[Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Question 71 (new) by TGLS
What's a big new fad?

Answer
Five New Trends according to Vather Good vidmag

Captain Dinh completed the launch from Rizumo Base and set a leisurely burn towards the L5.
"Charts room- Lima-fiver in three-six minutes. Plot course for Dao Shen System, Eternal Space. Understood?"
"Charts to helm," spoke the aural inducer in her ear, "Eternal Space, Dao Shen System, Fiedler Catalog 9288. Understood. Plotting 7D solution. Charts out."
Captain Dinh pushed her acc couch back and thunked her deck boots on the console, relaxing for the half hour wait. To pass the time, she vidded up the latest issue of Vather Good to see what was trendy and, luck permitting, profitable this quarter.

Habitats- Mega Avians
The big fad last season was indeed big- megafauna. For habitats and terraforms, the way to show that your ecology was resilient and thriving was to park a few megafauna in it and let them live off the land. Or, if you were a recsoft tycoon and wanted something different for your game enclosure to demonstrate your fine taste and affluence- a big darn animal. It didn't matter the providence, as long as it was huge- recreated Earth extinctees, like mammoths, sabre tooths, diprotodon, up to triceratops or even apatosaurs; or xenofauna, like Rigellian gargantuans and Gruen Space long turtles; or even pure genesynths, like the olifans and behelluths by Weir Labs, or Baumer-Hinten Partners Terraformers' mesa whales.

While last season sales of landwalking megafauns was bullish, the trend is turning this season to the skies. Giant birds and pterosaurs are what those cashed up playboys are collecting now. Earth species making a comeback are argentaves and pelagorns- look for Quewren Design releases with sparkling and luminescent plumage- and hatzegopteryxes, sold by Savant Biologics under the uninspired brand name of Grand Bats. Weir Labs have announced their new synthetic mega avian line will be out later this quarter- something to watch for. There's no clear market leader in the flying mega xenofauna sector yet, but you can be sure speculative zoocollectors are combing alien biomes for a hit species, and the competition is ebullient.

Fashion- Ikebanning
You must've noticed them by now- a cheeky fern behind the ear, rose petals around the neck, the string-vine beard, neatly pruned, or the full-head coverage of North Orythane flame moss. These, technically known as dermal botanising, are marketed as ikebanning or flora-skin, but slang terms for afficianados include weedos and compost heaps or compos. The procedure originated in a more… (ahem) divergent part of the humanosphere, but most people find it harmless enough to ignore that, although some authoritarian or puritanical types are against it on those grounds. Quewren Design are the leading manufacturer, but the small-time grower, LinFei, has some exciting designs this quarter.

Food- Old Earth Seasonal Favourites
Every season, Flavours of Old Earth release a seasonal special representing one of the seasons that marked the calendar of ancient times, such as spring, football season, awards season, mating season or ratings season. We're not sure what all those were, we're fashion watchers, not historians, so we'll take Flavours of Old Earth's word on the matter. And this season, they say, it's time to remember MotoGP season, with Old Earth Seasonal Favourite- Frankenfurters with Burnt Tire Sauce. Sounds delicious, and it's sure to be a big hit on food printers everywhere.

Art- Ice Comet Mandalas
There's an exciting, we can't say young, let's say, newcomer to the art world this quarter, with the Xylysus installation artist, HGySdeuaev. He uses his medium to make a poignant statement on the fragility and impermanence of existence, and it's causing a stir among the cognoscenti. HGySdeuaev ventures out into the Oort of a particular system and tracks down the perfect ice comet for his project. He brings it to the largest settlement, then spends weeks and weeks meticulously carving intricate, circular mandala patterns into its surface, all the time singing a traditional Xylysan funeral dirge in triple dichordal undertone, or he sobs uncontrollably. When he's done, he just drops his vibrochisel and abandons the piece where it is, for collectors to fight and bid over as it melts away. Very moving stuff, and there are a number of copycat crafts-beings capitalising on the movement.

Entertainment- Medical Procedurals
For the nineteenth quarter running, the big hitter on everyone's recsoft server has been the xenomedical procedural drama. Combining light entertainment, cross-species interaction, mild violence and medical themes, and exotic galaxy-hopping adventure tourism, we can see why these recsofts are popular. In its latest dropcast, Crossxene Specialist: Rega Exhuma sees Prof Exhuma encounter a strange new viral filament affecting the Rhii members of Starbase Quintalux and she has to seek out the source of the infection on a planet deep in Heptarch Space. Series 15 of Hospital Galaxus and series 3 of Database- Unknown should also be available on your recsoft server soon.
---
Capt Dinh snaps the vidmag closed just as Charts calls up with a hyperplasma injection solution. She wonders how many hatzegopteryxes could fit in the cargo hold of The Mee Regent, then wonders how upset her cargo chief would be about cleaning out the cages of five hundred 100 kg birds.



