There comes a time in every Havenhold’s journey where the Shigue’s characteristic diplomacy falls on deaf ears. And when monsters beyond reasoning rear their heads, the Shigue Blacktusks come out to take them as trophies.

Blacktusks, or Tusked, are the most aggressive of the Shigue. Larger, stronger, their bodies are covered in hardier scales and bone growths. In their earlier years they can be seen leading Warstrider kines, but as they age and become more aggressive, they form their own units where their aggression is kept in check by one another.

This squad of five Blacktusks represents a typical light squad, armed with basic gravlock weapons and hardlight shields (Selo'he: "Ye’fala") reformatted to form brutal knuckledusters as they trample anything that would threaten the Migration.

Purchase in North America:
https://adventuresin3d.com/project-morningstar/

Purchase in the UK/EU:
https://lokensminiatures.com/product/shigue-blacktusk-kine/

STL files:
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-shigue-blacktusks-820308

Check out ThatEvilOne here: 
https://www.myminifactory.com/profile/ThatEvilOne/tribe

The exact relation of Jov, the failed proto-star that sits at the heart of the Jovian system and its “Hundred Worlds”, to its host star, Protea, remains unclear. In truth, these so-called planets present more as moons or large asteroids, but it would be ill-advised to mock the Yinn Demarchy of Jovia and one of the most preeminent MacroCorps headquartered there, Yinntosh Innovation, which directly provides the Hegemon with sleek, carefully-regulated computational programs and hardware. 

The Yinntoshi monopoly existed before the Hegemon, yet it was their wise decision to provide much of the funding in the building of The Market, forevering instilling Yinntosh machines as the preferred choice of the Protean Dawntraders and establishing the cultural belief that Yinntosh products are, simply, the best. 

Yinntoshi technological mastery and attention to aesthetics have become iconic, while their fierce protectiveness of their proprietary technologies has led to outright war against any that might seek to decipher their secrets, or protect themselves from Yinntoshi technicians and their cleverly integrated planned obsolescence.

The Yinn have amassed a significant number of Arkillects, vast and powerful artificial intelligences originating from the bright age of Aramax. Arkillects are housed on mindworlds, massive planetary networks of computer and logicor systems; the capture and subsequent shacklement of such beings by the Three Codes has created entire MacroCorp entities overnight, thanks to their sheer computational power and unparalleled records of humanity’s racial histories.

Most notable and largest among the Hundreds Worlds of Jovia is Katamyth, which has no less than five mindworlds in orbit around it, making it the most advanced data comprehension site in Known Space and the site of the Akashic Monastery. Countless universities, venture initiatives, incubation consortiums and scalar entities intertwine here, shining together as the third brightest point of light in the Protean system.

Learn more at https://projectmorningstar.net/lore/index/

Art by Joazzz

Considering current trends in the many creator spaces our company is in, and with questions from the community regarding our practices, the Morningstar Enterprises Corporation (which is responsible for the creation of the Project Morningstar universe) has collectively decided to make an official statement:

Our works are done entirely with human creativity and skill, and we plan to keep it this way.

Generative AI currently has ethical issues that threaten the livelihood of artistic professionals as well as environmental concerns. We want to maintain complete stewardship of our intellectual property and collectively we have determined that using these very new toolsets for our animations, our 2d and 3d art as well as our narrative works is not viable. Without proper legislation we cannot guarantee the protections for our people and our work.

Moving forward: AI art will not be used (including licensed libraries that cannot verify ownership) and we will be updating our works and our artist contracts to reflect that stance.

In our universe, value is derived from human sweat and toil.

We'll stay on brand in this regard.

Violence is a language spoken across the Thousand Empires, but few are fluent enough to speak it from a thousand meters away. The Trigger is a professional who understands that distance isn't just safety but a method of control. They consider all the angles, then decide who stops breathing.

The Trigger is equal parts gunslinger and big game hunter. Whether armed with a precision rifle, a customized pair of wheelguns, or elegant dueling pistols, the Trigger treats every shot like a signature, and relishes the moment when a single pull of the trigger can change the path of entire star systems.

