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Hivonyx Industries

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 70
Pacifist Artisans
Manufacturing Centers: Verces
Specialties: Defensive and high-speed vessels, guest accommodations
Famous Models: Ambassador, Diplomat, Titan Hauler

Hivonyx Industries got its start far from the Pact Worlds. The company’s founders were shirrens from Ilemchuuva who, in 64 ag, used some of the shirrens’ first Drift-capable starships to escape the Swarm and explore the galaxy. Six shirrens became lead mechanics, carefully maintaining the small fleet through its interstellar journey into the unknown, and all eventually reached the Pact Worlds. After convincing the inhabitants there that they meant no harm, the shirrens settled on Verces. The six engineers went from simply maintaining the original fleet to manufacturing their own ships, and Hivonyx was born. These ships were very different aesthetically from anything in the Pact Worlds at the time, featuring insect-like exteriors and colorful paint jobs.

The organization, born from devout Hylaxians, has maintained the Forever Queen’s values throughout its existence, promoting peace, diplomacy, and first contact. Hivonyx takes this mission so seriously that every starship it manufactures comes with software countermeasures that prevent its weapons from firing unless the ship has taken damage, ensuring that any shots fired are strictly in self-defense. Their original models, in fact, featured no weapons at all, and Hivonyx continues to produce many unarmed starships. These colorful, insectile, and easily recognizable ships were attacked as easy prey whenever they left Verces, however, and while their clientele wanted to support the pacifist mission, they found their own safety at risk. Hivonyx relented to protect its own customers and now includes modest weapons on most of its starships. While no military would ever outfit its soldiers with Hivonyx craft, these ships are armed well enough to stage a fighting withdrawal. Some non-Hylaxian customers get hackers to remove the software modifications that prevent first strikes, even though doing so voids the ships’ factory-issued warranty.

Hivonyx is working to develop Drift-capable technology that doesn’t involve pulling pieces from other planes into the Drift, which some Hylaxians consider to be a violent act. After all, ruins, homes, and even entire settlements have been forcibly relocated to the Drift, inflicting unrecorded trauma on their inhabitants, who find themselves lost on the mysterious plane and threatened by Drift natives, various outsiders, and other transplanted refugees. Hivonyx engineers say they’re close to a breakthrough. A group of Triune followers, however, believe this technological breakthrough would be a heretical subversion of Triune’s gift, which they see as bringing cultures together in unexpected ways. They’ve resolved to stop Hivonyx at any cost.

Manufacturer Perk: Hivonyx ships often carry important visitors, so the guest quarters are built to be more spacious and comfortable; common quarters house 10 passengers, good quarters house six passengers, and luxurious quarters house four passengers.