SHADOW are a collection of factions scrabbling for control of the ruins of a fallen empire. For the Alliance, they represent the dangers – and the potential – of space beyond Alliance law.

Nearly two centuries ago, the Alliance encountered MOTHER. MOTHER, like many empires, ruled through domination, manipulation, and spectacle; powerful and cruel, paranoid and brittle. MOTHER tore itself apart under the weight of its own contradictions – leaving a ruined mess of war-torn, ungovernable space right on the Alliance’s doorstep.  

SHADOW is the codename given to MOTHER’s survivors and successors, who struggle for control of what remains. 

Within SHADOW-space, you may find: imperial remnants turned into mercenary companies, fanatical lost-cause cults, scavengers, nomadic traders barely getting by, and – above all else – many, many bands of criminals, pirates, and raiders, notorious for preying on Alliance shipping lanes, neutral colonies, and each other.

Alliance politics have stymied previous attempts to intervene  in SHADOW’s affairs – but, s  for the brave, the remnants present both risks and opportunities – to help the needy, build peace, make alliances with different groups (and play them off against each other), or simply gather the fruits of wild and ungoverned stars. 

Diplomacy will see complex plots, under the table deals, and promises built on (dis)honour and (dis)trust rather than the letter of the law. Combat will see you in skirmishes with raiders who fight dirty, and who might have nothing to lose. Bio-med will see you fixing the consequences of desperate science without restraint, and hunting down dangerous unethical projects carried over from the age of MOTHER. Engineering will give you access to all sorts of black markets, and will truly demonstrate what necessity and a box of scrap can do. All roles will see you navigating complex, chaotic, and ever-changing situations, which will make you think outside the box and on your feet: trusting a firm handshake, while dodging a knife in the back.

SHADOW is many things: brutal, desperate, hungry, vicious. To the galaxy at large, it is a problem best avoided or contained. Will you follow in their footsteps, or help SHADOW to draw  the fragments back together and build a new future from MOTHER’s ashes?