Hidden Realms

[dcarson]

In the Man from UNCLE books they expand on the tailor shop entrance. That is for field operatives. The center of that block in the headquarters and there are also a office building entrance, a parking garage entrance and a restaurant entrance. The apartment buildings have apartments in the front occupied by UNCLE personnel and retirees, the back parts have entrances to the HQ.

In real life the Israelis bought a seaside resort in a African country and used that as a spot for getting the local jewish population out of the country. Supplies arriving and people coming and going were normal, just some of them left via different methods.

So have reasons for traffic in and out, lots to nowhere draws attention.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by CardinalBiggles

In space any uninteresting object out of the ecliptic plane seems a good starting point. If you keep radio quiet and a low thermal signature hopefully your base won't be noticed.

This is Really Difficult. The thermal signature needed for biolife is substantial, considering the sensitivity of TS sensor tech. You could steal David Brin's idea of cooling lasers, I suppose.

Originally Posted by CardinalBiggles

A base suspended from a hot hydrogen balloon floating in the atmosphere of a giant planet. IIRC Neptune has a relatively quiet atmosphere.

Venus is fairly deserted but any base has to deal with the extreme environment.

To hide the presence of a habitat I think you want noisy environments.

To hide the weirdness of the habitat, you have a false front. "Why, yes, we are the organic wholemeal peace commune. Have a flower."

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

To hide the presence of a habitat I think you want noisy environments.

To hide the weirdness of the habitat, you have a false front. "Why, yes, we are the organic wholemeal peace commune. Have a flower."

See any number of "little town with a dark secret" plots.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

See any number of "little town with a dark secret" plots.

Those transfer to THS very smoothly. A world filled with surveillance and memetic manipulation is perfect for desperate secrets and obsessed seekers.

[CardinalBiggles]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

To hide the presence of a habitat I think you want noisy environments

My bad, I meant a calm atmosphere. IIRC the atmospheres of the other gas giants are quite blustery.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by CardinalBiggles

My bad, I meant a calm atmosphere. IIRC the atmospheres of the other gas giants are quite blustery.

And by blustery you mean thunderstorms wider than the Pacific ocean, filled with thousands of tornados, and lasting generations.

[Astromancer]

Thinking about it, small towns with Dark Secrets could fit on Mars or in the belt in THS. A quiet little out of the way community can be in many places in this setting.

[Astromancer]

In GURPS: Teradyne, there were hints that there was a secret fleet being built out in deep space to attack the Earth and force the Earth to grant the Teradyne corporation sovereignty over all of the solar system beyond Earth. A hidden off Earth realm could be trying (either seriously as a real threat or stupidly as a real problem, or with total incompetence as a real laugh) to build a space fleet. And an Earthside Hidden Realm could be hiding out because they fear someone is building an Earth Conquest fleet.

However you slice it, real or silly, friend or foe, it leads to lots of conflicts. And conflicts lead to stories.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

A hidden off Earth realm could be trying (either seriously as a real threat or stupidly as a real problem, or with total incompetence as a real laugh) to build a space fleet.

How are they going to afford to build anything that can match up to the fleets that Earth has already? Earth is still most of the THS solar system's economy.

If the answer is that the hidden realm has more resources than Earth accessible via robotic resource extraction and manufacturing, then they've already won the battle for dominance and just need to demonstrate it by undercutting Earth's manufacturing. This may not seem like an exciting story, but there are limits to how much economic implausibility players and GMs can believe in.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by johndallman

How are they going to afford to build anything that can match up to the fleets that Earth has already? Earth is still most of the THS solar system's economy.

If the answer is that the hidden realm has more resources than Earth accessible via robotic resource extraction and manufacturing, then they've already won the battle for dominance and just need to demonstrate it by undercutting Earth's manufacturing. This may not seem like an exciting story, but there are limits to how much economic implausibility players and GMs can believe in.

Still, dealing with violent paranoid nutcases is story material.