Faction The Outsystems Welding League

Full Faction Name:
The Outsystems Welding League.

Faction Aliases:
OWL, Outleague.

Historical Notes:
The history of the Outsystems Welding League is somewhat difficult to track closely, given spotty record keeping, and a lack of central authority. The loose network of contacts that would eventually become the OWL has existed for as long as individual ships have been capable of FTL flight. Rugged individualists, willing to exchange hardship and danger for the personal freedom of life in a distant frontier.

However, the widespread deployment of the Urenbeck gates in the early 22nd century finally galvanized these individuals to form into a (somewhat) coherent group. The unprecedented speed, safety, and convenience of the new jumpgate network clearly delineated the astronomical frontier for the first time in human history. Now, there were the core systems, connected to the jumpgate network, and all the wealth and civility that went with it. Conversely, there were the outsystems - rarely visited by individual traders, let alone proper convoys, and far from help or law.

As these new borders formed, so did the new Outleague; not quickly or cleanly, but word went out, deals were made, and a charter was finally drawn up. Membership is by ship and by captain; if you work a League ship, you're a Leaguer. Captains join by sponsorship only; trust is more valued than credentials. The charter itself is, by other faction's standards, horribly lenient. It requires captains to lend aid to fellow captains in true need, to refrain from unprovoked violence, and to provide service to frontier stations, colonies, and ships. However, the exact interpretations of 'true need', 'provocation', and 'frontier' are left up to the individual; the inevitable result of a group so hell-bent on personal freedom writing down rules.

One rule is somewhat more ironclad than the others, however. Recorded in the charter as The Principle of Defiance, it is almost never referred to so formally. One particularly apt ex-navy officer described it as 'a policy of unremitting belligerence'. Put bluntly, OWL ships don't surrender. They might run, and hide, and cheat - but cornered, they invariably fight to the bitter end. In the last words of one famous captain, "I'd cut my own throat to bleed in your eye". Curiously, this policy has saved more ships than it has ruined, as any pirate with an ounce of sense knows that a League ship simply isn't worth the trouble. Conversely, it makes OWL vessels decidedly unpopular with legitimate naval and police forces. The fact that most League members have a healthy disregard for authority only exacerbates matters.

League members mostly commonly make a living engaging in freelance shipbuilding and repair work; this is where the faction's name (which is deliberately tongue-in-cheek) comes from. However, captains also engage in mining, exploration, cargo hauling, and more rarely, mercenary and anti-pirate work. These last two options are usually taken opportunistically; while all OWL-built ships are armed, they have almost no dedicated warships. Durability, reliability, and multi-purpose equipment are the hallmarks of OWL ship design.

Opinions regarding the League are decidedly mixed among the various stellar nations. While they are generally known for honest dealing and hard work, their ability to screen new members is patchy. Furthermore, they have no official policy regarding who members may sell to. While most Leaguers opt to steer clear of criminal types, there are still plenty of corsair bands sporting OWL gear.

Owned Installations:
The League runs a number of independent shipyards, and space-borne industrial and mining facilities. Mobile facilities are more common than static. In any case, they are scattered erratically throughout the outsystems. The OWL doesn't hold territory, as such.

Available Assets:
Calamity-class, Armed Industrial Cruiser. A combat-capable, heavy-duty strip miner and manufacturing ship.
Audacious-class, Armed Utility Frigate. A large-scale tug with construction bays, it is fairly armed, and capable of kinetic bombardment.
Belligerent-class, Salvage/Patrol Corvette. Small and FTL-incapable, it has solid armament, and wreck salvaging gear.
Irrepressible-class, Freighter/Pocket Carrier. Hauls utility craft and cargo.
Bellicose-class, Reconfigurable Battleship. A fore section vacant but for in-place construction equipment ensure its capabilities are always a surprise.
Pugnacious-class, Armed Miner. A small, robust mining drone, willing to fight if need be.
Irritable-class, Armed Construction Craft. A reinforced utility craft, with re-configurable tools on semi-articulated 'arms'. Lightly armed.

Sub-Faction Divisions:
The OWL has no formal subfactions. However, the free captains that make up its membership take no orders, and there is no chain of command. You can't deal with the OWL proper; you deal with individual captains.