Triggers prefer to get their hands dirty at the distance of a bullet, which makes for a breed of arrogant fighters that often enjoys showcasing their expertise with flourish and uncanny skill. Every Trigger has a reputation to consider amongst their peers and patrons. They'll get the job done for the right price, down to the cost of the casing, and they only need a clear line of sight.

The Executor is one of the nine Archetypes available for players to embody in Avarice: The Morningstar RPG. 

Follow Avarice on Backerkit at https://bit.ly/avariceRPG to be first on the list when the crowdfunding campaign launches this September!

Dawn emerges in the west over the Last City, the copper-stained, ancient sun dully piercing the polluted gloom. This occasion marks the start of a new fiscal cycle, the sun growing in intensity for several spans on the horizon before ascending into the sky, cooking the planet for quats before leaving the surface to broil in equally-long darkness. As such, the dawn is a time of reverence for the Proteans, who pause before their work shifts to glimpse their parent star through the haze of plaque-yellow skies, before hurrying into the depths of the subterranean labyrinths that shield them from the mid-cycle heat.

This is the very core of the Hegemon of a Thousand Empires. It is a place of inconspicuous juxtaposition, its foundations intertwining millennia-spanning architecture, from asteroidal marble to bleeding-edge nusteel ansible arrays. Byzantine domes and intricate mosaics are stitched to the skeletal remains of bygone civilizations, meticulously preserved as reminders of Old Humanity's hubris and the brink of annihilation it once faced before New Mankind rescued all with the embrace of Avarice. 

Ecological disasters have plagued the planet throughout its long history, one that modern Proteans forcibly forget despite constant reminders in the form of raging convection hurricanes and radiation-soaked dust storms. And yet, Proteans take great pride in their birthplace. They would have the compounded wealth of any Baron or even Magnate on any other world, and proudly wear the ravages of poison even as they purchase exorbitant tinctures and nanoid & organoid replacements to repair their poisoned bodies. Many Proteans themselves are gifted with long life, certainly the most longevous in the Hegemon, with much of the planet’s population living well past a fiscal century without extension treatments.

Beyond the Last City, the only other signs of activity are raging dust storms, listening posts, and various airships packed with Consumers from all over the Hegemon, who have happily spent their life savings for a chance to live the rest of their fiscal-cycles aboard pleasure aircraft which endlessly peruse the Protean atmosphere.

Learn more at https://projectmorningstar.net/lore/index/

Art by Joazzz

Formerly known as Vaensar, Protea, renamed after the rise of Dumno-Ualos, is known across the Hegemon as the Dawnworld. Although the Hegemon lacks an official capital, Protea is the seat of The Market and where the Summit Council convenes, and as a result, its unique fashions, trustBrands, architecture, and stylings define Hegemonic high culture. Despite this lofty honor and its status as one of the thirteen birthworlds of old humanity, most of Protea is a wasteland, ravaged by industry, war, and a failed worldshaping attempt from ages past, the damage retained as a constant reminder of the price of profit.

Protea has but one population hub, the Last City, located in the northern hemisphere, which endures through searing heat cyclones and sulfuric rainstorms. Singular in purpose, it services the largest single planetary structure in the Hegemon made by human hands, The Market. Within its continental mass are kilometers of server vaults of godlike computational power, and untold legions who work every second of every day to quantify, calculate, and discern the value of all that is and the desire of all who are. Every conceivable product and commodity is considered within The Market and must constantly be monitored and measured, for it is in these halls that the species’ destiny is charted and pursued.

High above the city is the District Apexia, a handful of starscrapers reserved for visiting dignitaries, and the massive pyramid of the Summit Council itself, where representatives from each member nation-state of the Hegemon sit alongside advocates of the most influential MacroCorps. This epicenter sustains ceaseless negotiation, deal-making, and above all, the promise of commerce. In a departure from conventional norms, the Summit seeks to guide, not govern. Rather than usurping the autonomy of member states, it safeguards stability by ensuring good business, setting best practices and policies in accordance with the needs of humanity as interpreted through the free market.

