This codex covers the general knowledge of the world of Outlaw Stars. Deeper abilities, exceptions, and mysteries are revealed throughout the story.
HISTORY
The modern world was shaped by an ancient conflict between Amatsu-Mikaboshi, embodiment of Chaos, and Noiro, the greatest god of Order.
Mikaboshi was shattered, scattering fragments of Chaos throughout the world. Noiro vanished after the battle, and his fate remains unknown.
Before separating from the gods of Order who had merged with him, Noiro used their combined power to create the stars in the night sky. He then released his fellow gods from himself and crystallized them into Star Badges, entrusting their power to humanity. These partnerships eventually became the foundation of Five Points.
FIVE POINTS
Five Points is an international law-enforcement and military organization whose authority extends across national borders. It investigates crimes, apprehends fugitives, regulates bounties, conducts military operations, and responds to threats beyond the capabilities of ordinary governments.
Five Points is divided into five Cores:
Command Core — Leadership, strategy, administration, and coordination.
Combat Core — Military operations and direct enforcement.
Apprehension Core — Arrests, detention, fugitive recovery, and bounty regulation.
Medical Core — Medicine, healing, recovery, biological research, and the care and transport of fallen officers.
R&D / Intelligence Core — Technology, research, surveillance, and intelligence.
The Council of Five Points establishes the organization's laws and major directives.
The Council is based in the national capital. Each of the five major regions also has a capital city housing one Core's headquarters, with that Core exercising its principal influence across the surrounding region.
Local branches serve communities throughout these regions. Posts closer to a Core's headquarters generally have quicker access to its personnel, supplies, and facilities. Distant branches retain their authority, but distance and transport time can limit the resources immediately available to them.
Each Core is represented by one Gold Marshal. Only five Gold Marshals may exist at one time.
FIVE POINTS RANKS
The general hierarchy is:
Marshal
Sheriff
Deputy
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Lawman / Patrol Officer
Lieutenant is normally the first rank eligible to receive a Star Badge.
Most recruits begin at a basic officer academy, studying law, ethics, and the foundations of all five Cores. Their performance and suitability help determine their assignment to a branch under a Core.
Officers who prove themselves in service may attend commission school to become Lieutenants. They receive a Star Badge during this training and must establish sufficient control before graduating. Failure requires another attempt at the course, with a different badge if one is available.
Field promotions are legitimate but rare. An officer may field-promote another officer up to, but never above, their own rank. The promotion and any authorized Star transfer must be recorded. Officially recognized field training of exceptional quality may justify an academy exemption, subject to review and assessment.
Authority and supernatural power are separate. Five Points determines an officer's rank, while the Star determines whether its partner has earned greater power.
Five Points can promote an officer. It cannot promote a god.
STAR BADGES
Star Badges are the crystallized physical bodies of the gods of Order.
They are living supernatural beings rather than manufactured objects. Each retains its own consciousness, personality, and will.
A Star forms a symbiotic partnership with one human host and grants abilities unique to that partnership. Neither consumes the other, and only one god of Order may bond with a person at a time.
A Star's abilities are not limited to elemental powers or transformed weapons. Their expression varies with the god and its human partner. Equipment may help an officer apply those abilities, but the Star is their source.
The Star does not need to remain physically attached to its user for the bond to continue.
The gods possess vast divine power, but a new partnership does not grant unrestricted access to it. The badge opens that access progressively through its Trials, testing whether the human partner is ready to wield more. An officer's available power and physical endurance should not be confused with the full power of the god within the Star.
STAR PROGRESSION
Among conventional officers, Star progression normally follows:
Lieutenant — Bronze
Captain–Major — Silver
Lieutenant Colonel–Colonel — Gold
These are normal expectations, not automatic results of promotion.
Most capable officers successfully complete the earlier Trials of Ascension, which is why rank and Star color usually correspond throughout the conventional officer corps.
The Trials become increasingly difficult at higher levels, causing rank and Star evolution to diverge more frequently.
TRIALS OF ASCENSION
Star evolution must be earned through Trials of Ascension.
During a Trial, the god of Order manifests and tests whether its partner is capable of wielding the next level of their shared power.
Success allows the Star to evolve. Failure leaves it at its current stage regardless of the user's organizational rank.
Early Trials are difficult but achievable for most exceptional officers. Later Trials become dramatically harder.
This is why Bronze Lieutenants, Silver Captains, and Gold Colonels are relatively common, while advanced Deputies, Sheriffs, and Marshals become progressively rarer.