Named Characters:
Christopher Macall: Captain of the Calamity-class Choleric. Strangely stubborn for a man so tired of conflict. Rough manner, but keeps his word. Constantly exasperated by his crew.
Erika Hawkespur: XO of the Choleric, not that the ship is run that formally. Spit-and-polish down to the bone. Her extreme competence invites the question 'why isn't she the rising star of some navy?'
Cassandra Lethe: Chief Engineer of the Choleric. Tiny and furious in equal measure (and she is very short indeed). Good at her job, but prone to overlong, ranting threats, which are mostly not taken seriously.
The Twins: Pilot duo of the Choleric's attendant corvettes. Extreme arrogance about their piloting skills, is, to everyone's regret, matched by the reality. Each is very irritating, but in a completely different way.
Friss Aodhagain: Sensor-tech aboard Choleric. Relentlessly cheerful, and better with people than any of her superiors. Mining surveyor by training, which skews her sensor-related priorities a little.
James 'Disorderly Jim' Cash: Captain of the Audacity-class Strife is Joy. Widely considered to be entirely mad, but at least he does good work. Known to be for hire (for, in his own words 'shenanigans'), which is unusual for OWL captains.
Dinah Shrike: Owner of the Strife is Joy, although she didn't name it. Employs Jim to captain her vessel, on the basis that he's terrifying and she sees the value in that. A shrewd tactician and businesswoman.
Auntie Tseng: The wizened yet formidable Captain of the Bellicose-class Interesting Times. Simultaneously unforgiving and hospitable, she is the closest thing the OWL has to a leader. Probably has a first name, but no-one seems to know it.

Unique Technology:
Making Do: not technology as such, but the OWL has a long history of frontier and independent survival, exploration, and manufacturing, and has accrued many handy 'tricks of the trade'. As such, their ability to repair and manufacture is typically much better then the available equipment and parts might suggest.
Built to Last: while not strict military vessels, OWL craft are built as heavy-duty, reinforced industrial machines. They resist collisions extremely well, and typically hold together under heavy fire better than the average ship.
Hazard Web: installed on all OWL warships, a hazard web is a network of small, ball-socket mounted lasers, designed to break up mining debris, and other collision hazards. As a result of being overqualified, they also work well as an anti-missile system, and a substantial deterrent to hostile spacewalkers.

 

Class name:
Calamity
Ship Class:
Light Cruiser
Mission Role:
Industrial/Combat

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Weapons Loadout:
fixed forward heavy railgun battery
port and starboard small missile bays
6x short-range ballistic turrets
hazard web (close-in laser point defense)

Stored Munitions:
railgun: ferrous-alloy kinetic penetrators
ballistic: simple two-stage 'pierce-and-burst' slugs, for targeting small craft
missiles: rather primitive HEAP style missiles, effective against small warships
flaw: low missile stockpiles (they're expensive!)

Defensive Capabilities:
heavy hull plating: when you're building to resist collisions and debris, it's not much of a stretch to make it munition-resistant
ablative prow: directly behind the prow armor is a large quantity of industrial equipment, which tends to stop munitions from hitting anything critical, for a while
gunports: all non-turret weaponry is shrouded behind armored gunports when not firing
flaw: poor maneuvering thrust (main drives are good, but maneuvering thrusters aren't quite up to snuff given its mass)

Special Equipment:
mineral sensors: good for telling what things are made of
mining drills: large, and collision-resistant
industrial facilities: refining, auto-fab, and assisted construction facilities: the Calamity's primary role
hangar bays: not fully enclosed, but rear-facing openings, at least - room for 4, 8 if they're very small
corvette docks: two dedicated mounting points for Belligerent-class corvettes, or similar small corvettes

Additional Notes:
The epitome of the OWL ethos: robust, hardworking, independent, ready-and-willing to roll up its sleeves and lay into any unwise aggressors. Its arsenal is lacking compared to dedicated warships in its weight class, but its staying power is not: industrial gear is hard to break. The interior is cramped, dingy, and more than a little confusing, but at least it's easy to set up a still. The FTL is designed to take the docked corvettes with it: these are not mere docking umbilicals, but dedicated hard-mounting points.

The barrel-like fore of the Calamity contains most of the machinery, reactors, and living spaces. The thinner middle section houses turrets, corvette docks, and the construction/deconstruction bays. The flared aft section contains a backup reactor, and the main drive engines.

 

Class name:
Audacious
Ship Class:
Frigate
Mission Role:
Utility, light combat, kinetic bombardment.

