Quartermaster

Alert

Resource

Info

Type

Power to Distribute

Supplies Boons to Aliens

Whenever alien(s) would receive pods as boons, use this power to shroud all of those pods in your nexus as “rations”. If you are not one of those aliens, draft an additional pod for your rations.

Gift each alien the amount of boons they are owed from your rations. Claim or scrap any remaining pods.

Legacy: When receiving boons, aliens receive one fewer boon (min. 1).

Innovators in the field of logistics, the Quartermasters invented the concept of backer boons and personally oversee their distribution. Though normally running a tight ship, their inventory record gets a little spotty when participating in their own Cosmic Encounters.

Any: Any

Mandatory

Wild Flare

Whenever another alien would receive boons, you may discharge this flare to gift them pods from your cache to satisfy any or all of those boons.

Any: Any

Super Flare

When using your power, you may discharge this flare to add any or all pods from your cache to your rations.

Any: Any

Modifications

Originally the power to supply. Changed to the power to “distribute” to feel more like an action verb. I had to double-check if it was the power “of” supply or the power “to” supply since the force of the verb is so weak.
Quartermaster’s legacy puts a restriction on boons, reducing the value of serving as a backward. The legacy affects all boons, including those produced by powers, so the minimum limit is placed on the legacy to prevent it from hitting powers like Fido and Sadist too hard. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

Quartermaster always gains at least one pod when using its power, but the true value comes from information. If the dark forge is in play, Quartermaster will always know what pods have been drafted from it.
Quartermaster is incentivized to act as a backward to gain boons alongside other aliens. The more aliens that get pods at once, the more effective Quartermaster’s power becomes.
As the Quartermaster, try to hit the right balance between acting as backward and foreward. Getting too many strong rewards as a backward will make you a compensation magnet and fall behind in dominion. Not getting enough will deprive you of much of your power.
Quartermaster does not reduce the boons you receive, but it can drastically reduce the quality of them. When Quartermaster is a bystander, note that they may try to take the best pods for themselves if they serve as backward.

Development Notes

The quartermaster serves a pivotal military role in a navy. They are responsible for managing the logistics and doling out resources to the soldiers. While the captain of a ship takes the primary leadership role, the quartermaster is perhaps just as important to the security and stability of the ship. In the context of Cosmic, the quartermaster serves the purpose of distributing pods when they are requisitioned as boons, with stray pod drafting still being up to the original. It’s easy enough to imagine that pod drafting is done manually by the alien who requires it, while boons are delivered personally from the Federation. Perhaps boon pods and those delivered through provisions and resupplies are a little more refined than the cruder, manually-built ones, but it would only be enough to affect the pod visually at most.
I also considered the power to “ration” for Quartermaster, but the connotation didn’t capture the spirit of the idea well enough. It sounds like it could mean the power to ration your own resources, saving them for later like Miser or Cryo. I could have also gone with the power of logistics, but I picked distribute to keep it a verb.
Quartermaster is most comparable to Extortionist, another alien that affects pods gained through boons.. The timing rule influences how the two interact, making it a little more complicated. If Quartermaster goes first, it gains its rations and looks at them, then gifts them out for Extortionist to extort. Quartermaster itself is subject to extortion as well, but only if it is earning boons as well. The one bonus boon rounds down to zero, so Extortionist will not get it. If Extortionist goes first, it will snatch half of the pods before Quartermaster sees them, reducing the information and options Quartermaster has unless the extortion is cancelled through ship sniping. This also means that Quartermaster and Extortionist can earn priority by participating in the encounter vs. remaining bystanders. Forewards have priority over backwards, which can give Extortionist the advantage given Quartermaster’s propensity for being a backward. The matchup is interesting and fair for both sides, so I am fine keeping it how it is.
In a sense, Quartermaster can be perceived as a win-only alien, but not strictly when it wins itself. Aside from specific boon-earning powers like Fido, boons are generally only granted as backer boons. This means that the defense has to win for Quartermaster to use its power. Quartermaster can help the defense win more often and stock itself up with the best pods from the forge, though this means stalling the match and potentially allowing aliens like Tick-Tock and Warrior to gain an advantage.
It’s worth considering why the Quartermaster has no impact on provisions or resupplies since its role is to manage pod distribution. Mechanically, it becomes a little oppressive for Quartermaster to see every alien’s cache when they request a resupply, due to the number of pods involved in a resupply. In terms of theme, it is simple enough to imagine that provisions are pre-packaged sets of pods that don’t require any formal distribution in the same manner as boons, since they are rarely requested simultaneously. Therefore, provisions fall outside of Quartermaster’s purview.
Similar to Judge, Quartermaster offers another fantastic opportunity to flesh out the lore of Cosmic Encounter’s mechanics. Just as Judge has the official role of impartially determining the winner of an encounter, Quartermaster is responsible for rationing out the boons. When they participate in the encounter, they can apply the ability to their own advantage.