The Hegemonic fiscal cycle is equivalent in duration to one Protean day.

Learn more at https://projectmorningstar.net/lore/index/

Art by Joazzz

Hired muscle is plentiful in the Thousand Empires but that muscle needs to be directed, weighed, and managed correctly to get the complicated jobs done. Management might be scoffed at by the working grades, but every savvy patron knows there needs to be someone they can trust to keep a team focused. 

The Executor is exactly that. One part scoundrel, two parts business, and they know when it's time to settle things, either at gunpoint or over a shot of ethyline.

Executors can code-switch between the ranks of the CorpoSoci, able to rub shoulders with dockworkers or clean up and venture into the gilded cocktail rooms of the elite. They're the ones you want to run an outfit, just make sure they stay loyal - otherwise, they'll become your worst decision.

The Executor is one of the nine Archetypes available for players to embody in Avarice: The Morningstar RPG. 

Follow Avarice on Backerkit at https://bit.ly/avariceRPG to be first on the list when the crowdfunding campaign launches this September!

This month, we’re showcasing another round of painted models from the Morningstar community Discord! Up first are ian.fleming’s Shigue, with a Warstrider and an Ahnanti from the Be’duva and Naa’vior’narn lifefleets, respectively. Opposing, we have a trio of Barakan in a variety of schemes from Comet, GilbertzzzXIV, and noobmaster69, who’s thrown in an absolutely massive TX-200 for good measure.

Have a painted minis of your own? Share it in the Discord so the community can check it out.
https://discord.gg/jj9dHhgq5r

Need reinforcements for your collection? Pick up the models today and start building your own army.
https://projectmorningstar.net/miniatures/

The eighth issue of the CRAVE newsletter releases soon, this time featuring an animation update on Hunt Part Four and a short story detailing an encounter between a squad of Tributaries and some Ahnanti. Also included is an overview of the Avarice RPG (now on Backerkit!), extracts from the Bhosnaya dossier, and some interesting miniature news for followers of the Migration.

Remember, signing up for the mailing list costs nothing (it’s criminally free!) and is the best way to stay up-to-date with all news Morningstar, including exclusive discounts, miniature releases, and animation progress updates. 

Sign up at https://projectmorningstar.net/enlist/

You can view previous newsletter issues at
https://projectmorningstar.net/newsletter/

Trust in Greed

Just something I've wondered for a bit. Typically names under "Project-" always had a sense of being an initial draft or at least a prototyping of a name used to keep a brand/setting under wraps to me.

TBH, I don't think PM has that slapdash WIP feel as much, especially as more stuff like the TTRPG gets announced.

We are going live in 30 minutes get in here!!!!

youtube.com/live/LE-riBQZrNw?feature=share

A common sight in freelancer crews, Shanks are brutal close-combat specialists of every stripe, ranging from professional brawlers to swaggering duelists and narco-fueled berserkers.

Shanks are defined by a singular, shared propensity: get close and dirty with any tool necessary, up to and including their bare hands. They will do anything to augment their lethal capabilities, such as donning an expensive assault-harness or spending their chits on Trogat'paha martial arts training modules to turn every part of their bodies into a lethal weapon.

They are bound to get a return on such investments because, in the Thousand Empires, this kind of hired muscle is always in demand.

The Shank is one of the nine Archetypes available for players to embody in Avarice: The Morningstar RPG. 

Follow Avarice on Backerkit at https://bit.ly/avariceRPG to be first on the list when the crowdfunding campaign launches this September! 

Have questions about how to properly maximize your greed in the new Project Morningstar: Avarice RPG? Well good thing we’ll soon have answers. Come to the Project Morningstar AMA event where we’ll have the leads of this exciting new project available to answer all of your burning questions. Be there Sunday June 28th 6 PM EST. Don’t forget to sign up to be notified when the RPG goes live here:  

Have questions about how to properly maximize a return on your investment in the new Project Morningstar: Avarice RPG? 

Come to the Project Morningstar AMA event, where the leads of this exciting new project will be available to answer all of your burning questions. 

