The vicinity of a black hole is a strange place. Just like stars, black holes can have planets– entire systems–orbiting them, and civilizations can rise on some of these worlds. However, the effects of the black hole make these cultures a little different. Visitors to those worlds often suffer hallucinations, their sleep disturbed by nightmares, but those native to such regions have adapted.

People from a warped culture can often seem unnerving to others. They talk with strange cadences, and sometimes seem to address people who aren’t there. They have odd mannerisms, and can twitch unnervingly, seemingly at random. The warped claim they can see ghosts, but it is debatable whether these are real or some kind of shared hallucination.

Characters raised in a virtual culture share a variety of traits in common with one another.

Mindwarps. Nobody quite understands how warped minds work. Creatures attempting to make Intimidation or Persuasion checks vs. a creature from a warped culture do so at disadvantage.

Ghostly Allies. The ghosts which the warped interact with are able to impart information. You may ask the Narrator one yes/no question, which they will answer truthfully. Once you have used this feature you cannot use it again until you take a long rest.

Warped Psionics. Choose one psionic reflex. You are able to use this reflex even if you have no psionic class features. Once you have used this feature you cannot use it again until you take a long rest.

Languages. You can read, sign, speak, and write Common and one other language.

Despite the vastness of space separating individuals, communities, and civilizations, invisible webs of data connect them. Some societies use these networks for purely utilitarian purposes, while others build entire worlds within them, giving rise to virtual cultures.

Virtual cultures represent highly advanced societies that have blurred the lines between virtual and physical worlds. Commonly, virtual cultures are composed of physical life forms, organic or synthetic, that have integrated digital overlays or worlds into their daily existence using technology that connects an individual’s consciousness directly.

Some virtual cultures are composed of synthetic intelligences, existing almost entirely within a virtual space and inhabiting robots or cloned shells when they need to interact with the physical world. Individuals from other virtual cultures have eschew their bodies in favor of their digital worlds, perhaps leaving them in nutrient tanks to be cared for by automatic systems, robotic caretakers, or members of a different caste, species, or social class.

Rarely, the inhabitants of some virtual cultures might not even realize that they exist within a simulation, either because they’re connected from birth or because their synthetic consciousness was born there.

Virtual cultures are often superficially egalitarian, although many possess deep socioeconomic divides beneath the surface. They tend to be fast-paced, as the ability to access data at the speed of thought creates the expectation of instant access. Most also emphasize leisure, creativity, and individualism. Other than computer skills, no single skill set is prized, and most individuals are free to pursue whatever interests them. Sometimes the replication of actual social, political, and economic systems in some virtual environments can cause them to differ significantly.

Many virtual cultures have loose familial bonds, and some dispense with traditional family structures entirely, with communal childrearing leading to cohorts based on shared interests or other qualifiers forming. In some large and particularly advanced civilizations, virtual cultures might exist as a subculture within a broader society, developing as an escape from or a rebellion against existence within physical space.

Regardless of the circumstances, individuals raised in virtual cultures are often disinterested in physical space, given the limitless possibilities of their virtual homes. Their intuitive ability with computer systems, and data, means individuals from virtual cultures are often highly prized by other cultures, who employ them as software engineers, hackers, and virtual artisans.

Characters raised in a virtual culture share a variety of traits in common with one another.

Digital Literacy. You are proficient with computers and gain an expertise die on checks using them and hacking tools.

Information Overlay. You can navigate and access data much faster than others. During a short or long rest, you may choose to become proficient with one skill, weapon, or tool of your choice. You remain proficient with your chosen skill, weapon, or tool until you choose another.

Neural Interface. In addition to your normal starting gear, you begin play with a set of hacking tools that are integrated into your brain or neural processor, all of which you are proficient with. Assuming that you have the proper credentials, these tools allow you to access a network through purely mental commands, although you still need physical proximity to an access point for certain procedures.

Languages. You can read, sign, speak, and write Common and Machine.

Populations of sufficiently advanced civilizations often converge in cities, where some of the best and most lucrative opportunities are concentrated. A city’s size can be as big as the delta at the mouth of a river to sprawling across the entire surface of a planet, covering the natural terrain with tiers of infrastructure. Growing up in the city is exciting, but potentially also difficult. Everyone is in a rush, trends change and morph at the blink of an eye, and often there are more mouths than there are resources. Those that are raised in such an environment find themselves in constant competition with those around them, whether it’s earning a scholarship to private school, being the pioneer of the latest trend, or merely being the first at a crosswalk.

Nevertheless, people look out for one another, and many find a family of like-minded individuals if the one they were born into does not accept you. Voidrunners from this environment often find that the skills they learned in childhood have prepared them to take advantage of every opportunity the galaxy gives them.

Characters raised in the urbanite culture share a variety of traits in common with one another.

Crowd Proficiency. Choose one of the following skills: Deception, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, or Stealth. You gain proficiency in that skill. Additionally, you have an expertise die on checks to use the chosen skill on or while in a crowd, such as pickpocketing in a packed train or asking around a teeming tourist attraction for directions.

Opportunistic. You are quick to act when the opportunity presents itself. Once per long rest, you can add an expertise die to your initiative roll or move up to your Speed as a bonus action.

Pseudo-Polyglot. Pick two languages you do not know. You cannot speak, write, or sign in these languages, but you can understand and read them. You also gain an expertise die to Culture or Insight checks to discern what is being said in a language you are unfamiliar with.

Starting Line. Your family or upbringing determined what kind of opportunities you had when young, though you may have chosen a different crowd. Choose one of the following:

Boarding School: You are proficient in your choice of either Culture or History.

Street-Roamer: You are proficient in your choice of either Insight or Survival.

Trade Institute: You are proficient in your choice of either Engineering, or two tools.

Urban Exposure. You’re used to the stressors of city life. You gain an expertise die on saving throws against environmental effects such as intense heat, smog, or bright lights.

Languages. You can read, sign, speak, and write Common and one other language.