This town was built around a prosperous market on a busy trade route, but the sand has swallowed the roads and most of the town too. The houses are half filled with drifts of orange sand, preserving carved wood furniture and brightly colored frescoes. Bright blue lizards sun themselves on cracked rooftops during the day, then fill houses with warm sand to sleep in at night.
The lizards are very intelligent, but reluctant to speak to visitors. They can be tempted into conversation with gifts of rare meats and liqueurs, and when drunk will wax philosophical about the cycles of life and history. They keep many secrets, buried in the sand, and cannot be persuaded to part with them, but their eyesight is poor and their hearing worse. If you can present them from smelling you, records of ancient empires, strange and beautiful artwork, and books with no other copies might be dug free.
Showing posts with label locations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label locations. Show all posts
Saturday, June 8, 2019
Friday, May 24, 2019
Hamun-ran
South of the mountains streches a great salt desert, white dunes as far as the eye can see and a wind that stings the eyes. It is not hot, but rain never falls, and the air is drier than anywhere else in the world. There are no rivers, but there are oases, where water bubbles to the surface. The greatest of these springs is surrounded by the palace of the god-king Hamun, which is surrounded by the city of Hamun-ran, "Hamun's Household," built entirely out of salt.
Hamun has absolute control over the spring. Not a sip is drunk in the city without his blessing. It is his terrace-tower gardens that supply all food. It is his masked and voiceless guard who keep the peace, it is they who prevent any from leaving the city.
Hamun's wife, the Queen of Birds, keeps watch over the people through the eyes of vultures. She alone lives in a building not made of salt, but a gilded stone tower whose shine becomes painful to look at when the sun has risen. No one has seen the Queen of Birds, and it is rumored that there have been many Queens, discarded and replaced at Hamun's whim.
Hamun has absolute control over the spring. Not a sip is drunk in the city without his blessing. It is his terrace-tower gardens that supply all food. It is his masked and voiceless guard who keep the peace, it is they who prevent any from leaving the city.
Hamun's wife, the Queen of Birds, keeps watch over the people through the eyes of vultures. She alone lives in a building not made of salt, but a gilded stone tower whose shine becomes painful to look at when the sun has risen. No one has seen the Queen of Birds, and it is rumored that there have been many Queens, discarded and replaced at Hamun's whim.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
295. Bad Can
Shortstop was a classic O'Neill Cylinder, set in a long cycling orbit between Earth and Mars. The permanent population was less than 10% of residents, with the majority at any given time using the station as a long but comfortable means of travel between the two planets. The station was halfway on its way to Earth during the Fall, after which nothing has been heard from it and no one has returned from it.
Plot Hook: Density-scans of the station reveal that while synthetic items are all intact, biomass has been converted into a heterogeneous tissue evenly coating the interior. The leading hypothesis is that a crèche infestation has converted all biological life. Firewall will need a team to investigate, as well as retrieve information from intact systems.
Plot Hook: Shortstop's population was annihilated by a TITAN nanoplague that devours transhuman brains and cyberbrains, a plague that still waits within. Without a transhuman presence the gardens and pets have taken over, creating a new ecology of smart animals and modified plants. The orbit of the station is degrading and it will soon fall to Mars. The Planetary Consortium will reward handsomely anyone who can avert this.
Plot Hook: A massive hole was blown in one of the windows and the station's atmosphere was lost within seconds. Most of the station is preserved, including automated defenses. Even the plants remain, desiccated and leafless but with perfectly preserved stems, trunks, and branches. A Fall war criminal has hidden himself here, a large bounty will be awarded to whomever can kill or capture him.
Plot Hook: Density-scans of the station reveal that while synthetic items are all intact, biomass has been converted into a heterogeneous tissue evenly coating the interior. The leading hypothesis is that a crèche infestation has converted all biological life. Firewall will need a team to investigate, as well as retrieve information from intact systems.
Plot Hook: Shortstop's population was annihilated by a TITAN nanoplague that devours transhuman brains and cyberbrains, a plague that still waits within. Without a transhuman presence the gardens and pets have taken over, creating a new ecology of smart animals and modified plants. The orbit of the station is degrading and it will soon fall to Mars. The Planetary Consortium will reward handsomely anyone who can avert this.
Plot Hook: A massive hole was blown in one of the windows and the station's atmosphere was lost within seconds. Most of the station is preserved, including automated defenses. Even the plants remain, desiccated and leafless but with perfectly preserved stems, trunks, and branches. A Fall war criminal has hidden himself here, a large bounty will be awarded to whomever can kill or capture him.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
288. Architect Ants
Architect ants were the brainchild of precocious roboticist Gi Young. An experiment in emergent behavior and programming, they were designed to autonomously create cave-complexes suited for transhuman life. During the Fall Young was killed, his startup company dispersed, and control of the ants was lost.
