The equator run is Mars' most anticipated sports event, a biannual, month-long race to and from Elysium. Hundreds of teams participate, most with heavily customized, if not purpose built vehicles. Heavy armament is also common, as the teams will often fight each other, the Tharsis League will do their best to shut down the race by force of arms, barsoomians will take the occasional shot at corporate sponsored teams, and desperate scavengers will set traps to obtain new gear.
The race is not held by any formal entity and has no formal rules, but it is generally agreed that sabotage outside of the race is classless (of course it still occurs), that winning through skilled driving is better than winning through combat (the race still sees plenty of combat), that only groundcraft should be used (flying vehicles are too obvious targets anyway) and that AIs should not be used (most teams use manual, non-computerized equipment wherever possible to avoid hacking in any case).
The entire event is illegal, but the Tharsis League has been unusually powerless when attempting to stop it. The league faces anarchists and barsoomians, who enjoy the chance to publicly flaunt league rules, and organized crime, who enjoy a boost in gambling profits. At the same time, the city militia are not in a position to deal with the largely rural race, and the rangers consider it beneath them and of infinitely lower priority than TQZ patrols and counter-terrorist operations. It is a well known secret that several hypercorps sponsor racing teams, a continued loss of face for the league.
The great length of the race (more than 21,400 km depending on the exact route) makes the event a test of endurance and survival as much as speed and combat. There is no specified, official route, meaning teams have to find drivable terrain while avoiding patrolled roads, and avoiding the Titan Quarantine Zone, which sits on a large portion of the equator.
Plot Hook: A hyperelite scion looking for a thrill will be riding with his company's unofficially sponsored team. A great deal of @-rep can be earned by kidnapping him on behalf of the barsoomians, or a great deal of credits by kidnapping him for a rival hypercorp.
Showing posts with label Mars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mars. Show all posts
Friday, September 4, 2015
Monday, August 24, 2015
236. Terracotta Warriors of Mars
The terracotta warriors of Mars are Fa Jing security bots with a special aesthetic. The hypercorp wanted a special design of security robot for public use on Mars, where their typical bots might be considered overly intimidating. The designer, Wu Ping, came up with a design mimicking the ancient Terracotta Army. The terracotta-esque coating of the robots is complimented by the brown-red of Mars, and their ancient Chinese origin fits Fa Jing's usual public face.
The bulkiness of the statues gave Wu Ping a chance to overbuild and produce a robot with armor and durability normally associated with war machines. Enhanced vision plus a T-ray emitter gives them excellent situational awareness, especially when searching for hidden weapons and smuggling compartments. A microwave agonizer is concealed in their foreheads, a freezer is hidden in their mouths, and their forearms contain rail SMGs firing from the palm.
The terracotta warriors can be found on patrols in and around Fa Jing facilities on Mars, where their combination of durability and non-lethal weaponry make them suited to police work and guard work. The largest concentration is outside New Dazhai, Fa Jing's company town, where, when they are not in use, they power down in ranks outside like their ancient counterparts.
Mechanics
Terracotta warriors are robots [Expensive]
Movement Rate: 4/20 Max Velocity: 20 Armor: 16/16 Durability: 50 Wound Threshold: 10 Mobility System: Walker
Enhancements: Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision, Heavy Combat Armor, Structural Enhancement, T-Ray Emitter, Weapon Mounts (1 Concealed Swiveling w/ Microwave Agonizer, 1 Concealed Swiveling w/ Freezer, 2 Concealed Articulated w/ Heavy Rail SMGs)
The bulkiness of the statues gave Wu Ping a chance to overbuild and produce a robot with armor and durability normally associated with war machines. Enhanced vision plus a T-ray emitter gives them excellent situational awareness, especially when searching for hidden weapons and smuggling compartments. A microwave agonizer is concealed in their foreheads, a freezer is hidden in their mouths, and their forearms contain rail SMGs firing from the palm.
The terracotta warriors can be found on patrols in and around Fa Jing facilities on Mars, where their combination of durability and non-lethal weaponry make them suited to police work and guard work. The largest concentration is outside New Dazhai, Fa Jing's company town, where, when they are not in use, they power down in ranks outside like their ancient counterparts.
Mechanics
Terracotta warriors are robots [Expensive]
Movement Rate: 4/20 Max Velocity: 20 Armor: 16/16 Durability: 50 Wound Threshold: 10 Mobility System: Walker
Enhancements: Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision, Heavy Combat Armor, Structural Enhancement, T-Ray Emitter, Weapon Mounts (1 Concealed Swiveling w/ Microwave Agonizer, 1 Concealed Swiveling w/ Freezer, 2 Concealed Articulated w/ Heavy Rail SMGs)
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.
Monday, February 23, 2015
54. Settlers of Mars
The settlers of Mars can be found almost anywhere. Perched on a ridge overlooking a patrol route, posed menacingly in cul-de-sacs along small canyons, or gathered around a broken vehicle, they are designed to appear human at a glance. Part emerging ruster cultural tradition and part Barsoomian psych-ops, the settlers are created to fool Martian surveillance with false returns, wear-down Consortium agents with paranoia, and scatter visions of "Mars for Martians" across the planet.
A settler is typically created in one of two ways. The old-fashioned create theirs with scrap metal, welding together humanoid structures, sometimes with simple animatronics. Newer methods use protean swarms, programming complex scenes then leaving the swarm to cook the Martian regolith into iron. These models are usually robotic, maintaining simple routines and incorporating heating and fake communications elements designed to create false positives in long-distance surveillance.
The robots are positioned in ways that can serve two purposes. They may display scenes of free Barsoomian life, of what life under a victorious Barsoomian movement would be like. Otherwise, they are designed to scare, appearing as convincing as possible, striking menacing poses against the horizon or be suddenly revealed in hidden corners. Many Martian Rangers have a story about panicking and shooting a settler, or of waking up to find their tent surrounded by silent iron figures.
Plot Hook: A bright young Barsoomian engineer has plans to create self-perpetuating settlers that would reproduce across Mars. This unbounded spread is itself a potential X-risk for Mars, but Firewall's true fear is how the self-perpetuating technology will interact with the remnants inside the Titan Quarantine Zone. Contaminated by TITAN agents, the settlers might become very real.
A settler is typically created in one of two ways. The old-fashioned create theirs with scrap metal, welding together humanoid structures, sometimes with simple animatronics. Newer methods use protean swarms, programming complex scenes then leaving the swarm to cook the Martian regolith into iron. These models are usually robotic, maintaining simple routines and incorporating heating and fake communications elements designed to create false positives in long-distance surveillance.
The robots are positioned in ways that can serve two purposes. They may display scenes of free Barsoomian life, of what life under a victorious Barsoomian movement would be like. Otherwise, they are designed to scare, appearing as convincing as possible, striking menacing poses against the horizon or be suddenly revealed in hidden corners. Many Martian Rangers have a story about panicking and shooting a settler, or of waking up to find their tent surrounded by silent iron figures.
Plot Hook: A bright young Barsoomian engineer has plans to create self-perpetuating settlers that would reproduce across Mars. This unbounded spread is itself a potential X-risk for Mars, but Firewall's true fear is how the self-perpetuating technology will interact with the remnants inside the Titan Quarantine Zone. Contaminated by TITAN agents, the settlers might become very real.
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