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Weapons Loadout:
4x short-range ballistic turrets
port and starboard coilgun broadsides
hazard web (close-in laser point defense)
kinetic bombardment slugs
flaw: broadsides are serviced by a single capacitor bank; they can't fire at the same time
flaw: kinetic slugs are manufactured in situ, but must be made before battle

Stored Munitions:
coilgun: standard ferrous-alloy kinetic penetrators
ballistic: simple two-stage 'pierce-and-burst' slugs, for targeting small craft

Defensive Capabilities:
-Overpowered engines (can change its vector very quickly)
-Heavily armored nose

Special Equipment:
magnetic clamps: the Audacious is designed to function as a warship-scale tug, capable of moving very large ships, wrecks, and ferrous asteroids
port and starboard construction bays: can repair, tend, and in a pinch, build, small craft; can also construct detachable 'add-on' sections in place on the ship itself (not in a combat-useful timeframe, though).
light manufacturing: carries refined materials, and can manufacture parts, though not quickly
docking mount: for a single small utility craft

Additional Notes:
A large part of the OWL style of ship building revolves around a multi-role approach. This doesn't simply mean adding many subsystems to a vessel - but rather, adapting and utilizing given systems in a variety of ways. The Audacious exemplifies this principle. The utility frigate's chief features are port and starboard construction bays, which allow it to perform light construction duties, as well as tending to small craft. However, due to a quirk of positioning, they can also build structures attached to the ship itself. Some inventive captains have used this ability to build specialized kinetic bombardment slugs in-situ.

Its ruggedized prow, equipped with magnetic clamps, together with a vastly overpowered forward drive, also allow it to act as a warship-sized tug. As with all OWL vessels, the Audacious is also hardened for combat, and armed. The coilguns - mounted for broadside barrages - may seem like a bit of an afterthought. However, in conjunction with its powerful engines, they can make for effective 'drive-by' style harassment maneuvers.

The Audacious's light craft tending capabilities and magnetic clamps lead some captains to carrying small craft, to assist with construction, or combat. However, the vessel only includes a single OWL-standard 'personnel/materiel access tube' (commonly called a rabbit hole) at the rear, nestled between the engines. More craft could be towed on the front clamps, but only if their pilots are willing to mount up via spacewalk.

 

Class name:
Belligerent
Ship Class:
Corvette
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Mission Role:
Combat, salvage.

Weapons Loadout:
2x fixed forward, variable railguns
2x short-range ballistic turrets

Stored Munitions:
railgun: standard ferrous-alloy kinetic penetrators
ballistic: simple two-stage 'pierce-and-burst' slugs, for targeting small craft

Defensive Capabilities:
responsive thrusters (quick to make small course adjustments)
armored
flaw: small for its class; very little ablative structure between exterior armor and critical systems

Special Equipment:
scrapping equipment: rear mounted wreck disassembly tools, and appropriate cargo space for the job
attachment point: dedicated hardware allowing the ship to be comprehensively hard-docked, or 'merged' onto a parent vessel
magnetic clamps: rear mounted, and intended for securing sections of a wreck, though it can serve as a tug in a pinch
flaw: a very small interior, consisting of a single cramped cabin and a few 'coffin' style quarters
flaw: no FTL capability

Additional Notes:
Designed in tandem with the Calamity, the Belligerent is nonetheless a sound vessel in its own right. While at the lower size limit of what might be considered a corvette, it is built as a proper warship, with warship grade armor and weaponry. It owes this fact to a compact design, cramped internal spaces, and the lack of a bulky FTL drive. As a result, it is typically attached to a larger, 'parent' ship equipped to hard-dock with it, or else serves as protection for a static facility.

It has only one warship-grade weapon system, but a versatile one; the variable railgun battery is capable of varying its power discharge, trading off rate of fire for muzzle velocity at will. This allows the Belligerent to engage a wide variety of targets effectively.

While it is one of the more blatantly warlike ships that the OWL produces, it still has a prominent peacetime function: salvage. The vessel is designed to be bi-directional, and the rear mounts a salvaging array and set of magnetic clamps. Unfortunately, these features make the Belligerent a favorite of pirates and the like (when they can get their hands on one), meaning it has something of a bad reputation.

 

Class name:
Pugnacious
Ship Class:
Drone
Mission Role:
Mining, Combat

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Weapons Loadout:
4x forward autocannon
1x rear point defense laser

Stored Munitions:
ballistic: simple two-stage 'pierce-and-burst' slugs, for targeting small craft
ballistic: sometimes loaded with discarding-sabot penetrators, to help engage larger targets

Defensive Capabilities:
reinforced: heavy roll-bar style construction resists collisions, and breaking apart under fire
quick turns: stubby fuselage makes for low rotational inertia

Special Equipment:
mining drills: large, heavy, and resistant to impact
flaw: remotely operated

Additional Notes:
The Pugnacious is the typical small-craft mining vessel used by the Outsystems Welding League. They are operated remotely, as targeted mining in the wake of the larger vessel - their typical mode of employment - is a somewhat hazardous business. As a mining vessel, the 'Pug' has a heavily reinforced construction, a property that serves it well in its secondary role. This is, naturally, combat.

The Pug is not nearly fast enough to fill the roll of a superiority fighter. It's fast enough to manage in a fight, however, and can move in any direction just as fast as forwards. In combat, it is generally best used as close protection for a larger vessel.