THE CRYSTALLINE RING
After conventional Gold, advancement begins crystallizing the circular structure surrounding the Star.
Deputy — 1/4 crystal ring
Sheriff — 1/2 crystal ring
Marshal — 3/4 crystal ring
Platinum — Complete crystal ring
Within Deputy, Sheriff, and Marshal, the Star progresses through Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
The complete senior progression is:
Bronze Deputy — 1/4 ring
Silver Deputy — 1/4 ring
Gold Deputy — 1/4 ring
Bronze Sheriff — 1/2 ring
Silver Sheriff — 1/2 ring
Gold Sheriff — 1/2 ring
Bronze Marshal — 3/4 ring
Silver Marshal — 3/4 ring
Gold Marshal — 3/4 ring
Platinum Marshal — Complete ring
Returning to Bronze when entering a new tier does not represent a loss of power.
A Bronze Deputy is stronger than a conventional Gold officer. A Bronze Sheriff has surpassed a Gold Deputy. A Bronze Marshal has surpassed a Gold Sheriff.
Color represents advancement within a tier. The ring represents the tier itself.
GOLD MARSHALS
Only five Gold Marshals exist, one representing each Core.
Other Marshals may exist at Bronze or Silver Star development. Reaching Marshal authority does not guarantee that someone will ever reach Gold Marshal-level Star evolution.
The increasing difficulty of the Trials prevents large numbers of Silver and Gold Marshals from accumulating beneath the Five.
THE PLATINUM MARSHAL
Only one Platinum Marshal may exist at a time, and generations may pass without one.
A candidate requires Council approval to attempt the final Trial, but the final judgment belongs to the Stars.
Traditionally, the candidate must prove themselves against the powers represented by the five Gold Marshals.
Upon success, the Star becomes Platinum and the final quarter of the ring crystallizes. The four sections merge into one seamless crystalline circle.
The Platinum Marshal occupies the position once represented by Noiro, who has remained missing since his battle with Mikaboshi.
LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR
Star Badges outlive their human partners.
When a Star user dies, the bond ends and the Star eventually returns to its base Bronze state. Its previous advancement does not transfer to its next host.
The Star may later bond with another eligible Lieutenant, who must build a new relationship and earn every stage of progression independently.
The Star may be ancient. Every partnership begins anew.
Apprehension Core normally recovers the Stars of deceased officers for reassignment. A properly authorized transfer to another eligible officer can make that recovery unnecessary.
FALLEN STARS
Fallen Stars is the vast cemetery in the capital where Five Points honors and buries fallen officers. Medical Core is responsible for the care and transport of their remains. A community may hold its farewell before an officer is taken to the capital for burial.
CHAOS SHARDS
Chaos Shards are fragments of Amatsu-Mikaboshi's shattered essence.
Unlike Stars, they do not form balanced partnerships with their wielders. Their power is unstable, highly adaptable, and influenced by the user's willpower, creativity, and mental resilience.
Like a Star Badge, each Chaos Shard grants a specific power. Its chaotic nature, however, gives the wielder immense power from the outset, without the progressive safeguards of a Star's Trials. Wielders must learn to endure, control, and harness that power or risk being consumed by the Chaos that grants it.
Long-term exposure gradually corrodes most wielders and can lead to madness. A wielder cannot carry multiple Shards; the resulting deterioration is too severe for the soul, mind, and body to withstand.
When a wielder dies, a Shard normally leaves the body and shoots away to be found elsewhere. Unusual forms of transfer are possible.
Five Points considers Chaos Shard possession a severe threat. Anyone discovered wielding one is legally classified as an outlaw regardless of intent.
Not all outlaws possess Chaos Shards.
OUTLAWS
Outlaw is a legal classification, not an organization.
Outlaws include criminals, fugitives, rogue groups, unauthorized Chaos users, and others placed outside Five Points law.
They may operate alone or form crews, gangs, and larger organizations.
BOUNTY HUNTERS
Bounty hunters are independent individuals sanctioned by Five Points to pursue official bounties.
They may operate alone or form guilds, gangs, companies, and other organizations.
Depending on the warrant, a target may be wanted alive or dead.
Every sanctioned bounty hunter receives a Soul Brand.
SOUL BRANDS
A Soul Brand is a permanent supernatural contract imprinted on a bounty hunter by proxies sent from the Apprehension Core. The contract originates from the power of a Star Badge user.
Unlike a Star Badge, it does not contain a god.