Since the Fall the ants have been doing what they were made to do: tunneling out cavern systems suitable for transhuman habitation. The ants are no longer produced and cannot produce more of themselves, but were designed to be virtually indestructible and energy efficient.
The ants do not create their caverns from pre-made plans, but, just like real ants, from a simple set of rules resulting in the construction of cave systems. The largest complexes exist within the TITAN Quarantine Zone, although many can still be found near the borders. There are also a few complexes, fully inhabited, on Luna. These complexes consist of smoothly curved, circular tunnels interspersed with hemispherical domes of various sizes.
The ants themselves are one meter long, with an ant-like body, tool-mandibles, and are colored yellow and black.
Mechanics
Architect ants can be treated as walking automechs.
Since the Fall the ants have been doing what they were made to do: tunneling out cavern systems suitable for transhuman habitation. The ants are no longer produced and cannot produce more of themselves, but were designed to be virtually indestructible and energy efficient.
The ants do not create their caverns from pre-made plans, but, just like real ants, from a simple set of rules resulting in the construction of cave systems. The largest complexes exist within the TITAN Quarantine Zone, although many can still be found near the borders. There are also a few complexes, fully inhabited, on Luna. These complexes consist of smoothly curved, circular tunnels interspersed with hemispherical domes of various sizes.
The ants themselves are one meter long, with an ant-like body, tool-mandibles, and are colored yellow and black.
Mechanics
Architect ants can be treated as walking automechs.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
260. The Floating World
Many autonomist habitats maintain a trollheim, a deliberately lawless zone acting as a pressure release for the habitat. The Go-Nin Group wanted to experiment with a similar idea, to balance the rigid hypercorp lifestyle they demand from their employees. One end of the O'Neil cylinder Tottori would become the "floating world", lawless, but regulated. The Go-Nin Group made a deal with the post-Fall remnants of the Sumiyoshi-kai yakuza family. The family would allow non-violent, victim-less crimes, crack down on any exceptions, and maintain their borders, and the Go-nin would receive a cut of any profits.
The floating world is a great opportunity for anti-hypercorp activists and saboteurs. Autonomist agents take whatever opportunity they can to smuggle themselves into the floating world where they distribute autonomist memes or sneak out on missions of sabotage. The night cartel has established at least one darkcasting station, and have received many criminals and smugglers, and at least one Ultimate squad on an assassination contract against the Go-Nin. The Sumiyoshi-kai are not eager to bite the hand that feeds them, and suppress such activities when they can, but have been unable to eliminate them completely. At the same time, the businesses of the floating world have been growing gradually more profitable and popular. The balance of power on the habitat is slowly but surely shifting in the Sumiyoshi-kai's favor.
The floating world is a great opportunity for anti-hypercorp activists and saboteurs. Autonomist agents take whatever opportunity they can to smuggle themselves into the floating world where they distribute autonomist memes or sneak out on missions of sabotage. The night cartel has established at least one darkcasting station, and have received many criminals and smugglers, and at least one Ultimate squad on an assassination contract against the Go-Nin. The Sumiyoshi-kai are not eager to bite the hand that feeds them, and suppress such activities when they can, but have been unable to eliminate them completely. At the same time, the businesses of the floating world have been growing gradually more profitable and popular. The balance of power on the habitat is slowly but surely shifting in the Sumiyoshi-kai's favor.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
224. Fruit
The Fruit clubs of Luna and Mars are a franchise of 24/7 nightclubs oriented around soma fruit. The clubs have had only mixed success expanding into Extropia and the outer system, as franchising is an unpopular business model, and autonomists find them dull.
Fruit clubs offer a variety of soma fruit, to be picked right from the tree, vine, or shrub. Caffeinated lemons, amphetamined limes, aphrodisiacal cherries, lightly alcoholic peaches, medium alcoholic apples, heavily alcoholic potatoes, a variety of hallucinogenic berries, and mood-altering nuts are the standards, with rotations of experimental types.
The clubs are laid out as indoor orchards. Their layouts are designed to be larger than they appear, capable of hosting large amounts of people while still maintaining private, intimate spaces. Soft grass and moss carpets the floors, flowering and fruit bearing trees are carefully grown to mimic pillars and branch across ceilings, while shrubs and and bushes enclose secluded areas.
Plot Hook: A few cheshires have found their way into the local franchise and discovered the joys of alcoholic fruit. The owner will give 1000 credits to whoever can herd the drunken, invisible cats away.
Fruit clubs offer a variety of soma fruit, to be picked right from the tree, vine, or shrub. Caffeinated lemons, amphetamined limes, aphrodisiacal cherries, lightly alcoholic peaches, medium alcoholic apples, heavily alcoholic potatoes, a variety of hallucinogenic berries, and mood-altering nuts are the standards, with rotations of experimental types.
