Source GM Core pg. 96
Stairs in Starfall are where architects, gravity, and species design all collide—places where a rushed evac, a botched chase, or a badly sized riser can kill you faster than a stray shot.
In Inner Sphere towers, stairs are the backup when lifts fail: emergency cores with standardized risers, glow‑striped edges, and anti‑slip coatings that hum with low‑power mag fields. In budget Outer Sphere blocks and Frontier rigs, they’re a patchwork of welded grating, scavenged plasteel, and improvised ramps—creaking, rust‑spotted, and shuddering under every load.
Shoddy stairs show up wherever maintenance is an afterthought: refugee levels, abandoned factory stacks, under‑hab service routes. Steps sag, treads are missing, and spilled oil, coolant, or Rift‑grown moss turns them into a running joke among locals and a deathtrap for outsiders. Those are your uneven‑ground stairs—the ones where even standing still feels like a risk if the firefight gets too close.
Scale complicates everything. Some older alien megastructures and giant‑built temples in Starfall have risers as tall as a human; for most PCs, climbing them is literally Climb, step, Climb, step, while a bulkloader or giant synth strides up them like a normal staircase.
Accessibility & class: Smooth, well‑lit stairs with even risers and safety rails signal wealth and regulation; jagged, mismatched stair stacks show neglect, rushed expansion, or territories nobody cares to code‑inspect.
Navigation cues: In labyrinthine stations, stairs often mark “safe” or “official” routes between levels, while ladders and open shafts belong to maintenance crews and smugglers.
Environmental storytelling: Collapsed or half‑rebuilt stair flights hint at past battles, decompression events, or cost‑cutting; temporary ramps and scaffold stairs tell of recent work or ongoing faction projects.