When we wrote Dark Matter, we littered the ‘Verse with secrets. Some of these are intentional enigmas, designed to give a creative DM space to stretch their legs and make the setting their own. Some are simply buried, waiting for someone to connect all the dots. Here are some brand new open questions for your campaign that never quite made it into the book.
Dark Maws
The mystery of the Maw stations deepened when Astrogations Inc. discovered a “Dark Maw,” an abandoned Maw station disconnected from the rest of the network. There are no unexpected gaps in the regular geometry of the network to explain it—it’s simply an additional Maw station in deep space. The station seems to have always been bereft of amoeboid residents and is in profound disrepair.
Repairs are ongoing, but it seems that the Maw simply doesn’t connect to other Maws. Perhaps it sends ships to other Dark Maws or far off planes of existence, but no probe sent through it has so far returned.
Secrets of 707
The Night Crusade nearly saw the end of the Elven Empire. The Forest Fleet was routed back to Alden’val—the last fortress system before Etilion—and the Congregation was on the hunt. Suddenly, thousands of vect ships joined the elves in a deal brokered by Vect commander Unit 707. The battle was over before it began, and the Night Crusade ended shortly thereafter.
Does that seem too tidy? Too clean? It was. Seven O’ Seven worked in the shadows to ensure his people’s freedom, in a chapter never penned in the ‘Verse’s history books.
Vect strategy evolved from Swarm ship tactics to intricate black ops missions against their organic oppressors. At the height of the Night Crusade, one such mission headed by Seven O’ Seven saw a dozen vect commandos infiltrate the elven Forest Fleet in the midst of a battle over Kemet. The moment the avia-ra flagship, the Prophet, drew near, dozens of firebomb charges engulfed the Forest Fleet in an inferno. This was the “Miraculous Blow” that turned the tide against the Elven Empire and set the stage for Seven O’ Seven’s deal with the elves. It was a deal too good to refuse, precisely because Seven O’ Seven had planned it that way.
Few vect from the days of the Spark War are still around, but Seven O’ Seven persists. In the centuries sense, he has become a rusted warlord with hundreds of commandos, waiting for his moment to strike. Seven O’ Seven still has some grand scheme ticking about in his mechanical mind, and he’ll do anything to see it through to conclusion.
The First Primarch
In addition to being a scary bedtime story for spacer children, the wrothians are primarily two things: a biologically-constructed species and a psionic hivemind. Each wrothian is manufactured from biomatter in their vast and intricate creation matrices (not unlike the vect’s Foundry ship). Furthermore, each contains a spark of psionic potential, enough to be “resonant” with the primarch’s commands. When a primarch issues a psionic command, its inferiors are coerced into obedience.
This begs the question: if the wrothians were created and continue to create more of themselves, who created the first?
Somewhere in the ‘Verse, it slumbers. The First Primarch is a being of primeval psionic might that has hibernated for millennia. When it awakens, every wrothian in the ‘Verse—primarch and failure alike—suddenly heed its commands and move in a single, coordinated swarm. The First Primarch has some interest in the Galactic Core, and concentrates its forces nearby. What it wants, and how anyone can stop it, is anyone’s guess.
Previous entries:
Off the Record 2
Off the Record 1
Unlock all the secrets of the ‘Verse with the Dark Matter Megabox, coming to Kickstarter in 2026!