The clubs are laid out as indoor orchards. Their layouts are designed to be larger than they appear, capable of hosting large amounts of people while still maintaining private, intimate spaces. Soft grass and moss carpets the floors, flowering and fruit bearing trees are carefully grown to mimic pillars and branch across ceilings, while shrubs and and bushes enclose secluded areas.
Plot Hook: A few cheshires have found their way into the local franchise and discovered the joys of alcoholic fruit. The owner will give 1000 credits to whoever can herd the drunken, invisible cats away.
Friday, August 7, 2015
219. The Tall Woods of the Eventual Mars
The Martian Terraforming Research habitat is a terrarium in both name and type. The interior has been carefully fine-tuned to match temperate-zone martian conditions once terraforming has completed and stabilized, and seeded with desirable plants and animals. In the time to come, the ecosystem will be allowed to evolve to suit the conditions of terraformed Mars, with some guidance in the form of genetic engineering.
The trees grow massive in the light gravity, becoming ecosystems themselves, like the largest trees on Earth. Goat-like, long-limbed "rust deer" leap great distances and climb unintuitively well, when not resting to store oxygen. Great gliding eagles pluck resource efficient monkey-sloths from the great trees. This is Mars as it will be.
Plot Hook: Terraforming has been opposed by most barsoomians, wishing to maintain their ways of life on a cold, dry Mars, although some would welcome a livable wilderness. As an @-rep favor, a player is asked to help design a pathogen to attack the martian ecosystem. As a high @-rep favor, a player is asked to participate in the introduction of the pathogen.
The trees grow massive in the light gravity, becoming ecosystems themselves, like the largest trees on Earth. Goat-like, long-limbed "rust deer" leap great distances and climb unintuitively well, when not resting to store oxygen. Great gliding eagles pluck resource efficient monkey-sloths from the great trees. This is Mars as it will be.
Plot Hook: Terraforming has been opposed by most barsoomians, wishing to maintain their ways of life on a cold, dry Mars, although some would welcome a livable wilderness. As an @-rep favor, a player is asked to help design a pathogen to attack the martian ecosystem. As a high @-rep favor, a player is asked to participate in the introduction of the pathogen.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
217. Geode
Geode is the sole planet in orbit around a brown dwarf. The brown dwarf is significantly above the ecliptic of the galaxy and appears to be heading even higher. Its velocity and position are unlikely to occur naturally, so it is presumed, given that and soem other discoveries, that it was sent on its course deliberately and artificially.
The first unusual feature of the planet is the signs of alien presence. Ruins belonging to no less than four species have been discovered, including the Iktomi. Translation of the Iktomi hieroglyph records and investigations into the other alien facilities were prioritized, and slowly gave a wealth of information. What has been pieced together follows.
The focus of the alien studies have all been on the interior of the planet. The visible surface is an accretion layer tens of kilometers thick, enfolding a layer of dense diamonoid material, presumed to be the original structure. The inside of the diamondoid sphere is hollow, and contains an exotic form of matter, never before encountered or even theorized, arranged in complex, slowly shifting patterns. The shifting of the material is complex, but not random. As it shifts it works through a massive set of potential patterns that contain an unimaginable store of information, or, some have hypothesized, describe the minds of an entire society.It is the cortical stack of an entire civilization.
Plot Hook: Geode is a potential source of information billions of years old as well as one of the largest collections of alien artifacts yet discovered. Firewall and Ozma have both cooperated in covering up the discovery, but a secret war seems likely to break out over control of the information.
The first unusual feature of the planet is the signs of alien presence. Ruins belonging to no less than four species have been discovered, including the Iktomi. Translation of the Iktomi hieroglyph records and investigations into the other alien facilities were prioritized, and slowly gave a wealth of information. What has been pieced together follows.
The focus of the alien studies have all been on the interior of the planet. The visible surface is an accretion layer tens of kilometers thick, enfolding a layer of dense diamonoid material, presumed to be the original structure. The inside of the diamondoid sphere is hollow, and contains an exotic form of matter, never before encountered or even theorized, arranged in complex, slowly shifting patterns. The shifting of the material is complex, but not random. As it shifts it works through a massive set of potential patterns that contain an unimaginable store of information, or, some have hypothesized, describe the minds of an entire society.It is the cortical stack of an entire civilization.