 

Class name:
Irritable
Ship Class:
Utility
Mission Role:
Construction, Salvage, Combat

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Weapons Loadout:
2x forward gatling guns

Stored Munitions:
ballistic: simple two-stage 'pierce-and-burst' slugs, for targeting small craft

Defensive Capabilities:
responsive: makes small maneuvers and course adjustments quickly
cover: because of its arms and control scheme, it's more able to hide in tight spaces

Special Equipment:
utility armatures: re-configurable swiss-army-knives of shipwork, mounted on articulate 'arms'

Additional Notes:
The standard OWL utility craft, chiefly used for construction and salvage work. Its most stand-out feature is a pair of so-called utility armatures; articulated, re-configurable tools useful for almost any ship-related job. The armatures have roughly the same degrees of freedom as a human arm, and are controlled by waldo rigs inside the cockpit. The Irritable mostly eliminates the need for hazardous EVA work; useful, as the OWL typically does rather a lot of that sort of thing.

The 'Rat' is armed, but is less suited to combat than most OWL craft. It has an industrial-grade structural 'skeleton', but not heavy hull plating, and is merely lightly armed. It does have some advantages, however. Chiefly due to its 'arms', the craft has a far easier time maneuvering is cramped confines. Historically, clever pilots taking advantage of this ability have had a surprising amount of success in executing ambushes and surprise attacks on far more capable craft. Additionally, their tool arms are more than capable of being used as hull-cutters, though getting into contact with a hostile warship's hull in the first place would be quite a feat.

 

Class name:
Bellicose
Ship Class:
Battleship/Industrial
Mission Role:
Dependent on current configuration. Always suitable for light combat duties, and can be configured for line combat, carrier duties, or a variety of industrial functions.

Image Link:

(Calamity silhouette for size comparison)

Weapons Loadout:
twin heavy railgun turret, rear dorsal mount
twin heavy railgun turret, rear ventral mount
6 short-range ballistic turrets, fore dorsal/ventral
4 short-range ballistic turrets, rear port/starboard
1 fore reconfigurable utility bay. Aside from various non-combat uses, this bay can be configured to house 12 small craft berths, large batteries of short-range broadside coilguns, or 4 twin heavy railgun turrets.

Stored Munitions:
rail/coilguns: ferrous-alloy kinetic penetrators
railguns: AP indindiary slugs (bay turrets only, not commonly carried)
ballistic: simple two-stage 'pierce-and-burst' slugs

Defensive Capabilities:
-Reinforced 'ramming beak' prow
-Heavy hull plating

Special Equipment:
manufacturing: decent material storage and fabrication capabilities, minimal refining.
reconfigurable utility bay: allows for rapid in-place construction or deconstruction of the contents of the fore section, permitting the Bellicose to be rapidly (by shipbuilding standards) configured for a variety of roles.
small craft: berths for 2 Irritable-class utilities

Additional Notes:
An oddity among the ships of the OWL, who, as a loosely-organized group of free captains, rarely have the resources to build, let alone engineer, a battleship-sized vessel. The team responsible for the Bellicose's design were aware that the OWL was unlikely to get a similar opportunity in the foreseeable future, so they aimed to design a vessel that was eminently adaptable. As a result, the Bellicose is an oddity not only in size, but in design.

The cylindrical aft section of the ship is fairly conventional. A respectable armament, with firepower comparable to a militarized cruiser. The heavy guns are mounted in turrets - atypical of OWL shipbuilding - providing improved fields of fire to make the most of limited weapons. Acceptable thruster power, redundant reactors with power to spare, and light manufacturing equipment make it otherwise conventional by OWL standards.

The fore section, however, is the Bellicose's claim to fame. The majority of the large, ingot-shaped slab of a nose is nominally empty. Huge port and starboard bay doors allow the hollow portion to be opened to space. The upper and lower sections house heavy duty, rapid-fabrication equipment, which allow the Bellicose to function as a mobile shipyard, and it is often used in this capacity. However, this equipment can also be used to build directly onto the bay itself, allowing the ship to build its own payload in-place.

The original engineering team designed a number of loadouts for the utility bay, including broadside batteries, carrier facilities, 'internal' turrets, and a variety of industrial facilities. Owing to the ingenuity and eccentricity of OWL captains, there have also been a large number of custom jobs, many of which would be considered utterly mad by a sensible shipwright. Because of this, and the blast doors which conceal the bay's contents, it is almost impossible to gauge the capabilities of a Bellicose prior to combat, a fact OWL captains exploit to the fullest. Most extant Bellicoses are employed as mobile shipyards, refineries, and armed cargo haulers - but you never know which one will have a hold full of guns.

 

(yet more reservations)