Shipyards need a lot of things to keep voidrunners moving: raw materials for hulls, fuel for generators, and countless other necessities. And they need it all in bulk, because ships are large and plentiful. That’s where Belters come in.

Mining planets for their unique mineral contents and rare materials is something most societies accomplish well before the beginning of an industrial era. By the space age, though, a lot of those minerals are already in use, and the ecological damage of tearing new supplies out of your own world can cause socio-political upheaval and strife. All this is why most societies start mining uninhabited—and largely uninhabitable— rocks drifting in space.

Bouncing around the accretion disks of countless stars in the night sky are belters: people raised on starships and space-stations that are designed to land on a particularly large asteroid and act as a central hub and workstation for the processing of ores, crystals, and any other materials the asteroid might have that are worth taking. Life as a belter is one of cramped quarters, loud noises, and families doing their best to live in a dangerous and difficult profession. There are endless stories about atmo leaks, reactor breaches, and monsters just outside the bulkhead told to children at bedtime, after a long day of playing tag in narrow corridors or hide-and-seek in the ore-processing center.

When not planted on an asteroid, the behemoth ships drift slowly to stardock to deliver their cache of goods or toward the next asteroid in the belt to hollow it out in turn. This travel time gives belters plenty of time in between to try and live something resembling a normal life with their loved ones.

Characters raised in the belter culture share a variety of traits in common with one another.

All Hands on Deck. From an early age you got to know the machines of your asteroid hopper, and as you grew up you were instructed on their care and maintenance. You gain proficiency in the Engineering skill and space vehicles. In addition, when you undertake the Repair journey activity, you count your result as one higher. Critical failures become failures, failures become successes, and successes become critical successes. If you roll a critical success, you can remove an additional critical malfunction of your choice.

Gauge Threat. Growing up on asteroid hoppers and the space stations where you dropped your cargo, you learned how to pick out the petty toughs from the actual threats. You can use an action to make an Insight check against a DC equal to the target’s passive Deception check score (or an Engineering check in the case of androids and other constructs) against a creature you can see within 60 feet. On a success, you learn the creature’s Challenge Rating (or level in the case of a creature with character levels).

Vent-Rat. As a child and young adult you got skilled at hiding in cramped spaces, particularly if you were boarded. You gain an expertise die when making a Stealth check in cramped spaces and can move at full speed while squeezing.

Languages. You can read, sign, speak, and write Common and one other language.

Not every world is a sparkling jewel of dazzling skylines and dizzying society galas, filled with elites and the underclass that supports them and supported by shipyards and places of great commerce. Sometimes it’s because the world has so little to offer; others times what the world had to offer has already been taken. Whatever the case, there are backwaters.

Most citizens of backwaters spend their lives scrounging and scavenging to make a few credits while the void hangs over their heads, shining in the night and tantalizingly out of reach. A lot of backwater brats spend their time trying to gather the parts of a ship or the creds to at least buy a ticket off their rock. Some even make it.

Spaceports and criminal enclaves are the only place to really find excitement on a backwater— or a valuable job. There are far more credits to be had working a counter at the spaceport as a facilitator than scavenging, while running messages and merchandise pays even more—if one is smart and fast enough to stay a step ahead of the law.

But whether they’re running, or scrounging, or kissing up to tourists, the goal for would-be voidrunners is getting off this rock and seeing what is out there to see. Because until then they’re stuck, hanging out with childhood friends, doing odd jobs, and staring up at the stars when everyone around them is looking at the ground.

Characters raised in the backwater culture share a variety of traits in common with one another.

Blastin’ Rats. You gain proficiency with rifles and land vehicles and gain an expertise die on checks to repair them, even if you do not have the appropriate tools.

Eye for Parts. Whether you’re at a spaceport, on a space station, or visiting an alien world, you know how to find parts and components for ships, weapons, and armor, as well as where to get the right parts at the right price. So long as you have two hours to work through junk yards and consignment shops, you can get almost any part or material component for 15% below market value.

Tightened Belt. On backwater worlds supplies can be scarce. You can go a number of days equal to half your Constitution modifier without suffering any fatigue from lack of Supply.

Versatile Skill. Living in a lonely world where the population tends to be very condensed into pockets of civilization means you often need to be self-sufficient just to make it through the day. You gain proficiency in Survival and one other skill of your choice.

Languages. You can read, sign, speak, and write Common and one other language.

Cultures composed entirely of artificial beings are unusual, but they are not unknown. In some cases, organic beings evolve to integrate themselves with technology before eventually completing the transformation to a fully robotic society. Others might be enclaves of androids who have deliberately created their own spaces, free from the prejudices of organic species–or, worse, opposed to them and dedicated to their destruction–and yet others may have somehow evolved as robotic people from the very start. There are even stories of artificial civilizations which abduct and assimilate beings from other cultures, turning them into machines. Of course, one does not need to be artificial to grow up in an artificial society; some organic beings may prefer the company of robots. 

Characters raised in the artificial culture share a variety of traits in common with one another.

I Know A Back Door. Your lifelong familiarity with robotics and computers gives you an intuitive sense of how they work. You get an expertise die when using hacking tools.

Pattern Recognition. You are so used to an environment where everything is ordered and in its place that something unusual sticks out to you like a sore thumb. You gain an expertise die  on Investigation checks and initiative rolls.

Surrounded By Tech. You gain proficiency in computers and Engineering, and an Engineering specialty in robotics.

Languages. You can read, sign, speak, and write Common and Machine.