Plot Hook: Geode is a potential source of information billions of years old as well as one of the largest collections of alien artifacts yet discovered. Firewall and Ozma have both cooperated in covering up the discovery, but a secret war seems likely to break out over control of the information.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
211. The Monasteries
The Gift of St. Dmitri, most often called "the monasteries", is a hollowed asteroid, similar to those used by the Jovian Union. A cylinder approximately 20km long and 8 km across (from interior wall to interior wall), spun for Earth-like gravity. The climate of the cylinder is kept carefully Mediterranean, although one half is higher and drier than the other. The higher, drier side is the site of a monastery based on a reconstruction of early christian practices, as well as a number of hermitages. The low, wet side contains a reconstructed Shaolin Monastery on a mountaintop, and an eastern orthodox monastery on a island in a lake. The habitat contains a few small villages who host tourists, but the majority of the land is wilderness.
Since the fall the habitat has come under pressure, from both within and without, to more refugees. It represents a large livable space that currently supports a fraction of the population it might. At the same time, however, it's small populations density and well cared for ecosystems make it one of the final living spaces of many species.
Plot Hook: Every so often, a criminal gets the idea to hide in the wildernesses of the monasteries, thinking no one would ever think to look for them there. A few of the monks in the early-christian and shaolin monasteries have come to live as monks after much different lives, and still maintain links to old friends in organized crime. As a g-rep favor, a player is asked to track down and extract a criminal hiding among the hermits, who has been making life difficult for the locals.
Since the fall the habitat has come under pressure, from both within and without, to more refugees. It represents a large livable space that currently supports a fraction of the population it might. At the same time, however, it's small populations density and well cared for ecosystems make it one of the final living spaces of many species.
Plot Hook: Every so often, a criminal gets the idea to hide in the wildernesses of the monasteries, thinking no one would ever think to look for them there. A few of the monks in the early-christian and shaolin monasteries have come to live as monks after much different lives, and still maintain links to old friends in organized crime. As a g-rep favor, a player is asked to track down and extract a criminal hiding among the hermits, who has been making life difficult for the locals.
Monday, July 27, 2015
208. Francesca's Wine and Cheese Manufactory
Francesca's is a favorite of Valles New Shanghai's New Pittsburgh dome, and a popular meeting place for local organized crime, generally considered neutral ground. Built along the lines of an automat, most of Francesca's is literal hole in the wall, an opening in the building with no windows or doors, only a sign above. One wall is clear diamond, giving a view into the 3d-printers that make the cheese and the wet-nanoware that makes the wine. The opposite wall holds the cases from which patrons can retrieve wine and cheese pairings.
No one knows who Francesca is (if anyone), who owns the place, or who collects the profits. Maintenance and repair are carried out by a local man who has held onto the contract for decades, even past his retirement, and cleaned by an aging robot the regulars have taken to calling Francesca in her absence.
No one knows who Francesca is (if anyone), who owns the place, or who collects the profits. Maintenance and repair are carried out by a local man who has held onto the contract for decades, even past his retirement, and cleaned by an aging robot the regulars have taken to calling Francesca in her absence.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
174. God's Acre
There is life between the stars. Massive beings, devouring comets for water, skimming gas giants for food, and absorbing starlight for energy. Whatever they are, we have never seen a live one. We know they exist only because of the icy dwarf planet called God's Acre, where they crash themselves to die. We call them leviathans.
Their bodies are like bundles of long, winged snakes. Their biochemistry is carbon-based, but based around radiation-proof building blocks. They curl up and tighten themselves into dense spheres in deep space, when nearing stars they unfurl their wings, which photosynthesize and possibly act as solar sails, and when they need to skim from a gas giant they can arrange themselves into an aerodynamic form. From what form of life the leviathans could have evolved from is totally unknown.
Of at least as much interest as their bodies is their brains and minds. The speed of nerve impulses has always been a limit to the practical size of morphs: the larger you are, the longer it takes nerve impulses to travel to and from your brain, and the slower you inevitably become. The current leading hypothesis is that they overcome the latency problem by being able to predict the actions of the other parts of their body as well as the movements of everything they can see, negating most of the need for reflexes. The leviathans have no central brains, but cores of neural tissue similar to spinal columns run through the centers of each of their long limbs, which supports the idea that they can be thought of as a cooperative gestalt as much or more than a unified ego: they are like an ant colony that happens to occupy one body. Most of their brainpower must be occupied with communication and prediction, and the degree of their intelligence is unknown.
Plot Hook: Argonaut, exhuman and hypercorp research teams have all requested the player's help in retrieving samples from the freshest carcass. Only one of the groups will be able to obtain the key samples, and the teams they don't support will hire NPCs to get them first.
Their bodies are like bundles of long, winged snakes. Their biochemistry is carbon-based, but based around radiation-proof building blocks. They curl up and tighten themselves into dense spheres in deep space, when nearing stars they unfurl their wings, which photosynthesize and possibly act as solar sails, and when they need to skim from a gas giant they can arrange themselves into an aerodynamic form. From what form of life the leviathans could have evolved from is totally unknown.
