Not all Freewalkers are satisfied with how the Union of Sentients has turned out. Sure, it keeps initiations fair, and yes, it does a good job of making gating technology available to everyone, but some sentients believe there are bigger issues to worry about. For example, GK philosophy continues to thrive in the Worlds and on the Union floor; the GK propaganda machine continues to export its culture and "revisionist history" to all gated Worlds. If this is freedom from GK tyranny, we might was well be enslaved.

The Fractured Dawn is a collection of Freewalkers, and a few like-minded sentients, who don't think the Union has delivered on its promise of a new beginning for the Worlds. Their name is a reference to how they see the modern gating community... as a broken, diluted version of the "new dawn" the Union was supposed to usher in. They believe the war against the Gatekeepers should never have been moved into the realm of politics; it should have stayed on the streets, where it can make a real difference in the lives of normal, everyday sentients.

So that's where the Fractured Dawn has taken it. They operate a vast network of loosely connected safe houses, weapons lockers, spies, informants, and smugglers whose sole purpose is to "liberate" Gatekeeper Worlds. Of course, this is exactly the kind of activity that will get you branded as a "terrorist" in thirty minutes or less, or your money back. Dawners are currently being hunted by many GK authorities, including Bastion itself. Like the freedom fighting ancestors they revere, the Freewalkers of the Fractured Dawn strike at their Gatekeeper enemies from the shadows of anonymity and use their own citizens against them in true guerilla warfare.

History

Dissatisfaction with the Union is far from a recent phenomenon. From the days of the first Union conference, there were sentients on all sides who protested the very idea, not to mention the implementation. Most of these were dedicated (some would say fanatical) soldiers who simply did not want to give up the fight. They saw the Union as a compromise; what they wanted was unconditional surrender.

Especially among the Freewalkers, these dissidents would often break away from the rest of their Societies and establish cabals or militias of their own. For a decade or two during the Union's first baby steps, membership in such a group was even considered fashionable; it showed that you remembered the idealistic principles of "the old days" and made you look dangerous to mainstream political opponents. In general, though, the types of dissident groups that would accept such armchair soldiers were more interested in profit than revolution.

During the Great War, many Union opponents believed they were about to be proved right. Anti-San prejudice had taken advantage of the Union's slow response time and swept the Societies up in what would become the bloodiest inter-World campaign on record. Many militia groups abandoned standing missions to come to the defense of helpless San communities. Unfortunately, their assistance wasn't enough to stop the rising tide of blood. In the end, the Union used the Great War as an excuse to gather more power, only adding to the dissidents' sense of defeat.

In the time since, most militias and cabals have been consolidating their power. Their near-total irrelevance in the Great War put things into perspective for them and, in order to increase their numbers, they've had to put aside dogmatic differences and combine their strength. Among the Freewalkers, the leader in this movement was (predictably) an anti-Gatekeeper faction that claimed their age-old nemeses escalated the Great War, pull all the strings in the Union, and otherwise rule the universe from behind the scenes. They encapsulated their distopic view of modern politics in their new name: The Fractured Dawn.

However, it has only been in the last few decades that the Dawn has found a focus for its considerable energies. Switching from a combat focus to an espionage focus, they've begun infiltrating one Gatekeeper World after another. Their purpose: to inspire open revolution and convert the target World to another Society. This strategy not only reduces the GK population, but it also creates the appearance that the GK way of life is dying out. Understandably, this mission appeals to a great many Freewalkers, and the Fractured Dawn's rank have swelled with new recruits.

Modus Operandi

Step one in a standard Fractured Dawn operation is infiltrating the target World. Depending on the social climate and degree of government monitoring, this process could take months or years. One by one, deep cover operatives, specially trained to impersonate Gatekeepers, move in and establish legitimate identities within the target civilization. At first, these are just normal, rank and file citizens, but the connections they make are used to place other operatives in military, political, and business positions of strategic importance. The end result is a network of entrenched Freewalker spies that looks like nothing more than an unrelated collection of perfectly normal Gatekeepers.

At the same time, other Dawners are moving into high-profile positions as nightclub owners, scholars, artists, and datanet hackers. These operatives latch onto any subversive subcultures that already exist, help build new ones, and introduce the young population to liberal philosophies. Like industrious termites taking up residence in the dark corners of an antique house, they gnaw away at the foundations of Gatekeeper society and weaken its cultural defenses.

The third prong of this opening move is to expand the criminal underworld via smuggling, gambling, and anything else that undermines the local government's authority. The Dawners specifically target items and activities that violate Gatekeeper moral codes and force citizens to face taboo subjects like sex and addiction. This doesn't just encourage civil unrest, though, it also gives the police a lot more to worry about that a couple of liberal academics, cultural subversives, and well-connected newcomers.

