Faction Focus - The Broken
Posted on Thursday Sept 11, 2025 at 05:00pm in The Broken
From the factories and the slums, the mining complexes and the farms of the galaxy come the Broken, a growing movement of dispossessed citizenry who have banded together in a galaxy gone mad. A diverse mix of workers, aliens, and rogues, they have one thing in common: the ruling elite deemed them unworthy to be saved. They pool their resources and knowledge in a communal effort to escape the Edge. Fear, hate, anger, and need fused them into an unstoppable force with one goal - survive by any means necessary.
Broken is a term used to unify all such desperate people across the Edge. Their motivations and methods vary wildly - from fervent revolutionaries to callous pirates to the few who have stared into the maw of the Maelstrom only to come away unhinged. Abandoned by their governments, rejected by the systems to which they flee for succor, the Broken must scrape, claw and fight just to see each new day.
The vast majority of Broken consider themselves Forsaken, a catchall name for those who feel that the rest of the Sagittarius Arm has given up on them. Their Freeports are self-declared independent states, and will happily negotiate pacts and trade deals with any entity willing to recognize their autonomy and bargain fairly with them.
As the Maelstrom approaches a planet, the complete breakdown of their society feels to a certain type of individual like the constraints of morality have finally been lifted. Should they escape their doomed world, these Broken souls become Jackals: bloodthirsty murderers who take no prisoners and attack the vulnerable because it brings them pleasure. Eschewing fixed bases, Jackal fleets are a scourge across the Edge, constantly on the prowl for easy targets to enrich themselves.
The rarest Broken faction, secret Spiral Arm Revolutionary Army companies have formed all across the Edge, and continually recruit new members with the mantra that if the common man doesn’t band together to save themselves, then no one will. SARA attracts many former members of planetary militaries, with whole regiments sometimes deserting their posts when they find they have been abandoned by the official evacuation effort. As a result, SARA is more organized and better disciplined than other Broken forces, with a more effective supply chain.
There are a huge number of different alien species found on worlds throughout the human-dominated regions of the Sagittarius Arm. For many, though, their size, customs, diet, or environmental needs make them difficult to accommodate on evacuation ships, and so they are considered expendable and given the lowest priority in the queue. Effectively abandoned by the Foundation, these species find refuge amongst the ranks of the Broken - the massive, scaled Gnolti, the squat, slow-moving Pa’ku, the nervous, lumbering Skoti, or the lanky, radiation-resistant Kasmenai, to name just a few. Other aliens are less numerous, but still useful and welcomed - Ichthyoid Uldagane with their pressurized immersion suits, serpentine Wiioun making themselves at home in waste reclamation tanks, or Pajah Windspeakers, occasionally found tinkering with the engines of raiding vehicles to give an extra boost of speed to a mechanized force.
On the table, Broken forces will generally outnumber other factions, being comprised primarily of poorly trained but numerous troops. These rabble hordes are supplemented by various specialists providing technological boosts or various Xenos species with exotic abilities or brute strength. Sig Jammers and Marsayan Hypnotists interfere with an enemy's communications or targeting systems. Massive Gnolti provide a living shield for their smaller compatriots, until they get in close enough to use their massive fists to devastating effect. Snipers and Pa'ku harass enemy units with hi-tech disruptive or explosive ammunition, while Skoti use their innate teleportation to move Broken troops swiftly around the battlefield.
While their troops are less durable than most of their enemies, the Broken make up for it with their numbers and their ability to move unpredictably around the battlefield. Many Broken units benefit from the Mob Mentality ability, which grants them a bonus to their Willpower based on the size of the unit - taking the mantra of strength in numbers very literally. The Broken also have a unique edge in their deployment, with Shadow Strike allowing Broken units in terrain to leave the table, emerging from a different terrain feature in a later turn.
Find out more about the elusive Broken on the Maelstrom's Edge website here.
The Maelstrom's Edge V2 rulebook is available to order from the 15th of September. Watch this space for more news!
Let us know your thoughts on the Comm Guild Facebook group!
Broken is a term used to unify all such desperate people across the Edge. Their motivations and methods vary wildly - from fervent revolutionaries to callous pirates to the few who have stared into the maw of the Maelstrom only to come away unhinged. Abandoned by their governments, rejected by the systems to which they flee for succor, the Broken must scrape, claw and fight just to see each new day.
The vast majority of Broken consider themselves Forsaken, a catchall name for those who feel that the rest of the Sagittarius Arm has given up on them. Their Freeports are self-declared independent states, and will happily negotiate pacts and trade deals with any entity willing to recognize their autonomy and bargain fairly with them.
As the Maelstrom approaches a planet, the complete breakdown of their society feels to a certain type of individual like the constraints of morality have finally been lifted. Should they escape their doomed world, these Broken souls become Jackals: bloodthirsty murderers who take no prisoners and attack the vulnerable because it brings them pleasure. Eschewing fixed bases, Jackal fleets are a scourge across the Edge, constantly on the prowl for easy targets to enrich themselves.
The rarest Broken faction, secret Spiral Arm Revolutionary Army companies have formed all across the Edge, and continually recruit new members with the mantra that if the common man doesn’t band together to save themselves, then no one will. SARA attracts many former members of planetary militaries, with whole regiments sometimes deserting their posts when they find they have been abandoned by the official evacuation effort. As a result, SARA is more organized and better disciplined than other Broken forces, with a more effective supply chain.
There are a huge number of different alien species found on worlds throughout the human-dominated regions of the Sagittarius Arm. For many, though, their size, customs, diet, or environmental needs make them difficult to accommodate on evacuation ships, and so they are considered expendable and given the lowest priority in the queue. Effectively abandoned by the Foundation, these species find refuge amongst the ranks of the Broken - the massive, scaled Gnolti, the squat, slow-moving Pa’ku, the nervous, lumbering Skoti, or the lanky, radiation-resistant Kasmenai, to name just a few. Other aliens are less numerous, but still useful and welcomed - Ichthyoid Uldagane with their pressurized immersion suits, serpentine Wiioun making themselves at home in waste reclamation tanks, or Pajah Windspeakers, occasionally found tinkering with the engines of raiding vehicles to give an extra boost of speed to a mechanized force.
On the table, Broken forces will generally outnumber other factions, being comprised primarily of poorly trained but numerous troops. These rabble hordes are supplemented by various specialists providing technological boosts or various Xenos species with exotic abilities or brute strength. Sig Jammers and Marsayan Hypnotists interfere with an enemy's communications or targeting systems. Massive Gnolti provide a living shield for their smaller compatriots, until they get in close enough to use their massive fists to devastating effect. Snipers and Pa'ku harass enemy units with hi-tech disruptive or explosive ammunition, while Skoti use their innate teleportation to move Broken troops swiftly around the battlefield.
While their troops are less durable than most of their enemies, the Broken make up for it with their numbers and their ability to move unpredictably around the battlefield. Many Broken units benefit from the Mob Mentality ability, which grants them a bonus to their Willpower based on the size of the unit - taking the mantra of strength in numbers very literally. The Broken also have a unique edge in their deployment, with Shadow Strike allowing Broken units in terrain to leave the table, emerging from a different terrain feature in a later turn.
Find out more about the elusive Broken on the Maelstrom's Edge website here.
The Maelstrom's Edge V2 rulebook is available to order from the 15th of September. Watch this space for more news!
Let us know your thoughts on the Comm Guild Facebook group!
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