Of at least as much interest as their bodies is their brains and minds. The speed of nerve impulses has always been a limit to the practical size of morphs: the larger you are, the longer it takes nerve impulses to travel to and from your brain, and the slower you inevitably become. The current leading hypothesis is that they overcome the latency problem by being able to predict the actions of the other parts of their body as well as the movements of everything they can see, negating most of the need for reflexes. The leviathans have no central brains, but cores of neural tissue similar to spinal columns run through the centers of each of their long limbs, which supports the idea that they can be thought of as a cooperative gestalt as much or more than a unified ego: they are like an ant colony that happens to occupy one body. Most of their brainpower must be occupied with communication and prediction, and the degree of their intelligence is unknown.
Plot Hook: Argonaut, exhuman and hypercorp research teams have all requested the player's help in retrieving samples from the freshest carcass. Only one of the groups will be able to obtain the key samples, and the teams they don't support will hire NPCs to get them first.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
162. Olympus Asylum and Spa
The Olympus Asylum and Spa is the premier Martian location for resleeving, augmentation, and psychosurgery (both therapeutic and elective). Our skilled team of massage therapists, physical therapists, implant surgeons, geneticists, and psychosurgeons are here to give you the best possible augmentation experience.
The building itself is near the top of Olympus' caldera, built through the ridge, with offices, common rooms and surgical suites overlooking the city, and patient rooms overlooking the martian landscape. The facility has heavy security to ensure the privacy of their high-profile guests. Access is only through a purpose-built inclinator/cafe up the side of the caldera, serving no other facility, and the slopes are closely observed.
Plot Hook: One of the players has checked in to receive treatment for their Firewall related stresses, to gain some high quality augmentations, or as the best way to sleeve into an unfamiliar morph. Their treatment goes well, but they notice a wing of the facility that is kept off-limits, and catch hints that it is used for psychosurgical experiments of the sort Firewall would be interested in.
Plot Hook: For two days communication between the facility and the outside world has been cut off, the inclinator has remained at the top, and no one has left. A singularity seeker had payed a hefty bribe to use their facilities for experimental psychosurgury, and Firewall suspects that something has gone terribly wrong.
The building itself is near the top of Olympus' caldera, built through the ridge, with offices, common rooms and surgical suites overlooking the city, and patient rooms overlooking the martian landscape. The facility has heavy security to ensure the privacy of their high-profile guests. Access is only through a purpose-built inclinator/cafe up the side of the caldera, serving no other facility, and the slopes are closely observed.
Plot Hook: One of the players has checked in to receive treatment for their Firewall related stresses, to gain some high quality augmentations, or as the best way to sleeve into an unfamiliar morph. Their treatment goes well, but they notice a wing of the facility that is kept off-limits, and catch hints that it is used for psychosurgical experiments of the sort Firewall would be interested in.
Plot Hook: For two days communication between the facility and the outside world has been cut off, the inclinator has remained at the top, and no one has left. A singularity seeker had payed a hefty bribe to use their facilities for experimental psychosurgury, and Firewall suspects that something has gone terribly wrong.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
151. The Gestalt Albia
Albia is a brinker habitat located in the Uranian trojans. To an ignorant observer it is uninteresting, a cluster hab run along autonomist lines. When the mutualism demanded by isolated space life is insufficient, they govern themselves as a direct democracy.
Albia is also a gestalt consciousness occasionally formed from the citizens of the station. Linking together the minds of all citizens results in their subsuming into Albia, a discrete consciousness emerging from the network of citizens in the same way the AGIs may emerge from other complex systems. While Albia is awake, the egos of citizens are totally consumed, but when Albia withdraws they awaken as if from a deep sleep.
Albia (the gestalt) appears to be thoroughly invested in the well-being of Albia (the habitat), with particular interest over the habitat's long-term strategies. The last act of each instance of Albia are its instructions on when it is next to be awakened.
Plot Hook: Albia is smart, but not beyond what is possible for a transhuman ego with a savant or hyperbright morph. Their real advantage is in access to the skills and memories of all gestalt members. Firewall suspects that this is why Albia has avoided the exsurgent virus thus far. They are therefore greatly concerned by exsurgent activity seeking to smuggle supercomputers on to Albia, and task the players with intercepting them.
Albia is also a gestalt consciousness occasionally formed from the citizens of the station. Linking together the minds of all citizens results in their subsuming into Albia, a discrete consciousness emerging from the network of citizens in the same way the AGIs may emerge from other complex systems. While Albia is awake, the egos of citizens are totally consumed, but when Albia withdraws they awaken as if from a deep sleep.
Albia (the gestalt) appears to be thoroughly invested in the well-being of Albia (the habitat), with particular interest over the habitat's long-term strategies. The last act of each instance of Albia are its instructions on when it is next to be awakened.