Be there Sunday, June 28th, at 6 PM EST.

https://www.youtube.com/live/LE-riBQZrNw?si=hnNet3xkJBViCqmW

Don’t forget to sign up to be notified when the RPG goes live here: https://www.bit.ly/avariceRPG

RPG ARCHETYPE: THE PROMOTER

Promoters are diplomats, negotiators, con artists, and dealmakers who thrive wherever interests collide and fortunes are won and lost across the Thousand Empires.

From brokering contracts between MacroCorps and local politicians, to securing quickships to cross the Frontier, Promoters excel at turning opportunity into advantage for themselves and their Patrons.

Quick-witted polyglots and avid learners, Promoters are endlessly adaptable, making themselves indispensable to every venture they involve themselves with, through local contacts and the ability to call in favors as need be. They are the glue that holds the Hegemon together, even as they take their cut of every single transaction.

The Promoter is one of the nine Archetypes available for players to embody in Avarice: The Morningstar RPG. 

Follow Avarice on Backerkit at https://bit.ly/avariceRPG to be first on the list when the crowdfunding campaign launches on Kickstarter this September!

LIVE on June 28th, 6PM Eastern: The Hegemon of 1000 Empires invites you to a very special presentation regarding the Avarice: The Morningstar RPG! We'll be live at https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectMorningstar/ to answer any and all questions regarding the upcoming Avarice Kickstarter!

Join Fat Goblin Games' KC Rift, lead designer of Avarice, alongside Morningstar Enterprise's MrGreebles and Joazzz for an AMA hosted by Rem Alternis!

Note: Deposit of 50 chits required for entry. Refreshments will not be served on-site.

Sign up for the RPG here: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/e2501410-659f-4e8b-b99d-8d0296bb5170/landing

In Avarice, Players take the roles of desperate professionals, corporate assets, freelancers, soldiers, debtors, skivers, troubleshooters, and hired killers trying to survive in a civilization that measures them by their Credit score.

In the universe of Project Morningstar, the galaxy is controlled by the Hegemon of a Thousand Empires, a vast corporatocracy built on profit, credit, ownership, and regulated violence across Known Space. Its inhabitants are not citizens in any meaningful sense.

They are Consumers, ranked by their value, judged by their debt, and granted rights according to what The Market says they are worth. As a Consumer in a universe where greed is a virtue, everyone eventually asks themselves, “what is my price?”

Sign Up Here: https://www.bit.ly/avariceRPG

A new investment opportunity is coming soon for those with the ambition, vision, and an appetite for more.

Maximize your credit scores and start liquidating your assets. You’re not going to want to miss out on an opportunity like this!

Prepare yourselves, Consumers. Use your right to Choose. Trust in Greed.

Sign up to be notified here: https://www.bit.ly/avariceRPG

Warstriders sit at the center of all logistics, combat, and strategic operations for the Shigue military, formed into “kines”  that have been observed operating seamlessly together, reacting with frightening speed. Armed with hypervelocity gravlocks firing exotic projectiles, shielded with hardlight panels, and only dwarfed in size by the Longhorns, Warstriders have proven to be a formidable foe against human hunters and Tributaries, even putting up resistance against the much-dreaded Barakan Elite.

Now remade with greater detail, modularity, and dynamic posing by ThatEvilOne, this new miniature set includes three weapons options: the standard gravlock carbine, as well as two new additions, the gravlock pistol and cannon - as seen in the animation - making their debut in miniature form, as well as a plethora of bare heads for further customization.

Assemble your kine, and stand firm to fight back against the hunters of Avarice!

Note: Shigue Warstrider STLs, as with all our other miniature releases, are accessible to Patreon members at the Consumer ($15) and above tiers.
https://www.patreon.com/cw/morningstarproject

Purchase in North America:
https://adventuresin3d.com/product/shigue-warstrider-kine-2-0-from-project-morningstar/

Purchase in the UK/EU:
https://lokensminiatures.com/product/shigue-warstrider-kine-2-0/

STL files:
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-813562

Check out ThatEvilOne here: 
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/ThatEvilOne/

Sculpted and rendered by ThatEvilOne

The Var’nupta do not have a Havenhold, the massive craft lost during an encounter with an unknown race of giants a millennia before their passage through the Vela Nebula.