Once the chinks have been worked into the Worlds' cultural armor, it's time to bring out the big guns. Fractured Dawn agents, drawn from outside the target World as well as inside, frame the local GK police in a series of public scandals. Drug busts turn up nothing but property damage and angry civilians. Vice arrests of public officials turn out to be based on false evidence... that mysteriously disappears. Unusually complex crimes highlight the street cops' poor grasp of GK law and police procedure.

For obvious reasons, this is most Dawners' favorite part of any liberation.

This is also when the group's datadepts spring into action. In order the prevent the authorities from placing the scandals under effective spin control, the Fractured Dawn begins corrupting and disrupting the World's primary media channels. News shows, public databases, discussion forums, they're all fair game for Freewalker data warriors. When they're done, no GK citizen will be able to hear the same version of any story twice.

This step is essential to the success of a liberation. Control of information is one of the oldest tricks in the Gatekeeper book. In general, people will accept any plausible "truth" put in front of them, especially when they have no reason to distrust its source. By adding static to the signals, the Dawners create an ambiguous information environment where rumors and subversive thought can breed. This is a profoundly uncomfortable and disorienting situation for born-n-bred GKs.

The ultimate goal, of course, is open rebellion against the Gatekeeper Society as a whole, and the Fractured Dawn is always right down in the trenches. They facilitate popular revolution by drawing on everything they've put in place in the earlier stages. The rank and file moles encourage rebellious movements among the common people. Spies in positions of power use them to either aid the rebels or hinder the authorities. The criminal networks are used to smuggle weapons and other supplies to anyone with an itchy trigger finger. Subversive datanet sites serve as meeting places, war rooms, and secure communication channels.

This is also where Freewalkers from the Union of Sentients get involved. They may or may not be Fractured Dawn members, but the net effect is the same: Inter-World political pressure gets put on the local GKs to not bring in off-World reinforcements. After all, a military enforcement of GK cultural beliefs wouldn't be a very humanitarian act. Nor would it say much about Bastion's confidence in the strength and righteousness of their Society.

When all is said and done, the World isn't part of the Gatekeeper Society anymore. The Fractured Dawn would love them to become Freewalkers, but that's a big lead to make. Preserver, Collector, or even Immortal... as long as their not GK, mission accomplished.

Adventure Possibilities

Mole Hunt

This one works from both the FW and GK sides of a Fractured Dawn operation. Someone on the PCs' side of the fence is a double agent, but the PCs don't know who. If they're Gatekeepers, they've been noticing some suspiciously liberal behavior from one of the Dawn's rank and file, academic, or high-position plants. If the PCs are Dawners, then a few of their recent operations have been blown open by unexpected Gatekeeper resistance. They believe the GKs must have had advance warning, which means one of their own is a traitor. Finally, the PCs could be normal citizens of the target World, either loyal GKs or liberal subversives. In any case, your adventure will involve a lot of investigation work, surveillance, and possibly con games designed to test the suspect's loyalty.

Subversives

In this scenario, the PCs are Dawners engaged in one of the middle stages of a liberation. They could be any of various deep cover operatives, datanet agents, or even Gatekeeper liberals destined to become the leaders of the rebellion. Adventure ideas abound, from dodging GK mole hunts to converting strategic members of the government or just conducting security at a rave. This kind of adventure lends itself more to long-term, dramatic games than one-shots or cinematic games.

Border Run

Deep cover operatives rely on off-World support throughout all stages of a liberation. They need documentation to establish identities, information to coordinate their actions with Fractured Dawn initiatives, and contraband materials from Freewalker propaganda to unregistered weapons. A dedicated corps of Dawn smugglers attends to these needs 2 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sometimes, smuggling runs are even used as part of framing actions against planetary authorities. PCs engaging in a border run will have to find creative ways to get controlled substances and objects through stereotypically tight GK gate security, not to mention making covert drops to safehouses and deep cover operatives. Of course, running gun battles aren't unheard-of, either.

Rebellion

Finally, you can get your players into a heap of good old urban combat during the final stage of a Fractured Dawn mission. Freewalker commandos lend as much support to rebel actions as they can without making it obvious that the rebels are receiving off-World help. This requires just as much cunning and espionage work as it does pure ass whupin'. When there are no promising native leaders available, Dawn commandos might even need to coordinate rebel attacks... all while making it look like the locals are doing it on their own. For added challenge, you could set your adventure in a rebellion gone wrong, where the PCs have to fall back and escape a war-torn World that has fallen into iron-fisted GK martial law.