Plot Hook: Albia is smart, but not beyond what is possible for a transhuman ego with a savant or hyperbright morph. Their real advantage is in access to the skills and memories of all gestalt members. Firewall suspects that this is why Albia has avoided the exsurgent virus thus far. They are therefore greatly concerned by exsurgent activity seeking to smuggle supercomputers on to Albia, and task the players with intercepting them.
Friday, May 15, 2015
135. The Guns of Tharsis
The Mars Authority, with the support of the Planetary Consortium, are embarking on a great project to ensure the security of Mars against TITAN remnants and Barsoomian terrorists. Located at the equator, the tips of great guns emerge from the sides of Pavonis Mons, into which they have been built. The promise of the guns is rapid deployment of soldiers from the air; the authority maintains QRT teams around the clock, and even saves time by conducting briefings in midair.
The guns are massive railguns, with a one meter bore. Biomorphs and pods are can be fired while within specially designed disposable pods, while synths can simply be bolted into a special framework. The pods and frameworks contain expandable wings allowing them to glide and control some of their flight, as well as drogue parachutes for landing. Once landed, the pod/framework is blown apart by explosive bolts, allowing a soldier to get into action immediately.
A morph launched from the guns travels at ~10,000 km per hour, or 1,000 km every 6 minutes. At any given time, a Mars Authority quick response team is ~6 minutes from Noctis, ~9 minutes from Olympus, ~18 minutes from Valles-New Shanghai, Pathfinder City and the Martian gate, ~25 minutes from Elysium, and between 2 and 24 minutes from any point within the TITAN Quarantine Zone.
Mechanics
If the players have earned a fast response from the Mars Authority, roll 1d4 to represent the number of minutes it takes the QRT to prepare, and add that to the travel time. Even the shorter, 6 minute travel times gives players key preparation time, but keep in mind that if the Mars Authority are using the guns, they will also devote some of their powerful surveillance to the mission, and the team won't give up without tracking down whatever called them out.
Plot Hook: The Barsoomians are obviously very unhappy about this sword of Damoclese hanging over their heads. They are willing to pay the players a very large amount of credits, rep or favors if they sabotage or destroy the guns. Of course, the guns are one of the most important and well protected military sites on Mars. One of the Barsoomians suggests baiting a remnant warmachine out of the TQZ and drawing it towards the base as a distraction, or infecting the base with an exsurgent virus sample. Firewall, however, would not be happy about the possibility of exsurgents gaining control of the guns and raining down on Mars.
The guns are massive railguns, with a one meter bore. Biomorphs and pods are can be fired while within specially designed disposable pods, while synths can simply be bolted into a special framework. The pods and frameworks contain expandable wings allowing them to glide and control some of their flight, as well as drogue parachutes for landing. Once landed, the pod/framework is blown apart by explosive bolts, allowing a soldier to get into action immediately.
A morph launched from the guns travels at ~10,000 km per hour, or 1,000 km every 6 minutes. At any given time, a Mars Authority quick response team is ~6 minutes from Noctis, ~9 minutes from Olympus, ~18 minutes from Valles-New Shanghai, Pathfinder City and the Martian gate, ~25 minutes from Elysium, and between 2 and 24 minutes from any point within the TITAN Quarantine Zone.
Mechanics
If the players have earned a fast response from the Mars Authority, roll 1d4 to represent the number of minutes it takes the QRT to prepare, and add that to the travel time. Even the shorter, 6 minute travel times gives players key preparation time, but keep in mind that if the Mars Authority are using the guns, they will also devote some of their powerful surveillance to the mission, and the team won't give up without tracking down whatever called them out.
Plot Hook: The Barsoomians are obviously very unhappy about this sword of Damoclese hanging over their heads. They are willing to pay the players a very large amount of credits, rep or favors if they sabotage or destroy the guns. Of course, the guns are one of the most important and well protected military sites on Mars. One of the Barsoomians suggests baiting a remnant warmachine out of the TQZ and drawing it towards the base as a distraction, or infecting the base with an exsurgent virus sample. Firewall, however, would not be happy about the possibility of exsurgents gaining control of the guns and raining down on Mars.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
112. The Village
The devastation of Earth was thorough, but is not total. The planet suffers from roving nanoswarms, radioactive fallout, mass extinctions, chaotic weather and continuing bombardment, but while total extinction was well within TITAN capabilities, the environment has suffered as collateral damage. There are patches of the planet that, due to isolation, protective geography, or sheer luck, seem almost untouched.
In one of these peaceful places, a single village lives on, seemingly indifferent to the troubles of Earth. The residents farm, run a few small businesses, and, somehow, live as they always have.
