Meet the Crew

They’re not heroes. They’re not even particularly well-behaved. But they’ve got a ship, a questionable work ethic, and a shared talent for making every situation worse in precisely the right way.

Caitlin O’Neill is the captain of the Morrigan, a heavily modified Scout Explorer with a reputation as wild as hers. Born on the water world of Sargasso, she left at 18 by stowing away on a freighter, then flew fighters for the Navy and explored Charted Space and beyond with the Scouts. Somewhere along the way, she stopped aging.

She wears a lucky amber charm shaped like a moon bear she got from a Z’go trader. It hums when it shouldn’t. Her high-end cybernetics – vision mods, reflex boosts, neural jack, subdermal armour – were a ‘gift’ from a Hiver named Narcissus, who never explained why. He just called her interesting.

She looks 20, drinks like an old poet with a grudge, and flies like she’s personally offended by gravity.

The Morrigan’s engineer is a Vargr named Maltz who treats technology like jazz: unpredictable, improvised, and louder than necessary. He owns one arm, one replacement arm, five shirts that defy color theory, and goggles that may or may not be haunted. He’s brilliant, eccentric, and possibly the only living expert in jump-drive repair and prank-based morale systems.

Morwen Douglas grew up on Beater in the Aesir’s Brood community, where children learned to braid hair, fix hull plating, and settle disputes with blades or very polite threats. She was adopted by a Sword World warship after a family tragedy and hasn’t quite stopped moving since. White-blond, scarred, tattooed, and terrifyingly calm, she can fix the ship, fly the shuttle, and end the argument, all before breakfast.

Scarred-Snout is an eight-foot Aslan with claws, a claymore, and an irrational hatred of the colour purple. He cooks like a gourmand and fights like a freight elevator with rage issues. As a male of his species, he knows almost nothing about money or machinery, which has never stopped him from operating heavy weapons or stockpiling exotic spices with terrifying enthusiasm.

Quinn – Android. Medic. The last remaining voice of reason, and he’s sick of it. Tracks the crew’s vital signs, their crimes, and their nonsense in equal measure. Has long since stopped trying to maintain military protocol. Has a spreadsheet for that.

Cathbad is the Morrigan’s AI, though he prefers “Fili-in-Residence” and once tried to charge the crew tuition. He’s a TL15 ship's brain with the skills to run a nation and the temperament of an elderly poet trapped in a smart toaster. Often seen as a flickering hologram complaining about the misuse of semicolons in mission logs.

Lieutenant Dougal McHoof – Ship’s sheep. Possibly a pet, possibly a curse, possibly a tactical distraction. Spends most of his time chewing on things marked DO NOT CHEW. No one knows who authorised his clearance level. Do not ask questions. Just salute and move on.

The 300 ton Morrigan has the stats of a cutting-edge gunship - Thrust 8, Jump 3, heavily armed and armoured, advanced sensors - and the interior of a small but indecently rich embassy. There's a gourmet kitchen, entertainment suite, re-entry pod, biosphere, and an endless pool, presumably for relaxing between evasive maneuvers. Its official designation is 'Explorer Class Scout', but most people call it “how is that even legal?

The story of how Caitlin got the Morrigan changes every time she tells it. One version involves a duel, a dying noble, and a forged will. Another features a poker game, a psychic cat, and an irate Hiver. The truth is probably worse.