The Ventkids are a group of orphaned Solaris children living in the vents of Fortuna. Without any family or support system, they have banded together to form their own family and their own culture, rejecting both the Corpus ideology and, to an extent, the Solaris way of life as well. The Ventkids fashion hoverboards from stolen Corpus components which they call "K-drives", and have developed a culture around racing and acrobatic tricks, including a multitude of slang expressions.
The two major factions of the Ventkids are the Vent Pobbers, led by Roky, and the Kubrodons, led by Boon, although these groups seem to be based more on shared interests than contentious competition, seeing as Roky and Boon are amiable adoptive siblings. In their main clubhouse in the vents, Roky and Boon can be seen bantering, while other Ventkids lounge around, practise their K-drive skills in the air currents, or play their own music with improvised instruments – a genre they call "skeg".
Syndicate information
Roky is the main representative of the Ventkids in their dealings with the Tenno. The Ventkids are described thusly:
Hangin' with their logical fam in the ducts of Fortuna, the Ventkids get by stealing parts from the Corpus and running K-drive races out on the Vallis. At night, the ventways bang to the sound of skeg – to the chagrin of the locals.
The Ventkids offer components to build K-drives: the board, reactor, nose, and jets. They also offer K-drive mods, as well as craftable Operator apparel based on the clothes worn by the Ventkids. The Syndicate ranks, from least to most favoured, are:
- Neutral: [no description]
- Glinty: No dings, never taken a hit, wouldn't know ya ta look at ya. Have you ever ridden a K-drive?
- Whozit: Nice enough; wouldn't last five minutes in a vent.
- Proper Felon: Solid sorta mucker and you ride a K-drive like it's stolen. 'Cause it is.
- Primo: Stand-up cove and vouched for, this one. Chek-chek?
- Logical: Had no say in your biological fam, but this crew's your logical fam. Ventkids are logical; got no time for muckers who ain't.
Unlike the factional Syndicates, Standing with the Ventkids is earned by performing tricks on the K-drive, or completing the races on the Orb Vallis.
In Fortuna
The Ventkids are located in the vents of Fortuna, accessible through a grate on the second floor of Fortuna, above Legs' shop. This grate does not open prior to the completion of the Vox Solaris quest. The grate in question displays a graffito, while an unnamed Ventkid sits above it, occasionally calling out to the Tenno.
"Need a ride, glinty? K-drives by the load! Just through that vent there! Hahaha."
"Check the vents, glinty! Just here. A paying customer's always welcome."
"Vent Pobbers make it happen! Not Kubrodon flashy, but they can take anything stolen and turn it into a top ride!"
"Pobbers are smart, but for me, Kubrodons all the way! Flash, style, attitude. Ride godly, and be remembered!"
"Kubrodons! Kubrodons! Kubrodons!"
"Pobbers and Kubrodons, sure they go at each other, but it's all in fun. Only gotta hear us skegging out together to know that for a fact!"
Entering vents
Upon entering the vents, Roky and Boon can be heard speaking. Sometimes, Roky will address the Tenno; other times, the Tenno will interrupt a conversation between Roky and Boon.
Roky: "Psst! Glinty! Need a plank? Parts? Talkin' primo K-drive bits. Get you ridin', kick it terminal out on the Vallis. Cheap, too."
Roky: "Ventkids got no folks so ventkids look after themselves. We can sort you with a dog board, no worries."
Roky: "Checknah, glinty! All K-drive bits we got legit! Now, you want expert parts and service, or you suckin' wind?"
Boon: "Fancy. Whatcha doin'? Got biz?"
Roky: (whisper) "Pump the brakes, bro. This one's a buyer. (normal voice) Need a ride, friend? The Kubrodons and Vent Pobbers are at your service!"
Boon: "Checknah, sis, glinty thinks he's kickin' terminal. Nosegrab, bombed the landin', washed out hard and hit skin for a stretch. Came up livid! Hahaha!"
Roky: "Hahahahaha! (whisper) Klokkit. We got a buyer. (normal voice) Howzit."
Roky: "Glinty mucker wants in. I tells him: 'Our family's logical, see? Your lot's biological. Mumsie. Dadsie. Luck a' the draw. All coddled and swaddled.' Mucker wouldn't last ten seconds in a vent."
Boon: "Bah-bah."
Roky: "Bah-bah beh-beh."
Roky: "Legs? All that rhymin'? You want that hangin' logical? How we get somethin' his size into a ventspace? With a mallet?"
Boon: "He's gettin' by hard, same as us. Ain't no self-pity in there, neither. Just grit. Scope it clean and you'll klokkit."
Roky: "Vent Pobbers got new digs. Old filtration chamber they don't use no more. Movin' our racks and gear end of cycle."
Boon: "Skeggin' it up?"
Roky: "Yeah. It's square in the D-7 vent-tangle. Bang and bounce is dog. Keep the whole section up, we will."
