Gates of Antares Boromite Previews

BOROMITE LABOUR GUILDSIn the distant past, the ancestors of the Boromites were bio-engineered for hard and dangerous work in extreme environments. As a result they are able to endure extremes of pressure and temperature that would soon kill any other human. Boromites are amongst the most visibly different of all panhuman mutants, with their broad, robust bodies and thick, gnarly hides studded with horny nodules. Their name derives from the mining colonies of Borom, a system that consists of a densely packed asteroid annulus but no planets. Today the Boromites have spread throughout Antarean space and can be found upon worlds within the Panhuman Concord, the Isorian Shard, and beyond. They have no worlds of their own. Instead, they form an itinerant work force with its own distinctive cultural identity and secretive customs. They easily avoid becoming absorbed into the societies they live amongst because their primitive minds do not interact freely with the Intergrated Machine Intelligences of more sophisticated cultures. As a consequence they remain almost entirely hidden, even amongst highly regulated autocratic societies, a reclusive and insular sub-culture with its own values and social mores.

Although they are spread throughout Antarean space, Boromites maintain strong contacts with each other via the trading networks of the Freeborn. Boromite labour gangs are but one of the services regularly traded by the Vardos of the Freeborn. Individual work gangs are small social units – clans that comprise a number of closely related families – multiple gangs are formed into competing Guilds. These Guilds and labour gangs also form the basis for military action. All Boromite workers are also warriors, and their labour organisations also provide the basis of their military organisation. Although competing Guilds are rivals – sometimes bitterly so – different Guilds will often band together to fight a common enemy. Several Guilds have to work in concert to undertake a major operation, such as to secure a mineral rich planet or asteroid. Because they are spread throughout space, Boromite gangs can also be found in the fighting forces of other societies, where their hardiness and determination make them highly valued fighters. Boromite gangers carry the common weapons of Antarean space, but in addition they uniquely make use of weapons developed from mining tools, including mass compactors, tractor mauls and frag borers. Reflex shielding is also common – the metallic nodes that support the enclosing armour field are often fixed directly into the wearer’s thick hide.