voyage of the Equinox: Resource Page

Those readying one of my more recent stories, Voyage of the Equinox, may have noticed that I don’t control it the way most authors have total control over their own works. Some of you may have noticed I have a discord server where the results of various actions and plot developments are decided by algorithm.

I’ve been asked by several now to explain exactly how those rolls work. In the interest both of transparency and just because it would be fun, I decided to share the “behind the scenes” character sheets and stuff I’m working with for the story. This page will be updated as the story goes on. It should go without saying you don’t need to read or understand anything on this page to read the story.

This page will serve as a place to keep records as the story moves on.

Equestria’s first interstellar vessel, this massive starship represents our characters’ entire world in the Proximus system. It is roughly five hundred meters long, though only a small fraction of that volume is easily accessible by its pony occupants. The ship is powered by a single Thaumic Fusion drive, and its fuel reserves consist entirely of deuterium and tritium tanks. It was built to survive its four-decades voyage, and might have done so intact, except for an unknown catastrophe that stuck the ship shortly after leaving the interstellar void and entering the Proximus system.

The ship has no centrifuge for artificial gravity, and instead relies entirely on orientation-based acceleration gravity, which is why most of its decks have a single “true” orientation, with the engines always the apparent down. It was designed with a fixed crew size in mind, and an operational lifespan of just over a century.

Structure: 75 (100)
– Suffered unknown damage upon entry to the Proximus system. (-15)
– Suffered damage in an explosion cased by sabotage. (-7)
– Suffered damage due to a sudden lack of computer control (-3)
Durability: 5
Quite simply, the Equinox was built to be invincible. Using recently discovered alloys, powerful spells, and the most sophisticated construction methods known to ponykind, the ship was isolated against the century of operating life its mission might require.
Food Supply: Fresh Greens, Nutrient Paste
Thanks to several months of farming, the Equinox now has a sizeable stockpile of fresh veggies and greens, amounting to three months continuous consumption, all frozen to give it a shelf-life of about two years. So long as the Proximus B homestead remains intact, this supply will grow by one month each month that passes, in addition to supplying high-quality food for the entire crew during that month.

The Equinox also carries a carefully rationed supply of protein and flavor additives mixed into caloric intake provided by a tank of bacterial digesters and cultured algea. Most ponies would describe it as “barely edible.” Supplies of bio-additives are expected to last for about five months. The digester will continue recycling waste so long as the Equinox’s reactor keeps running. As the ship is currently unoccupied, the supply is neither growing nor shrinking.
Fuel Supply: Three Months under heavy deceleration.
The Equinox relies on Thaumic fusion to energize and accelerate xenon propellant to near relativistic velocities. Its engines can also be adapted to use lighter noble gasses as propellant with a proportional drop in efficiency and increased fuel volume requirement.

Functional Systems
Fabrication, Computer, Cryogenics, Transmitter/Receiver, Engine, Medical, Life Support, Eye visual threat-detection.

Disabled Systems
weapons

Other Resources
– Alien Computer Fabrication Device: Spike successfully created a device that was able to produce the hardware for Node. It is likely it could be made to produce more computer components if the crew had a use for them.
– Spare parts and generic scrap (6) The Equinox was equipped with almost everything it would need to turn around and make the return trip. Part of that included modular spare parts and replacements for the most important systems.

Position: Captain
Age: 34 (75)
Health: 8 (13)
-Alicorn Durability (+5)
Attributes:
Intelligence: 5
Wits: 3
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 3
Stamina: 3
Charisma: 3
Skills
Computer: 4
Academics: 3
Persuasion: 3
Pilot: 3
Investigation: 3
Firearms: 1
Athletics: 1
Flight: 1
Hardware: 1
Medicine: 1
Navigation: 1
Magic
Prime: 4
Forces: 3
Space: 3
Life: 2
Matter: 1
Iusᴉƃɥʇ: 2
H̷̬̹̫̥̗͓̍U̶͈̱̼̓̊͆̓̇N̶ͪͯ͌ͬͩ̿̈̌͏̗̭̜͇̻̟̲͡G͆ͥͦ̿͌͛ͬ̆ͯ҉̰̲̺̮͙̯̦E̷̩͓̺͇͓̐̎ͭ̔̾R͚̯̗̘̖̰͇̪̭̾̏́͂̓̽ͮͣ̍: 1
The hunger of the void has seen her face.