Plot Hook: The village is a TITAN honeypot trap for survivors. The villagers are genuinely human, but have been carefully edited so that they cannot understand the events of the Fall or the threat of the TITANs. They are otherwise friendly, and will offer shelter and basic supplies to survivors. At midnight, they will enter a trance-like state and kill any survivors who have taken shelter with them. The players are tasked with investigating the disappearances of the villages former victims.
Plot Hook: The village is a survivor honeypot trap for TITAN war-machines. The village consists of buildings rigged to give off statistically plausible infrared and wireless emissions, and a handful of worker pods, puppeted by AIs programmed to carry out simple village life. Any TITAN machine that attacks what looks like an easy target falls prey to IEDs, sappers and seeker nests. This time, however, the village has bit of more than it can chew, and disabled, but not destroyed, a fractal. The players must travel to the village and either retrieve the fractal for study at base, or study it in place, while defending the village from further attacks.
Plot Hook: The village is the control of a TITAN social experiment. In the chaos of the Fall, one TITAN was having difficulty establishing a baseline for its psychological/sociological/memetic experiments. The village's isolation kept it relatively intact, and TITAN protection guaranteed its security. The villages residents are aware of the Fall and evacuation of Earth, but are afraid to leave. The village itself has always remained peaceful, isolated even from the extreme environments of post-Fall Earth, whereas those who leave lose their protection and have never returned. The villagers have made radio contact with the players and asked them to aid in the evacuation of a resident determined to leave anyway.
Plot Hook: The village is genuine, having survived the Fall through isolation and incredible luck. It is slowly dying, however, as crop yields fall and the environment sickens. They must evacuate, but evacuate several hundred stack-less flats from Earth is virtually impossible.
In one of these peaceful places, a single village lives on, seemingly indifferent to the troubles of Earth. The residents farm, run a few small businesses, and, somehow, live as they always have.
Plot Hook: The village is a TITAN honeypot trap for survivors. The villagers are genuinely human, but have been carefully edited so that they cannot understand the events of the Fall or the threat of the TITANs. They are otherwise friendly, and will offer shelter and basic supplies to survivors. At midnight, they will enter a trance-like state and kill any survivors who have taken shelter with them. The players are tasked with investigating the disappearances of the villages former victims.
Plot Hook: The village is a survivor honeypot trap for TITAN war-machines. The village consists of buildings rigged to give off statistically plausible infrared and wireless emissions, and a handful of worker pods, puppeted by AIs programmed to carry out simple village life. Any TITAN machine that attacks what looks like an easy target falls prey to IEDs, sappers and seeker nests. This time, however, the village has bit of more than it can chew, and disabled, but not destroyed, a fractal. The players must travel to the village and either retrieve the fractal for study at base, or study it in place, while defending the village from further attacks.
Plot Hook: The village is the control of a TITAN social experiment. In the chaos of the Fall, one TITAN was having difficulty establishing a baseline for its psychological/sociological/memetic experiments. The village's isolation kept it relatively intact, and TITAN protection guaranteed its security. The villages residents are aware of the Fall and evacuation of Earth, but are afraid to leave. The village itself has always remained peaceful, isolated even from the extreme environments of post-Fall Earth, whereas those who leave lose their protection and have never returned. The villagers have made radio contact with the players and asked them to aid in the evacuation of a resident determined to leave anyway.
Plot Hook: The village is genuine, having survived the Fall through isolation and incredible luck. It is slowly dying, however, as crop yields fall and the environment sickens. They must evacuate, but evacuate several hundred stack-less flats from Earth is virtually impossible.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
97. Chimera
Chimera is an Earth-like world, with 90% Earth's gravity, freshwater seas covering 60% of the surface, and a slightly higher intensity of light from its closer orbit to a Sun-like yellow star. Chimera is incredibly rich with life, where even the coldest, hottest and driest climate zones support complex ecosystems. Chimera supports forms of life based upon multiple types of chemistry, and their interactions and evolution is an immense laboratory of biological warfare.
The two largest ecosystems are are based on the same organic matter and DNA as Earth life. One, however, has left-handed chirality, the other right-handed. The two ecosystems are at times locked in biological warfare, evolving powerful allergens and prions as defenses against those organisms evolved to consume both right and left handed proteins. At other times, they ignore each other, their biochemistry so incompatible conflict is pointless. Both of their remains are decomposed by tough, RNA based pseudo-fungi.
Right-handed life is the most Earth-like, with quadrupedal vertebrates and green plants. Left-handed life is the minority among plants and large animals, but has a virtual monopoly on niches associated with small, insect-like invertebrates. Few of these animals have evolved to metabolize right-handed plant proteins themselves, but many contain symbiotic bacteria that do the job for them.