Game Stats

Fractured Dawn Safe House

Every operative in a Dawn-targeted World maintains a residence, but a safe house is an entirely different animal. The purpose of these facilities is to provide a secure location to store contraband, hide operatives who've been discovered, and, if everything goes to hell, fight a rearguard action while everyone else evacuates the planet. They are often manned by local criminals, smugglers, and subversives on rotating schedules, but at least one undercover Dawner is on hand at all times.

A safe house's first defense is always its anonymity. The Dawn usually sets up shop in whatever kind of residence is most common on the target World, from suburban family housing to skyscraper apartments to military barracks. The appearance of normalcy is essential. This puts an upper limit on acceptable security systems, since elaborate security attracts attention, but simple wards and low-tech booby traps usually suffice. In the final analysis, the Freewalker occupants of the safe house are its best defense.

Possible Security Systems:

• Electronic Perimeter (P3) Goes off if doors or windows are opened.
• Security Cameras (P3) Monitor exteriors, interiors, and entrances.
• Precognition (Y2) It's easy to catch trespassers when you know they're coming.
• Interest Wards (S3) Makes the place seem normal and uninteresting to observers.
• Divination (S2) Rune stones, tea leaves, etc; works as well as Precognition.

Dawner Datadept (Freewalker)

Abilities: B2 / A2 / P3 / I4 / W3 / C4 // R3 / S3

Skills:

• Datadept (4) Know the Datanet like the backs of their virtual hands.
• Recruiter (4) Turning liberal GKs into rebels, and FWs into Dawners.
• Spy (4) Counter-intelligence, propaganda, surveillance, acting, etc.

Gear:

• Miscellaneous Datatech (Lo-G, Shredder, Eye of God, etc.)

These guys run Dataspaces where liberal GKs can mingle with Freewalkers and hear all about the wonders of Pragmatic Altruism. They also serve as communication hubs for off-World Dawners and deep cover operatives. In the middle stages of a liberation, they conduct information warfare against GK media sources. To anyone who can't prove their loyalty to the Fractured Dawn, however, they appear as nothing more than friendly virtual club owners, journalists, and librarians.

Dawner Mole (Freewalker)

Abilities: B2 / A2 / P3 / I4 / W3 / C4 // R3 / S3

Skills:

• Impersonation (5) Live for years as normal, if a bit liberal, Gatekeepers.
• Job (3) Construction, accounting, day care, law enforcement... pick one.
• Self Defense (2) You hope it never comes to violence, but you never know.
• Rabble Rouser (*) Knows how to whip up a mob and direct its actions.
• Hide Stuff (*) Covert communications, weapons, contraband... all under the bed!

Gear:

• Whatever's appropriate to their social status and their World's Pillar ratings.

These are the most dedicated of all the Fractured Dawn's soldiers. They give up years of their lives in order to establish a false life as an average, work-a-day Gatekeeper in a target World. Most of their time is spent just doing whatever a GK with their job does. They work, raise families, go on vacations, you name it. Then, when the Dawn needs something done, they put both their lives on the line to do it. In the last stages of a liberation, they may even help engineer riots and incite their families and friends to rebellion.

Dawner Smuggler (Freewalker)

Abilities: B2 / A3 / P3 / I3 / W3 / C4 // R3 / S3

Skills:

• Criminal (5) Contacts in the underworld, tricks for beating security, etc.
• Fighter (3) Stealth is always the first choice, but no plan is perfect.
• Magic (3) Some illusion or mind magic appropriate to the target World.
• Drive (*) Sometimes, you have to cut and run!

Gear:

• A vehicle appropriate to the cargo and Pillar ratings in question.
• Contraband, from weapons and drugs to encrypted messages.

It's hard to stage a rebellion without weapons, and its even harder to expand a criminal underworld without access to illegal goods. These Dawners are career criminals who want to put their shady dealings to a greater purpose than mere profit. They are experts at circumventing GK gate security systems, whether it be through magical illusions, technical trickery, or old fashioned con games. They may also get involved in plots to frame local authorities via false arrests and the like.

Dawner Commando (Freewalker)

Abilities: B4 / A4 / P3 / I2 / W3 / C2 // R4 / S4

Skills:

• Whupin' GK Ass (5) This covers all your combat skills from guns to brawling.
• Espionage (4) Most rebellions require a certain amount of cunning and deception.
• Battle Magic (3) Or a reasonably facsimile that works better on the target World.

Gear:

• The best available weapons for the Pillar ratings, though melee weapons are preferred.
• Communications equipment, usually tied together via a Fractured Dawn dataspace.

Many of these sentients are remnants of the militias that have joined the Fractured Dawn in recent years. Others are just able-bodied new recruits who want to resurrect the glory of pre-Union days. The former are veteran soldiers who plan and coordinate attacks, while the latter are usually found in the front lines. If any of them are active on a GK World, it's probably already too late to stop the liberation.