Safa Ship Catalog ยท Chapter 12
Compatibility
A mechanic can force almost any system into almost any hull. The difficulty depends on the relationship between the hull's builder and the system's builder. This chapter gives Safa's relationships and what each one costs, and names the three Contractor Partners. The one integration table for every builder is in the Vehicles Manual, Chapter Five, Builder Integration; the installation rules are in its Chapter Ten.
Safa's Relationships
| Builder | Relationship | Status on the Ship Sheet |
|---|---|---|
| Safa Celestial Arsenal | House | Native |
| Malhan Builders, Yabrin Fleets, Karmin Line | Partner (Contractor Partners) | Certified |
| Antaean Openframe | Open | Adapted |
| Crown Meridian | Rival | Forced |
| Kharos Forge | Rival | Forced |
| Viridian Lattice | Rival | Forced |
| Uncapped AI interfaces, AGI-linked code, restricted reactor and weapon systems | Forbidden | Forbidden |
The defaults agree in every other book: Crown, Kharos and Viridian each list Safa as a Rival, and Openframe lists Safa as Open. A specific yard, treaty or black-market specialist can change a relationship for one installation; the GM states the new relationship before the check.
Installation Modifiers
Apply the modifier to the base installation difficulty (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Ten, Installing a Module). The same modifier applies to Craft checks to repair that system (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Eleven).
| Relationship | Modifier |
|---|---|
| House (Safa system, Safa hull) | None |
| Partner (Contractor Partner component) | Add 1 Bane Die |
| Open (Openframe) | Add 2 Bane Dice |
| Rival, or any system installed damaged, rebuilt past its specification, or heavily modified (Forced) | Upgrade 1 Trial Die to a Crisis Die and add 2 Bane Dice |
| Forbidden | Upgrade 1 or 2 Trial Dice to Crisis Dice (GM's choice by severity) and add 2 Bane Dice |
Open Interfaces. Safa's Open Interfaces drawback adds 1 Bane Die on top of the modifier for any non-Safa component installed in a Safa hull (Chapter 4). One exception, PROPOSED: a Contractor Partner's component installed at that Partner's own certified yard adds no Open Interfaces die, because the yard holds the keys.
A successful installation does not always leave a clean system. When an installation fails or produces a complication, use the Vehicles Manual, Chapter Ten, Mixed-Builder and Military Failure Modes.
The Contractor Partners
Canon says Safa has "limited licensed partners", named per contract. Paul named three. A Contractor Partner is a Caliphate firm licensed by the Sacred Arsenal Directorate to work on Safa hulls and to build components Safa certifies. It is a contract and not a shipwright: no Contractor Partner builds a hull. The status gives a Contractor Partner's component the Certified status aboard a Safa hull and lets the Partner hold a Seal. What each firm does is PROPOSED and is for Paul to cut.
Malhan Builders. A Caliphate construction contractor that runs most Safa-certified refit yards and builds the structural fittings of the Cathedral Axis hulls: docking courts, cradle frames and plating. A Safa owner meets Malhan when a hull is refitted, transferred or re-certified. Malhan finances the work through yard bonds (Chapter 11). Its certified component is the Hardened Cradle.
Yabrin Fleets. A Caliphate fleet operator and lessor that holds Seals for hulls it leases to vetted customers and supplies Directorate-vetted crews. A Safa hull that has been leased, crewed and returned is a Yabrin hull in all but the keel. Yabrin sells the conversions that give a Safa hull the cargo and passenger capacity Safa will not: the Contract Hold Kit and Pilgrim Berths.
Karmin Line. A licensed courier and pilgrim-convoy line that flies S2, S3 and S4 hulls on the Caliphate's routes and sponsors the licensed circuit races. A pilot flies under the Line's Seal and shares the freight. The Line's navigation and communications fit is the Transit Array.
Outside Safa hulls. A Contractor Partner's component fitted to another maker's hull counts as a Safa component for that hull's relationship with Safa: Adapted aboard an Openframe hull, Forced aboard a Crown Meridian, Kharos or Viridian hull. No other maker lists a Contractor Partner.
Mixed Ships
Safa systems in other hulls. A Safa system in an Openframe hull is Adapted and works as a Standard system. In a Crown Meridian, Kharos or Viridian hull it is Forced. Either way it loses its Signature benefit, and the ship loses Integrated Architecture once more than 2 of its 12 core systems come from another builder (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Five, Integrated Architecture). A stolen Safa reactor in a patchwork ship is the classic Forced install; the Seal on the original hull reports its absence.
Other systems in Safa hulls. A Safa hull takes another maker's system badly, and that is the point. An Openframe system is Adapted (+2 Bane Dice, plus the Open Interfaces die). A Crown Meridian, Kharos or Viridian system is Forced. Safa's Weak drawbacks belong to the hull and apply whoever built the installed system.
Military systems. Restricted reactor and weapon systems are Forbidden aboard any hull outside Caliphate service. A Safa hull carrying one fails authentication at the next checkpoint (Chapter 11).
Uncapped AI. A directive intelligence with an uncapped interface, or any AGI-linked code, is Forbidden aboard a Safa hull. The hull's firmware refuses it and reports the attempt.
Which Builder for the Hole in the Fleet
| If the crew needs | Look at |
|---|---|
| A hauler | Openframe, Safa's Open compatibility; a Safa hull will not carry freight well |
| A hull that survives its own damage | Crown Meridian, a Rival; a Crown hull is the tougher cutter |
| A hull that is easy to patch in the field | Kharos, a Rival |
| A ship that reads its own damage | Viridian, a Rival |
| A hull that outruns and outshoots | Safa, at a price in integration |