Boon: "Problem is, see, people are too rich. Not enough to go 'round. That's why we're down this hole."
Roky: "Know how you stop someone gettin' too rich?"
Boon: "Drop 'em down a hole."
Roky: "Skill, bro. Every time."
Boon: "You could bigflip off an Orb Mother, come down flair and smilin', but it's aaaaall idiot shivers for the crowd you dress bad, sis."
Roky: "Win hard, and folks be dressin' bad by breakfast."
Roky: "Hit the rail, movin' terminal, klokkit? Grinded for a lifetime offa that taxi loader. Vapour trail! Couldn't touch Roky."
Boon: "Skill don't mean nah lookin' like you dressed by mumsie. Get your crew decked, look the part. Ain't nobody respectin' a pack a fish-lookin' null units. Hahahahaha!"
Boon: "Word is Nef's gonna sweep the ducts, net up all the Ventkids. Sortin' merk-merks for the job. They's a special unit."
Roky: "You're a special unit."
Boon: "Gonna net us all up, make us work deep deep down, we ain't wily. Nef don't like no Ventkids and he don't like no skeg neither."
Greeting the Tenno
(if the Tenno is new to Fortuna) Roky: "We Ventkids. No Mumsie-Dadsie for us. No biological kin, just our logical kin. This here's me logical-bro, Boon. He runs the Kubrodons, scores the parts. I run the Vent Pobbers, we make the boards. You buyin'? Need a plank? Once a cycle I got somethin' dog. Best prices too, glinty. Mates' rates, chek?"
Roky: "Howzit, glinty. You lookin' or what?"
Roky: "Howzit, glinty. Got a need?"
Roky: "Howzit. Boards and bits, let you grind terminal. Check me wares."
Roky: "Look, we need dosh, you need a plank. You ride, we get fed, chekchek?"
(if the Tenno has just reached rank Logical) Roky: "Boon. Boon! Get over here! It's our Outworlder buddy. How ya doin', Outworlder-buddy?"
(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "Hey, erm… you klok Boon's keen on that Legs mucker? He says we should make Legs logical. Part of our fam. I tell him he won't fit in the vents. He says Legs could just take his head off and we could lug him 'round. [pause] Jealous? Nah! Boon's me logical! That'd be weird. I jus'… he's me most logical fam. I got no other."
(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "Hey, you know some old cove Smokefinger? Me and the crew bang skeg in the vents of a down-cycle, and he leaves us these, wedged in the grilles come up-cycle. Says it's 'sheet music'. What's a 'sonata'? Woss'e sayin'? Our clangin' ain't dog enough for his old receptors? Woss a 'Mandachord' anyway?"
(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "My kids don't go near that hunter-trapper Business cove. Not since Bobo. The Business moves in, starts talkin' cute and furry animals, Bobo thinks Biz is an easy mark. By the time Bobo's pulled his Kitgun, Biz is handin' it back to him without the clip. Dunno what that old cove told Bobo, but Bobo ain't touched a gun since. We got no idea who that Biz mucker really is, an' we don't wanna know."
(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "Zuud's a bit lateral, in'she? We get calls some down-cycles, wantin' parts. It's Zuud, 'cept it ain't always her voice. Some other lady. Imagine if that was yer Mumsie. That was your biological, an' you just had to live with that. Pfeh. That's why me and Boon and the kids hang logical. Choose the kind of crazy we live with."
(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "I scope you, Outworlder-buddy! Lookin' dog as always. What can the Vent Pobbers fit you with?"
(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "Hey, just in time. We were about to hit the Vallis, grind some off Nef's face. Ten points for the eyebrows. Need anything?"
Exiting wares without purchase
Roky: "Pfft. Yeh-no-yeh-no cheknah. Glinty all flitty."
Roky: "Cheknah, glinty. Scope ya."
Roky: "Bah-bah beh-beh."
Assembling K-drive
Roky: "Gotta need some bits and pieces, glinty."
Roky: "Can't help ya, glinty. I need somethin' to work with."
Roky: "Gotta need some bits and pieces, glinty. We live in the vents, not a Relay."
Roky: "Want me to bolt two canisters to a piece of siding, charge you fifty so you can make broom-broom noises? Need parts, glinty. Parts."
Selecting a K-drive part
Roky: "Hmm. Intriguing."
Roky: "Ah, yeah. Okay. Sure."
Roky: "Couldn't have picked better meself."
Constructing K-drive
Roky: "Boon! Klokkit. This be terminal style, chek? Yeah? [pause] No?! Ah, go stick your head in one. This board'll make you a star, glinty. No mistake."
Roky: "Someday, glinty, the System's gonna know my name – and you'll be able to say: 'I bought one a' the first Rides by Roky.'"
Roky: "Dog. In'she dog? Come on! A little appreciation, glinty."