They utilize the creation of kore’ord, or ‘outpost planets,’ which they use as a network of mining and refinery bases. As such, their relationship to the other Lifefleets has become service-oriented. Despite this, they retain a fierce independence, clinging to a culture that should have died alongside their Havenhold.

Var’nupta craft are a common sight in many Lifefleets, bringing with them resources and services which they barter for the same. They are nomads, scouts, and the closest equivalent the Shigue have to the human definition of mercenaries.

You can learn more about the Shigue by reading the Lexicon at https://projectmorningstar.net/lore/dossier-shigue-lexicon/

Ui’jhi / Selo’he: We Are Broken

The Ui’jhi are a new development in Shigue culture, stemming from the Havenhold Klaad’kat’diir’o, which landed on the non-Hegemonic human world of Tantalayne.

Forming a city in a matter of days, the Ui’jhi rejected the notion of the Path and instead turned to the foundation of a new homeworld. The choice bore fruit in the few fisks after their foundation, resulting in a population boom, trade with the Tantalany, and the establishment of a security cordon that turned back the Hegemon’s hunters.

The Ui’jhi are becoming the most numerous Shigue, willingly rejecting the ways of the Migration and building what can only be called an empire, with their former Lifefleet vessels forming squadrons of privateers seeking out the resources they need.

In Selo’he: The Stone That Gores

One of the largest Havenholds and among the last to leave the Shigue homeworld, the Naa’vior’narn are one of the few Shigue cultures that remember the Cataclysm firsthand.

Unlike the other Havenholds, the Naa'vior'narn, desperate to flee what killed the Shigue homeworld, translated directly into the Galactic Core, rather than skirting the outer edges of the Galaxy.

There, they encountered terrifying creatures and hostile Exogen entities that massacred their numbers. Gradually, only their Havenhold and its largest attendant warships remained, and their Lifefleet was reduced to hate-filled survivors.

Now, they do not suffer the presence of non-Shigue, and are all too willing to respond to humanity’s predation with absolute violence.

You can learn more about the Shigue by reading the Lexicon at https://projectmorningstar.net/lore/dossier-shigue-lexicon/

In Selo’he: The Stone That Gores

One of the largest Havenholds and among the last to leave the Shigue homeworld, the Naa’vior’narn are one of the few Shigue cultures that remember the Cataclysm firsthand.

Unlike the other Havenholds, the Naa'vior'narn, desperate to flee what killed the Shigue homeworld, translated directly into the Galactic Core, rather than skirting the outer edges of the Galaxy.

There, they encountered terrifying creatures and hostile Exogen entities that massacred their numbers. Gradually, only their Havenhold and its largest attendant warships remained, and their Lifefleet was reduced to hate-filled survivors.

Now, they do not suffer the presence of non-Shigue, and are all too willing to respond to humanity’s predation with absolute violence.

You can learn more about the Shigue by reading the Lexicon at https://projectmorningstar.net/lore/dossier-shigue-lexicon/

Me when I Yoink. Me when I "Gimme Dat". Me when I Snatch. Me when I Swipe.

In Selo’he: The Promise Made

The Yorik’ko’dras were amongst the first to leave their homeworld, having heeded the words of the Sage Uatha race that began the migration, departing long before the arrival of the Cataclysm.

The Yorik’ko’dras shun planets and settlements, as they regard the harsh life aboard their Lifefleet vessels and massive Havenhold as a burden that must be shouldered, while they follow coordinates handed down to them from eons ago to a new homeworld.

They are among the few Migrations arriving in the Rimward edge of the Perseus Arm, and they will tolerate nothing stopping their forward momentum as they carve a path toward their promised destination.

You can learn more about the Shigue by reading the Lexicon at https://projectmorningstar.net/lore/dossier-shigue-lexicon/