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Death’s Head

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 70
Grim Manufacturers
Manufacturing Centers: Eox (the Atraskien Shelf, Orphys)
Specialties: Mass-produced undead starships
Famous Models: Charon, Necroglider, Phantasm

Death’s Head is defined by massive production runs. Its low prices and easy availability inspire voracious demand, but the true cost is paid inside its nightmarish factories. Shipyards that resemble prison camps more than assembly lines swarm with monstrous laborers. Undead work grueling hours that would have broken their living counterparts, all while navigating hazardous conditions and industrial accidents. Death’s Head takes full advantage of its undead workforce to cut every available cost and corner. Still, undeath offers no guarantee of safety from machinery mishaps, so the company always has vacancies to fill.

Like Blackwind and Thaumtech, Death’s Head was founded during the Gap but lost substantial data from that time. Rather than reverse-engineer the company’s own technology, its leadership chose a faster approach. They took the small proof-of-concept models found in the company’s hangars, expanded on the designs just enough for mass production, and then released hordes of cheap, single-occupancy ships to sell by the squadron. Though these hastily assembled fighters and shuttles were legendarily shoddy, they reached the post-Gap market faster than their Eoxian competitors; Death’s Head has ridden this momentum for over two centuries.

Death’s Head caters to undead clientele, which makes cutting costs even easier. Its ships have no need for life support or environmental controls, and though unpopular with living customers, the company is a top manufacturer among Eoxians. The Necroglider is the sixteenth iteration of Death’s Head’s original single-occupancy design and boasts the lowest price tag in the history of the model. Numerous bone sages have longstanding contracts that ensure a near-endless supply of Phantasms for their forces. Large-frame Charon freighters are popular with merchants willing to trade life support for extra cargo space, and Death’s Head pays traders for bodies to reanimate in exchange for discounted maintenance costs. The company is careful to keep these arrangements legal, but the Stewards frequently stop these ships for “surprise” inspections.

Perigost Zephilem (NE male elebrian necrovite) is the CEO of Death’s Head. Considered eccentric even among necrovites, he was once the bone sage of a necropolis called Delthani. Strangely, Delthani has been missing since the Gap ended. Zephilem has no idea what happened to his former domain, and he endlessly pursues information that might reveal its fate. His rivals know how to exploit his obsessions, and they’ve done so in the past to divide his attentions.

Manufacturer Perk: As a dubious benefit of their haphazard wiring, certain countermeasures are easy to install in Death’s Head ships. Reduce the BP cost to install shock grid computer countermeasures by 1.