A Brief Guide for GMs

• Given that there’s only one MONIST-0, no more than one player should be allowed to pilot the
Effigy at any given time. Especially since managing multiple global conditions at once may be
difficult to track. If you’re using a virtual tabletop, such as Foundry, you can use a weather module
to make it clear to players which of the Effigy’s environmental effects is active at any given time.

• This frame does not require any LLs to be taken, like an Exotic weapon or system. Tell your
players to ignore the missing license warning COMP//CON spits at them. Therefore, it is highly
recommended that the Effigy’s availability be tied to story progression in some way. No printer is
going to be able to make a MONIST entity on demand, obviously.

• The Effigy’s core system may lead to choice paralysis in inexperienced players, so LL6 or LL9 are
good levels to introduce this. This also lets a player could use their new Core Bonus on Improved
Armament so they can retain a weapon mount.

• This frame is very specialized compared to the frames in official Massif content. If you don’t have
a player who wants to fill a dedicated Support or Controller role, nobody is going to want to pilot
the Effigy. You should probably save this for a different campaign in that case.

• This thing has only the one campaign’s worth of playtesting behind it, and may thus still be
somewhat overpowered, but that’s partially by design. It would be weird if a full-blown MONIST
entity was weak in combat. Remember, you can always just throw more enemies into a scene or
add more optionals and templates to them to compensate.

• If you use music in your sessions, I recommend playing this track during the Effigy’s Core Active
for the badass otherworldly vibes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXtNXl4wCOs

• MONIST-0 will allow the players to give them a name of their choice, within reason, as ‘MONIST-0’
is impersonal, and their real name can only be pronounced with 4D waveforms.

• To give you a starting point, the lore I used for MONIST-0 in the campaign I revealed it in is below.
Feel free to use or discard any of this as needed to fit MONIST-0 into your own stories!

Lore
MONIST-0, like Ra and Metat Aun, originates from a higher dimensional plane of existence. Unlike
those two, whose objectives remain mysterious to others, the larger purpose behind MONIST-0
descending into the known universe is a simple one: they are essentially a biologist. Intent on
studying the myriad three-dimensional life in all their strange beauty, it was the simplest and most
effective way for them to do so, much as a person might go scuba diving to study fish.
For a long while, MONIST-0 roved from planet to planet, cataloging the unique flora and fauna. Then
they found Earth. At this time, the Fall of Old Humanity was in progress, hence this entity’s given ‘zero’
designation: they technically manifested before Ra, albeit unbeknownst to most. MONIST-0 was
shocked to discover that it was possible for intelligence of humanity’s level to develop in the lower
planes of reality. And when they realized that human society was on the brink of total collapse, they
knew they needed to act.
In order to safeguard the human species from extinction (they were unaware of the expansive colony
on Karrakis at this point), MONIST-0 took a suitable small planet from another star system and, with
great effort, pushed it into Blinkspace. Then, they found a group of people in need of aid - just large

Created by Thought Prism Games — Lancer is copyright Massif Press

enough to maintain genetic diversity - and reached out, offering protection. Communication was not
an issue, as MONIST-0 is quite candid. The group accepted, and MONIST-0 pushed them, too, into
Blinkspace, where they arrived on the lone planet.
MONIST-0’s skills in environmental shaping are well honed specifically for the purpose of recreating
and maintaining habitats, and they provided suitable water, air, and light to the moon to the best of
their ability despite the different physics at play within the Blink. To assist them in settling in, and to
assure their self-sufficiency and future reintegration to the universe at large when they were ready,
MONIST-0 taught these people the secrets of navigating and manipulating Blinkspace. Thus satisfied
that the survival of the novel human species was secured, and not wishing to disrupt their
development any more than they already had, MONIST-0 departed to continue their journey, not to be
seen by human eyes again for over seven thousand years.
The grateful people living on this planet later became known as the Voladores, and the planet itself,
High Ground. Deifying MONIST-0 as the Midwife for facilitating their rebirth, the Voladores gradually
adapted to High Ground, their bodes evolving to optimize for the low-gravity and odd atmospheric
composition after many generations. Eventually, once they noticed other humans still lived, they did
indeed leave Blinkspace, aspiring to give their kin the same safety, care, and opportunity their Midwife
gave to them. In addition to improving their own lives with the exchange of technology and culture, of
course. Still, the Voladores’ matriarchal council of the time decreed that the existence of the Midwife
and the true nature of their home be held with the utmost secrecy from all non-Voladores, lest the
sanctity of their High Ground and the extent of the sacred knowledge imparted upon them be
compromised.
Some number of centuries before the present day, MONIST-0 became victim to an unfortunate
accident. Wholly captivated by the life on the fifth planet of the star Union astronomers would later
christen as Conjecture from their position in a distant orbit, MONIST-0 neglected to pay attention to
their surroundings and was blindsided by a stray asteroid travelling at high speed. The severe impact
shattered MONIST-0’s Effigy - the body they were using in the universe - into dozens of fragments,
which then fell all over the planet’s earthlike surface, land and sea alike.
For MONIST-0, this injury was not lethal, analogous to a human losing a hand and an eye, but they
were nonetheless helpless to heal with the Effigy’s fragments separated. Unless gathered, they would
be unable to observe or interact with euclidian space in any meaningful way, and their fellow MONIST
entities either didn’t feel like helping with an issue they saw as trivial or otherwise weren’t available.
As luck would have it, the Third Committee soon sent a Far-Field Team to the planet to determine its
suitability for eventual colonization, and they discovered one of the Effigy’s fragments, with its curious
properties and untapped potential uses. However, someone leaked the data onto the Omninet, and
powers throughout known space launched ships towards the planet at nearlight, motivated by simple
avarice or a thirst for exploitable new knowledge. A great conflict was brewing over which faction
would claim the fragments and unlock their hidden secret. And they brought Lancers with them.
Meanwhile, the Voladores watch from High Ground with great interest.
MONIST-0’s thoughts on Ra and Metat Aun:
Ra: “They’re like an overprotective, conservative parent. They mean well, really, but could stand to
show it more effectively. It was nice of them to introduce you to all those NHPs, though.”
Metat Aun: “I believe the most appropriate word to use here would be ‘asshole’. They’re treating your
reality like a grand strategy game, trying to carefully lead their chosen group to domination for their
own amusement. Such meddling is excessive and unneeded.”

Created by Thought Prism Games — Lancer is copyright Massif Press

Bonus Sitrep: COUNTDOWN
Enemy Deployment Zone 1

Enemy Deployment Zone 2

Player Deployment Zone

Objective Obstacles

A Countdown mission is a race against time, ENEMY FORCES

where the players have to push through the
map quickly while wrecking or hampering their This is a double budget encounter. Half of the
foes to keep an important object intact, while enemies should start in each Deployment
the enemies wish to destroy it. The sitreps’s Zone. The enemies in Zone 1 will focus on
difficulty can be altered by moving the objective destroying the Objective and ignore the players
or altering the quantity of the obstacles, which until they approach, while the enemies in Zone
can range from a maze of hard cover and 2 will focus on hampering the players. No
chasms to simple Difficult Terrain. reinforcements are used.

VICTORY CONDITIONS DEPLOYMENT

PC Victory: the enemies are routed The GM deploys first, followed by the players.

Enemy Victory: the Objective is destroyed

OBJECTIVE
The Objective is a Size 4 character that does
not act during its turn. It has 99 HP, 2 armor, 8
Evasion, and 8 E-Defense.

Created by Thought Prism Games — Lancer is copyright Massif Press