Position: Second Officer Acting Captain
Age: 59
Health: 10 (10)
Armor:3
Attributes:
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 2
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 3
Stamina: 5
Charisma: 2
Skills
Repair: 3
Intimidation: 2
Pilot: 2
Navigation: 2
Flight: 1
Medicine: 1
Construction: 1

Position: Chief Engineer
Age: 28 (69)
Health: 5 (8)
-1 Permanent health penalty from severed limb.
-Permanent weakness to respiratory infection.
Armor: 1
Attributes:
Intelligence: 2
Wits: 3
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 2
Stamina: 4
Charisma: 2
Skills
Repair: 4
Construction: 4
Athletics: 3
Farming: 3
Firearms: 3
Persuasion: 2

Position: Chief Medical Officer
Age: 37 (78)
Health: 7 (7)

Attributes:
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 3
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 3
Stamina: 2
Charisma: 3
Skills
Medicine: 4
Animal Handling: 4
Linguistics: 3
Performance: 2
Flight: 1

Position: Geologist
Age: 24 (65)
Health: 8 (8)

Attributes:
Intelligence: 2
Wits: 4
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 3
Stamina: 3
Charisma: 3
Skills
Geology: 4
Logistics: 3
Insight: 2
Cooking: 2

Magic
Insight: 3
H̷̬̹̫̥̗͓̍U̶͈̱̼̓̊͆̓̇N̶ͪͯ͌ͬͩ̿̈̌͏̗̭̜͇̻̟̲͡G͆ͥͦ̿͌͛ͬ̆ͯ҉̰̲̺̮͙̯̦E̷̩͓̺͇͓̐̎ͭ̔̾R͚̯̗̘̖̰͇̪̭̾̏́͂̓̽ͮͣ̍: 3
The hunger of the void knows her name.

Position: Chief Science Officer
Age: 36 (77)
Health: 6 (6)
+ Rarity is expertly trained with shield spells, which she can deploy almost instantly in combat. She can also use this spell to make near risk-free EVAs, so long as her endurance lasts.

Attributes:
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 3
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 3
Stamina: 1
Charisma: 3
Skills
Academics: 4
Astroneer: 2
Hardware: 2
Computer: 1

Magic
Matter: 4
Forces: 3
Space: 1

Position: Security Officer
Age: 22 (63)
Health: 8 (8)
+Due to her enhanced combat conditioning, Rainbow Dash cannot take nonlethal damage. Only lethal sources of harm effect her. The cost of this invasive magical conditioning in a much reduced healing rate when injured.

Attributes:
Intelligence: 2
Wits: 3
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 4
Stamina: 3
Charisma: 1
Skills
Flight: 5
Weather Magic: 4
Firearms: 4
Athletics: 3
Tactics: 3
Computer: 1
Medicine: 1

Position: UNKNOWN
Age: 20 (UNKNOWN)
Health: 10 (10)
+ Mechanical Apple Bloom does not heal, and must be repaired when damaged. She is immune to disease, does not need to eat or sleep, and does not age.
Armor: 2
Attributes:
Though her mental abilities have been unaffected, Apple Bloom’s physical capabilities have been mechanically enhanced to the apex of what most ponies can achieve.
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 3
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 5
Stamina: 5
Charisma: 1

Skills
Computer: 5
Firearms: 4
Athletics: 3
Repair: 2
Construction: 2
Farming: 1

Node: A mechanical being built by Spike, whose digital essence was spawned by the ring surrounding Proximus B. It has recently been given a mechanical body physically resembling rainbow dash, but considerably cruder than Apple Bloom’s cybernetic. She speaks in the voice-recording files of Starlight Glimmer, and her obedience to directions is questionable at best. She sometimes assists, though she hasn’t yet been antagonistic.

Cozy Glow: A stowaway of a terrorist organization that spent an unknown amount of time conscious during the flight, wasting supplies and attempting to sabotage the Equinox. The full extent of her plans and damage is not fully known. She was returned to cold storage after being discovered.