Towards the poles, where temperatures regularly reaches -90 °C, a sparse ecosystem of silicon based life is spread across the ice. The plant-like organisms resemble crystalline mosses and lichens, interspersed with fractal silicate corals built by left-handed organic polyps. The silicon plants are energy-poor, and grow slowly, and the polyps small and well defended. The only other animal life to be found are migratory flyers and semi-aquatic organisms living along the shores.
Orbiting this unique world is a find that overshadows all others: an array of alien satellites. Observations from ground-based telescopes and orbital drones shows equipment suited to observing the planet and transmitting information out of the system. Interference or physical contact has so far been avoided for fear of unseen-defenses. the satellites are estimated to be thousands of years old, but orbital wreckage of older ones has been found, suggesting they are periodically replaced. The owners might show up for routine maintenance at any time.
The leading hypothesis is that Chimera's unique biosphere is a large and ancient science experiment, and that only one form of life arose there naturally, and the others were introduced. Preliminary fossil surveys show new types of life appearing during large-scale extinctions, which were presumably caused by the introduction of the new life. Perhaps the beings responsible for the satellites periodically introduce new forms of life, using the satellites to monitor their evolution and record anything of interest or potential use.
The two largest ecosystems are are based on the same organic matter and DNA as Earth life. One, however, has left-handed chirality, the other right-handed. The two ecosystems are at times locked in biological warfare, evolving powerful allergens and prions as defenses against those organisms evolved to consume both right and left handed proteins. At other times, they ignore each other, their biochemistry so incompatible conflict is pointless. Both of their remains are decomposed by tough, RNA based pseudo-fungi.
Right-handed life is the most Earth-like, with quadrupedal vertebrates and green plants. Left-handed life is the minority among plants and large animals, but has a virtual monopoly on niches associated with small, insect-like invertebrates. Few of these animals have evolved to metabolize right-handed plant proteins themselves, but many contain symbiotic bacteria that do the job for them.
Towards the poles, where temperatures regularly reaches -90 °C, a sparse ecosystem of silicon based life is spread across the ice. The plant-like organisms resemble crystalline mosses and lichens, interspersed with fractal silicate corals built by left-handed organic polyps. The silicon plants are energy-poor, and grow slowly, and the polyps small and well defended. The only other animal life to be found are migratory flyers and semi-aquatic organisms living along the shores.
Orbiting this unique world is a find that overshadows all others: an array of alien satellites. Observations from ground-based telescopes and orbital drones shows equipment suited to observing the planet and transmitting information out of the system. Interference or physical contact has so far been avoided for fear of unseen-defenses. the satellites are estimated to be thousands of years old, but orbital wreckage of older ones has been found, suggesting they are periodically replaced. The owners might show up for routine maintenance at any time.
The leading hypothesis is that Chimera's unique biosphere is a large and ancient science experiment, and that only one form of life arose there naturally, and the others were introduced. Preliminary fossil surveys show new types of life appearing during large-scale extinctions, which were presumably caused by the introduction of the new life. Perhaps the beings responsible for the satellites periodically introduce new forms of life, using the satellites to monitor their evolution and record anything of interest or potential use.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
46. Tartarus
Tartarus is the first rogue planet to have been discovered via the gate network, accessed through discord gate on Eris. The planet's nearest stellar neighbor is a binary system 5.3 light years away, and the only significant orbiting body is a large captured asteroid. Its gate lies in the middle of large plain of black ice, lit only by distant stars.
Scientists have determined that Tartarus is most likely similar to Europa, having an ocean of highly pressurized water under its thick surface of ice. The existence of liquid water raised the possibility of life in Tartarus' past, and an operation to bore through the ice was undertaken. Scientists were thrilled to discover that not only had Tartarus hosted life in the past, but there were complex microbial ecosystems living off of the energy of deposits of radioactive material on the ocean bottom. Stromatolites and diatomaceous earth indicate that life was once widespread, and the isolated clusters of radiotrophs are the last gasp of a family of life at least 2 billion years old.
Tartarus is livelier than one might expect from a frozen ball of rock and ice between stars. In addition to the biological research stations created to study the life of Tartarus, the planet contains several research and development workshops and laboratories designing technologies for extreme cold. The lack of nearby stars minimizes interfering stellar radiation and also makes the rogue planet an excellent location for astronomical observation; a large array of radio-telescopes is under construction.
Plot Hook: The deposits of radioactive material on which the life of Tartarus depends are anamolous. They cannot be accounted for by any models of planet formation, they are too numerous, and they are of the wrong isotopes. Some believe that this indicates intelligent activity, and that the deposits are the left over from ancient alien technologies. Firewall gives these theories some credence, and needs the PCs to investigate a possible find before word spreads to Tartarus' primary sponsor, the Go-Nin Group.
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