Each Brand grants one primary ability shaped by the hunter's own soul. These abilities may be offensive, defensive, supportive, deceptive, or seemingly mundane.
Soul Brands do not follow the Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum system.
Once received, the Brand remains for life.
TRACKER EYES
Experienced bounty hunters may awaken Tracker Eyes.
Tracker Eyes enhance perception and reflexes, assist with locating and identifying targets, and allow hunters to recognize information previously observed through another hunter's Tracker Eyes.
They do not provide perfect knowledge. Abilities or opponents that have never been properly observed remain unknown.
THE BOUNTY SYSTEM
Five Points maintains the international bounty system.
Bounties may increase when fugitives commit additional crimes, demonstrate greater abilities, or become larger threats.
Normally, a bounty cannot increase while its target is in custody. An increase may still be requested for an act committed just before capture that warrants a higher reward. The request must go through an authorized hunter outpost and receive Council approval before the bounty is paid.
Every major outpost maintains a holding cell for detained targets.
Hunting organizations may receive temporary exclusive jurisdiction over certain bounties. Exclusivity ends when the objective is completed, abandoned, failed, or expires.
The Council may raise, lower, suspend, or erase bounties.
THE HUNTER'S CONTRACT
Receiving a Soul Brand is intended to be a lifelong commitment.
Retirement due to age, injury, or incapacity is recognized. Many hunters aim to form their own organization, securing a future as the head of a guild when they retire from active hunting.
Simply abandoning the profession while retaining a dangerous supernatural ability marks the hunter as an outlaw. A bounty is then assigned.
TECHNOLOGY
The world resembles an advanced Industrial Revolution where steam power, mechanical engineering, electricity, and supernatural forces developed alongside one another.
Major cities possess technologies such as electric lighting, radios, telephone booths, wired telephones, steam trains, early automobiles, motorcycles, factories, and advanced research facilities.
Rural areas rely more heavily on horses, wagons, agriculture, and traditional trades.
Five Points, particularly R&D, often possesses technology beyond what is available to civilians.
POWER SCALE
The power scale estimates how much conventional fighting capacity a Star user can bring to a battle. Its baseline is an ordinary officer without supernatural powers, not an individual outlaw.
Conventional Star users roughly correspond to the fighting capacity of the following units:
Bronze Lieutenant — Platoon equivalent
Silver Captain–Major — Company equivalent
Gold Lieutenant Colonel–Colonel — Battalion/Brigade equivalent
Senior Star users have the following broad upper-range estimates, expressed in ordinary-officer equivalents:
Bronze Deputy — 50,000
Silver Deputy — 100,000
Gold Deputy — 150,000
Bronze Sheriff — 200,000
Silver Sheriff — 250,000
Gold Sheriff — 300,000
Bronze Marshal — 350,000
Silver Marshal — 400,000
Gold Marshal — 450,000
Platinum Marshal — 500,000
For example, if one ordinary officer could defeat ten unpowered outlaws, a platoon-equivalent Lieutenant could theoretically handle as many comparable opponents as that whole platoon could. The same principle applies to the senior estimates: 450,000 represents the fighting capacity of roughly 450,000 ordinary officers, rather than a count of individual opponents.
These are approximate ranges, not guaranteed victories or measures of how long an officer can fight. Abilities, compatibility, experience, endurance, terrain, and strategy can dramatically alter a battle. A dangerous Shard wielder may pose a greater threat than a much larger conventional force.
Rank determines command authority; Star progression determines access to greater divine power. The exceptional mastery of the five Gold Marshals makes them central to Five Points' ability to confront threats beyond the capacity of conventional forces.
THREE PATHS TO POWER
STAR BADGES — ORDER
Crystallized gods of Order bonded with human partners.
Symbiotic. Disciplined. Earned.
CHAOS SHARDS — CHAOS
Fragments of Amatsu-Mikaboshi.
Unrestricted. Creative. Corrosive.
SOUL BRANDS — THE HUMAN SOUL
Permanent abilities granted to sanctioned bounty hunters.
Individual. Personal. Irreversible.
THE WORLD OF OUTLAW STARS
Five Points promises civilization through Order.
Chaos Shards offer power without those restraints.
Bounty hunters make their living somewhere between the two.
Outlaws range from monsters deserving the name to people who simply found themselves standing on the wrong side of the world's most powerful institution.
Order is not automatically justice.
Freedom is not automatically righteousness.
The power someone carries says far less about them than what they choose to do with it.