Question 73
Help!! I'm running a session next week, and I need a description of the starport for the party to start off from. What's its name, where is it, and what's its main trading commodity? What else do I need to know about this place?

[(E)]

Question 73 write up a Starport
Mansfield
History
Originally a small moonlet that was almost pure nickel iron. Mansfield was shunted into a better orbit around Fidelis 2 (Helm) to serve the terraforming crews there and the nearby asteroid mining operations.

Helm is a mixed race world with rich undersea mining in the Rhykkii trench, the metals mined there are naturally alloyed in such a way as to simplify later manufacturing process'. Rhii, Akriti, Enclave worms, Chetai and Humans are present on Helm in large numbers. The terraforming process has just hit a big rain phase as the global water temperatures increase. The human settlements focus on food production and manufacturing. The Chetai population is tourism based with various adventure activities based around the extreme conditions brought about by the terraforming process.

Mansfield has seen continual occupation for the last 243 (Earth) years. Over that time it has been primarily a mine, a fuel refinery/depot, a bio-factory, a fish farm and a ship yard. Now in its most recent incarnation as well as being a service center for the asteroid mines and Helm, it serves as a depot for aquatic livestock on their way to terraforming projects, fish farms and plates throughout nearby systems.

Located on a branch of the major trade lane that runs past Odysseus(407LY) the nearest majority human system is Chu-Yang (180LY) though Galadriel is only about one jump more distant. The nearest colonized system is Fursthil (12LY) which has several Sulth habitats.

There are some issues with Divergers and Anti Diverger groups in Mansfield and on Helm. Corruption is slightly above average.

The Habitat itself is a large sphere with a built-up (down) belt around the equator. Huge solar arrays left over from the mining industry provide ample power for every occupant. Two main docks exist at either pole one primarily serves the bigger aquaculture and terraforming concerns while the southern dock is for general traffic and supporting the asteroid mining industry. A population of over 290000 reside permanently at Mansfield and easily twice that are visiting at any time. There is a large "entertainment" industry catering for visiting terraformers tourists and miners. A local measure of sleazyness is temperature with the more respectable businesses being located on the valuable "real estate" close to the radiators, so the sleazier the location the hotter the temperature. The internal structure is a maze of corridors and huge rooms/storage tanks as a result of Mansfields varied history.

Locally famous for the quality of the chefs, visitors can find excellent food regardless of species. Humans can get a traditional black pudding fried rice with deep fried custard for desert. While Rhii palettes might prefer a hearty rack of ram. The local kurj is reputed to be the best outside of Thersy so it is a must have for visitors.

Some smuggling to and from Galadriel passes through Mansfield but it is mainly handled routed through the larger local businesses.

Fidelis 6 has a two Sky hooks mining and refining fuel. The older of the two "Harper's rest" is being mothballed after a long and troubled life. With intractable technical problems, numerous accidents and even a reputation as being haunted this station has not had a good run.

The Terran Marshals have an office and dock facilities at Mansfield but do not have jurisdiction within the Habitat itself.

Overview
Mansfield, Huge asteroid habitat, below average wealth.
- Class 3 facilities
- Fuel
- Dock
- Shipyard, drydock
- cargo services
- supply and demand: tourism+, food++, Diverger tech+, light industry+, mining++, aquaculture+++, data services-, jump tech - -, Kwem -, life support - -.
- poor CyKoi facilities

Random university gossip: Rthykillii Reskith the Rhii Space whale (Zeropoint Cetacean) expert has had his theories about 14 dimensional organic jump drives lose popular support after he was committed to a "relaxation" facility.

Question 74
When you want to show off the fact that you have made it big time what status symbols do you purchase?

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by (E)

Random university gossip: Rthykillii Reskith the Rhii Space whale (Zeropoint Cetacean) expert has had his theories about 14 dimensional organic jump drives lose popular support after he was committed to a "relaxation" facility.

Well of course he has. That's the first thing they teach you in transdimensional matrix mathematics- only prime number orders of dimensions are stable for dimensional travel, it's one of Dirk's basic theorems.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Well of course he has. That's the first thing they teach you in transdimensional matrix mathematics- only prime number orders of dimensions are stable for dimensional travel, it's one of Dirk's basic theorems.

If you follow the trans-topographical school, sure. If you follow the neo-cyroian theories, its odd numbers. Yes, 9 space is unstable, but that's a fluke. Besides, we lost how much accuracy when we started using 7-space? 11 space would only be useful for exploring the cosmic background radiation.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by (E)

Question 74
When you want to show off the fact that you have made it big time what status symbols do you purchase?

Well, that depends on your definition. