In the vast and mysterious expanse of space, every space explorer carries a unique array of superstitions and traditions. Explore one hundred of these cosmic customs!
| d100 | Entry |
|---|---|
| 1 | Spacers often have tattoos of the stellar constellation of their homeworld. |
| 2 | Gesticulating in conversation is taboo. Spacers are used to having to be careful with their hands in close confines, where sensitive electronics or hazardous materials might be disturbed by inattentive flippancy. |
| 3 | Check the cargo hold every single day, even if nothing can possibly have left the ship. The Voidmother is mischievous at times, and likes to punish the inattentive. |
| 4 | If a ship answers your distress call, even if they're a rival faction or company, you owe them 7 times whatever aid they give you. |
| 5 | A piece of gear that saved you should be incorporated into something you wear on future missions. |
| 6 | If the company owns a few ships, you'll work hard, be paid well and be viewed as irreplaceable. If the company owns a few fleets, you'll work easy, be paid poorly, and be viewed as expendable. |
| 7 | Monkeys onboard bring good luck. This originated because one old ship, the Rama, used to train monkeys to do menial tasks around the ship, and it ended up one of the most famous spaceships to ever fly. |
| 8 | Never point a mirror out to space, or shine a torch, or really do anything that might be interpreted as calling attention to the ship. It's told to attract comets. |
| 9 | When Tiyanki, a largely passive race of space-born animals, fly next to a ship during its maiden voyage it is considered a good omen. |
| 10 | All viewing ports and communication devices must be sealed shut and turned off before entering faster-than-light travel, and remain that way until you exit ftl speed. Doing so prevents 'hitchhikers' from getting aboard. |
| 11 | Space Sirens are beautiful aliens who lure foolish spacers to their deaths. |
| 12 | HOLD and FAST across your knuckles means you’ll never lose your grip during EVA maneuvers. |
| 13 | When in doubt, shoot it. |
| 14 | Never dock with a derelict ship. |
| 15 | The youngest member of the crew must always be the first to board or open an ingress hatch. The oldest member of the crew must always be the last to leave or open an exit hatch. |
| 16 | Never name a ship after one that's been destroyed: the lost ship's bad luck will pass onto the new one. |
| 17 | Always pay your respects to the dead- it is said to bring peace to those lost in the void. |
| 18 | Bald people on board bring bad luck. Cancer was depressingly common in the early days of spaceflight because of careless astronauts who did their EVAs under bad conditions and without appropriate prep. |
| 19 | Never break a line of command switches. Like, if you need to turn on 3 lights in sequence, DON'T start by the last or the middle. Start by the first, second, and then third, in order. |
| 20 | Mooning a moon is not a real superstition, but veteran spacers tell rookies it is so they will make fools of themselves. However messing with rookies is a superstition as it is believed it will humble them. Bonus points if they can get the rookie to do it when there is an officer nearby. |
| 21 | Absolutely no whistling when doing EVAs. More scientific minded spacers will say it gibbles with the comms, but it doesn't, people just think it's unsettling to hear whistling in the cold, dark void of space. |
| 22 | Rats know a ship's condition better than anyone. If the rats suddenly disappear, the ship's next voyage will be its last. |
| 23 | They say astral horrors are terrified of chickens, but nobody's ever really proved that. |
| 24 | A small amount of blood should be daubed on the ship before each mission. Failure to do so will almost certainly ensure that something malfunctions. |
| 25 | External hatches always need to be banged on twice - no more, no less - after closing. |
| 26 | Most dwarves find open space deeply unsettling, and their ships do not contain windows. |
| 27 | Halfling spacers cover their exosuit boots with strips of carpeting to represent the hair on their feet. It is considered a serious ill omen to lose one of these strips. |
| 28 | Gnomes are lucky to have aboard a ship. |
| 29 | Always greet and thank the ship upon leaving it. |
| 30 | It's unlucky to keep the lights off on a spaceship, even when most of the crew is sleeping. Folks who like to work in the dark are considered very weird. |
| 31 | Spacers tap the ship they are entering twice (to see if it holds). |
| 32 | No goodbyes. If someone wishes you goodbye when going aboard a spacefaring vessel, you might end up not coming back at all. Spacers have become used to just going 'See ya space cowboy' or something else tongue in cheek. |
| 33 | Anyone who spills a drink by accident will be rewarded with some good luck at some part of a mission. |
| 34 | A tattoo of a bird from your homeworld ensures you’ll eventually return to it. (If you get the bird tattooed upside down, that ensures you won’t.) |
| 35 | If the stars twinkle, you've found a wrinkle. (Space-time anomaly). |
| 36 | Opening an umbrella on board is bad luck; it attracts meteors. |
| 37 | When a spacer dies, they eject his body out of the airlock in a secluded corner of space, so that they may go into the Voidmother's embrace. |
| 38 | Any coffin found in space must not be allowed on the ship, or else its occupant's spirit leaves it and haunts the ship. |
| 39 | A child born in space is considered to never truly have a home world. |
| 40 | Don’t leave the ship during a solar storm. |
| 41 | Any book or document that goes upside-down in zero gravity must be righted as soon as possible. |
| 42 | Some spacers think setting foot on a planet's surface is unlucky. They try to stay in space as much as they can. |
| 43 | Misunderstandings about Lycanthropy abound. Silver charms are common. Pilots will reorient the ship to block out any moons from filling their viewport. The PA announcement of arrival in-system is followed by little yelps throughout the ship, as suspicious individuals get prodded with silver implements by their crewmates. |
| 44 | Don't drink space water, as it will turn you into a monstrous alien or worse. |
| 45 | Never leave a spaceship completely empty if you plan on flying it again soon. This started because it's a really bad idea for the entire crew to leave the ship and not leave anyone to receive possible contact from the command center, but even rogue spaceships, pirates, adventurers and other kinds of scoundrels never fail to leave someone on 'watch duty' on the ship. What is considered 'soon' depends on the crew, but most agree that less than a week is the sweet spot. |
| 46 | If you're the first person known to land on a planet, it's considered lucky to bring something of it back with you. Spacers on the edges of known space are known to have extensive collections of rocks, leaves, and the like. |
| 47 | After your first spacewalk, it’s customary to get a tattoo commemorating the occasion. |
| 48 | Absolutely no wishing good luck, especially not during EVAs or land missions. If someone is going on a journey that may be dangerous or they might not come back, everyone should strive to act the most professional about it and simply consider their return a given. Landies who wish good luck for spacers are unwittingly testing their friendship. |
| 49 | If the crew witnesses the death of a star, the ship must slow down and pay respects to the star. Alternatively if they witness the birth of a star it is customary to place a birthday gift in the airlock and shoot it out for the star. |
| 50 | NEVER refer to outer space as 'void', no matter what you do. For that reason, referring directly to the Voidmother is done only under the most solemn of circumstances. Cursing someone to the void is probably the most serious fighting words a spacer could ever wish upon someone else - it can NEVER be retracted. If you curse someone to the void, that's declaring enmity for the rest of your life. |
| 51 | The highest ranked spacer in the bar must always buy a round for their shipmates (only their own ship, although particularly generous crew sometimes include other ships as well) in the name of the most recent vessel to be lost whose last port of call was this station. The ship designation, class, number of crew, and date of loss is all memorialized... to fail to do so, is bad luck. |
| 52 | Silence causes disaster. A wise crew always has something happening to generate noise. |
| 53 | Flowers on board can bring good luck or misfortune, depending on the type of flower and the circumstances in which they were brought aboard. Some flowers traditionally associated with death (lily, orchids etc) must be kept out of common areas or there will be a death among the crew or their families. |
| 54 | The first offspring of a space colony or group of animals or plants sent through space must be given back to the divine responsible for their safe voyage. |
| 55 | Many pirate crews believe that killing the youngest captive on a ship is unlucky, and will instead take them on as cabin boys/girls. |
| 56 | If a nebula appears completely harmless, it must be avoided at all costs. Nothing in space is entirely harmless, and if something appears harmless, it is only hiding an even greater danger. |
| 57 | A tattoo of a tree informs whoever recovers your body that you want to be buried on a planet; a burning star means you want to be shot into the nearest sun. |
| 58 | During explorations, the CO must never go on the front. It's both an unnecessary risk (that's the recon officer's job) and an invitation for the crew to end up CO-less. There have been cases of stubborn COs who were tied up and dragged behind the recon officer until they learned to NOT go on ahead like a superhero. |
| 59 | Stillness is also unlucky. If a crew is at rest it is common to have small devices on board whose only purpose is to generate movement. |
| 60 | If you write your name on your tools, you're a selfish jerk. If you don't write your name on your tools, they will get stolen. |
| 61 | Spacers only drink from bottles with lids. |
| 62 | It is considered unlucky and dishonorable to interfere with spacers' messages home even during war. Equally it is considered dishonorable to use these messages to pass Intel but people of course do. |
| 63 | Engineers refuse to fix minor annoyances like squeaky deck plates, wonky chairs, or flickering lights. Because as soon as you fix one thing, something else on the ship will break; and it is better that something unimportant is broken, than something important. Engineers collectively agree to go through the motions, and lie for each other, as they are tired of explaining this fact of nature to outsiders. |
| 64 | Dragonborn spacers believe sighting a void dragon to be a sign of great fortune to come. |
| 65 | Never enter a new system without offering a prayer to the gods of the void. |
| 66 | Elves believe that a ship with a tree onboard will always be able to find its way back to its homeworld. |
