Images from the Strange Stars

Art by Michael Golden

Thraxu blades are older than the thrax warrior culture that now wields them. The moiré pattern evident on close inspection of the (presumably inactive) sword's edge represent guides for programmable matter that (when the blade is energized) create a quantum virtual edge capable of cutting spacetime. Power packs for the ancient weapons are hard to come by, and so thrax knights wisely conserve their usage of high power settings.

Art by Gerald Parel

A menace on the Coreward Reach, the Scavengers are opportunistic pirates who follow the Locusts, a giant swarm of von Neumann machines that devour any habitats they encounter. The Scavenger scouts perform hit and run raids before the arrival of the mass of the swarm, and the majority of their fleet sweeps up any surviving ships once the swarm passes. Scavengers commonly have obvious and primitivist cybernetics, the better to frighten victims into submission.

Art by Fernando Fernandez

The Sisterhood of Morrgna zealously protect their habitat in the Zuran Expanse from outsiders. Sometimes, however, warriors like this one are glimpsed in mercenary cadres on other worlds.