At first glance, Flicker seems to be nothing more than a rather unremarkable asteroid. At two miles across, Flicker is a huge chunk of obsidian, reflecting little light from Bralspace's weak primary. It has only a negligible atmosphere, and thus easily passed over by most (if not all) space travelers. Which is exactly what the residents want.
Flicker is a minor outpost for a sinister organization known as the Alliance of Dusk. Virtually unknown, this organization has been the cause of much suffering throughout the galaxy. Its foot soldiers, a race that resemble powerful orcs, have destroyed more than one military outpost without leaving a single survivor. Even more horrific, undead are used all too regularly by the Alliance. They attack without warning, show no mercy, and never leave survivors to tell the tale. It is unknown who exactly rules this Alliance, save that they call themselves the Masters of the Night.
Flicker serves this alliance as a listening post. It was created shortly after the Rock of Bral became a major trading city. Until that time, the sphere has little to interest the Alliance. With Bral becoming such a major spaceport, the Alliance felt that they needed a presence in the sphere to gather information from the other races and factions. Thus Flicker was created as a place for the allies of Masters to spy on, deceive, and murder members of the other factions.
While the exterior of Flicker is completely unexciting, the interior is remarkable. The only way into the base is through the asteroid's only large crater (actually a corridor with a powerful illusion over it). The passage is long and dangerous; the way is guarded by glyphs powerful enough to damage ships, hidden weapon batteries, and black dragon used as a guard dog. The passage is nearly a mile long and any ship passing through is under constant surveillance. It ends in a small spaceport.
Flicker is small enough to have a gravity plane rather than a center of gravity, and the spaceport sits right on the gravity plane. The base's facilities are not extensive, and only four ships can dock at a time. The Alliance does not use unusual ships in Flicker; instead, they have a normal, run-of-the-mill space fleet of ships common throughout space. This was done as to not raise suspicions. The Alliance makes regular trips to Bral, Spiral, the Gods Marbles, and a virtually every other major port in the sphere. For this purpose, many brainwashed humans, demi-humans, and goblin-kin are used as agents. These agents are sent out to commit acts of espionage, sabotage, and outright murder.
The fleet of Flicker numbers five ships. Each has its assigned patrols and duties. Each is carefully selected to suit the faction the agents of the ship are trying to approach. These ships include:
Flicker has a population of roughly 250 individuals, including the crewmen of the various ships. Almost half that number is away on some mission, so Flicker's population is never at full strength. Most are humans or orcs, with a small number of rouge elves worked in. All have been brainwashed to follow the orders of the base commander without question, and are completely loyal to the Alliance.
The spaceport itself is not large; sporting only two dozen medium-sized buildings. Several are warehouses and barracks for the crewmen. There is but one tavern, where off-duty crewmen relax and enjoy themselves. The largest building is the palace of the commander, the alhoon Sever. Though it is a small palace, it is ornate and perfectly suited to its primary resident, Sever. A dozen ogres, who wander the compound with large halberds and starwheel pistols in hand, guard the place. An aboleth, partner to Sever, lurks in the deepest parts of the palace, wallowing in some forgotten pool. An insane beholder, driven mad by Sever's mental attacks, is kept in the dungeons below the palace as a secret weapon if the place is attacked. Sever's needs are attended by his most prized possession, a mind wiped githyanki female. He took great pleasure in capturing her and erasing her memories, forever turning her into his personal slave.
Sever rules Flicker without mercy. He crushes all thoughts of rebellion with a mental attack. His reign of tyranny is complete and unbreakable. However, even Sever must answer to the Masters of the Night, whose orders he follows without question.
For now, Sever's mission is to watch and gather information. However, the Masters have recently commanded him to begin manipulating the other factions, turning them against each other. His agents have begun whispering in the ears of many faction leaders, promising them glory and victory. Currently, only one group, the illithids, holds Sever's chief interest. He has personally tried to convince the illithid ambassador to increase illithid involvement in the sphere because of its "importance to the security of Falx." Though the illithids have been slow to respond, the number of illithid ships has steadily increased within recent months.
Other plans of Sever's interest include a semi-secret attempt by elves (and their allies) to retake Spiral. Though Sever plans to back the scro, he intends to help the elves build up their forces. He feels that if the elves loose the coming battle, their power in the sphere will be forever broken, creating a free-for-all across the entire sphere, a minor goal of the Alliance. With a few stolen battle plans and surgical strikes, Sever could indeed cause a major war. All that is needed is reinforcements from the Alliance.
Sever (Alhoon; CE)
A terrible and evil creature, Sever's goal of sphere-wide war is
fast becoming reality. Sever's skill in manipulating others would
be legendary if he was not so secretive about himself. He carries a
staff of power with him at all times, which he as enhanced for
increased power. The gems (which look cheap but are really rubies)
atop the staff act as receptacles for his psps, allowing him to
store 200 psp. He has a total of 340 psps personally, not counting
those kept in his staff. The staff has further been enchanted to
teleport him away if his (un)life is endangered. In his personal
quarters, he has a large painting of abstract figures; this serves
as a scrying device, allowing him to spy on distant objects as well
as communicating with his masters.
Sever has the abilities of a 9th level wizard and a 7th level psionicist.
M'lektur (mlar githyanki female N)
Once one of the most beautiful and skilled architects the githyanki
owned, M'lektur was kidnapped by Sever a decade ago. He led an
attack on the convoy taking her home from a pirate of gith outpost,
where she was helping them fortify against illithid attacks. She
was most unique because the strange magical energies of the Astral
Plane have mutated her, stealing her plane shift ability but giving
her a natural ability to stone shape at will. The pirate ship
taking her to a portal so that she could return home was ambushed
by an illithid dreadnought, which slew all aboard. Many gith fled
with their lives, leaving her alone against her hated enemy. Sever
struck on a vile plan when he saw the wench, holding off slaves
with a dagger. He decided to mind wipe her and make her his
personal slave, a fitting end to a member of the gith race. She was
helpless against his mental assault, and lost everything she was.
Now she is both Sever's slave and the chief architect of Flicker.
It was her hand that created many of the buildings in the base,
molding the solid rock like wet clay. She has no memories of her
former life and is little more than a vegetable.