| 67 | A mermaid tattoo means you’ll have one extra breath after your O2 tank runs dry. |
| 68 | Spacers truly in need will send some ammo or food out of the airlock for the Voidmother to aid them. |
| 69 | Never fly under a captain who's had more than one ship - crew can move around, but a captain's supposed to love their ship, and go down with it if necessary. |
| 70 | At least one spacer on the ship must smuggle some sort of mild contraband on board. This is so that they can spend their bad luck on getting caught with the contraband, instead of spending it in a more serious situation. |
| 71 | When first meeting someone floating at an orientation 'upside down' to your own, you must frown deeply. (It's an upside down smile.) |
| 72 | Never bring parts of xenos or land things on the ship. Either bring the whole thing or not at all. It's bad luck, and it is said to bode badly for the ventilation shafts. |
| 73 | Instead of walking onto a loading ramp, some spacers will hop onto it. The idea being that you start your voyage 'airborne'. Some spacers turn this into a competition, staying 'airborne' for years, and will make excuses to avoid shore leave on planets. |
| 74 | It's lucky to have a pair of dice aboard. |
| 75 | An unsecured EVA suit, slung over a chair or floating in midair, is an omen of death. |
| 76 | Never wear a red shirt when departing the ship. |
| 77 | Never open a door in space unless you know what’s on the other side. |
| 78 | Never whistle on a ship, or it will bring bad luck or mess with the instrumentation. |
| 79 | Small, cheerful creatures live in the fuel tanks, ducting and waste areas. They enjoy the sound of music and hearing tall tales. If a ship is stranded or damaged, they will sometimes help spacers in making repairs, finding lost objects or in other small ways. |
| 80 | Spacers all have their own traditions, but no matter how stupid/silly/unnecessary you think someone else's is, you don't say anything about it. It's considered bad luck and inviting the misfortune they're trying to avoid on you. |
| 81 | Shaving, cutting your hair or having your nails trimmed is bad luck. |
| 82 | May your family tell good stories. (An old adage from crewmembers of sleeper ships, implying that by the time they return home, their descendents may have forgotten them.) |
| 83 | Wearing someone else's space suit is unlucky. Wearing the spacesuit of someone who has died will doom the ship's next mission - the suit must be destroyed, retired or sent to be recycled. |
| 84 | Many spacers worship the Voidmother, goddess of space. She sends her ghost ships to aid any spacer in need. |
| 85 | Never land on a city under a ring. Instead, land south, pass a night there and then fly through the atmosphere until below the ring system. |
| 86 | Always tap the hull of a ship before entering or leaving it. |
| 87 | Never name a ship after a loved one. |
| 88 | A ship must never be renamed, as it will bring bad luck. |
| 89 | Never say Challenger on a spaceship. You may say it outside, but good spacers avoid it as a matter of course. |
| 90 | Never float 'upside down'. Spacers very quickly decide on the proper orientation for their ship and you should respect it. Lounging around upside down or spinning about brings bad luck, and it's considered silly business on top of that. |
| 91 | It's bad luck to rename spaceships. They have a soul too, you know. |
| 92 | Spacers shouldn't comment on other ship's smell. They know it's highly dependent on one's diet and people are usually in space for months. It's polite to ignore it. |
| 93 | Upon entering a vessel's local gravitational field or transitioning from one field to another, a Spacer must place a manipulator or limb and firmly grasp the nearest, 'highest' point of fixation opposite said direction of gravity, until at least two motive members are firmly settled on the deckplates and the spacer's center of gravity is clearly 'above' those motive members. Failing to do so leads to injuries, bad luck, and insults. |
| 94 | A new spacer is initiated by taking a shot of some sort of alien liquor. This is so that their bodies can become desensitized to new and alien things. |
| 95 | Similar to pirates, old earrings and other valuable items are carried on missions to encourage passing strangers to recover bodies. It is a cursed thing to take a body's gold and not provide a funeral or alert its kin. |
| 96 | It is lucky to touch a buddy's helmet. The most intimate act a spacer can perform on another spacer is holding their buddy by the helmet and staring deep in their eyes in silence. Commanders will usually do this to their crew before dangerous missions. A hug is considered bad form. Laughing, quipping, or somehow not taking the tap seriously is a profound breach of friendship and trust, and will result in the spacer discrediting themselves. The correct way of reacting is to simply keep your composure. Crying is allowed if the situation is particularly dire. |
| 97 | If the ship is within a few lightyears of a star when it goes supernova, a moment of silence is observed by the crew. It is only fitting that the death of something older than civilization itself be treated with respect. |
| 98 | Any missing roll of duct tape must be found before the end of a mission. |
| 99 | If the SOS broadcast signal is older than one minute, you help it. If it is older than six months, you ignore it. And if the signal is older than five years, you run from it. |
| 100 | Never look back on a ship you’re leaving for the last time. |