Daily special
Roky: "Boon's crew taxed the parts quiet-like, an' we Vent Pobbers bashed it together last cycle. Terminal ride. I'll gutterball the price n'all. Deal?"
Roky: "Boon's crew got air over a zap-fence to score this lot. Corpus maintenance crew's gonna be comin' up short next cycle, but hey – we Vent Pobbers pass the savings onto you."
Roky: "Parts freshly nicked by the Kubrodons – Boon's crew. Bashed this plank together meself, I did. One-of-a-kind, guaranteed."
Roky: "Fell off the back of a loader. Wanna bargain, today's it."
Naming a K-drive
Roky: "Now get out there and give 'em hell. Tell 'em the Ventkids sent ya."
Roky: "Aw, pretty. Okay, all done."
Roky: "Nice. I don't get the reference, but that sounds real poetic."
If the Tenno idles
Roky: "Need any advice?"
Roky: "So, ah… you don't make a lot of snap decisions, I guess?"
Roky: "Yeah, I know, but we need the credits."
Roky: "Still decidin'? Fair call, fair call. You don't want the balance to be off, or the plank to be flyin' out from under ya."
Roky: "I dunno, Boon. I think maybe they're havin' one of them, wotsit, flashbacks. Oi! Glinty! You in there?"
Roky: "The combo of bits give the plank its personality. Kinda like gettin' married. Not that I ever will. Bachelor for life, me. Married to me art."
Bidding farewell
Roky: "Boon's crew, the Kubrodons, gotta hand off a buncha live gear before they get burned. Planks, drives, could be anythin'. Scope me in a few, chekchek?"
Roky: "Bah-bah, be-be."
Roky: "Bye bye, glinty."
Starting a K-drive race
Out on the Orb Vallis, there are 22 K-drive racing areas, although only 5 will be active on any given day. At these locations, the Tenno can find Boon, sitting on his hoverboard. Approaching him will cause a scoreboard to appear, showing the highest-scoring Tenno for that race. Interacting with Boon will cause the race markers to appear as pink rings on the terrain. The Tenno must pass through all the rings before the time runs out, although the timer does not start until they pass through the first ring. Passing through additional rings will add time to the clock. Dismounting the board or being thrown off does not forfeit the race as long as the Tenno can get back on the board and pass through the next ring before time runs out, despite Boon's implication otherwise.
Some of the races are down slopes and across terrain; some go through Corpus bases; and some twist through the caverns. The 22 races are: Deathgrip, Sky-Eye, Roky's Roll, Pobber's Drop, Breakdown or Bust, Puffin' Pastures, The Hard Way, Mumsie Dadsie, Fortuna's Folley, Bomb the Spaceport, Meat and Greet, Frost Merchant, Lord of the Board, Dog Line, Kubrodon Twist, Catalyst, River Run, Skeggin' Out, Taxman's Curve, Shaving Nef, Anyo's Ointment, and Grinding the Void. Completion of the races awards Standing with the Ventkids as well as affinity for the active K-drive.
Boon: "Works like this: hit the marker, the timer starts. Vapour trail, chek? Ya bomb, and ya done. Ready?"
Boon: "Rules are simple: timer starts once you hit the first marker. Now, let's see what ya packin'."
Boon: "Arright, klokkit! I say go, ya floor it. Time kicks off once you hit the first marker. Ready?"
Abandoning race
Boon: "Yeah, the more ya age the more ya beige. S'why I'm never gettin' that old. Boon!"
Boon: "Well, can't say nah 'bout your skills, but I do like your rags. Keep 'er shiny side up, Glinty!"
Boon: "No testin', no bestin'! Lord a' the Board! Boon!"
Hitting the first marker
Boon: "First marker gone. Bah-bah!"
Boon: "Boom!"
Boon: "Nice form. Let's see you keep it."
Failing a race
Boon: "Oof. Idiot shivers all 'round. Ya bombed that one, glinty."
Boon: "Put in the hours, glinty. You'll get there. Hahahaha!"
Boon: "Ha ha! Klokked it. Fish-lookin' null-unit."
Finishing a race
Boon: "You's a lucky mucker an' no mistake. Skin a' ya teeth, glinty!"
Boon: "Nothin' fancy, but got it done. Ya plank okay for a glinty mucker."
Boon: "Ya, don't get smug. You did fine, but chek no flair. You scored that one, but I'm still king."
Roky is mentioned in the Vox Solaris quest, and Boon has some dialogue during the Profit-Taker Orb Mother heist. The Waverider quest centres around Boon and Roky. Some Ventkids appear in the New War quest, but not Roky or Boon specifically. The Ventkids are mentioned in the dialogue of Eudico, The Business, Rude Zuud, and Smokefinger, and are mentioned in Legs' lore fragments, as well as the bio of a possible Steel Meridian crewmember.
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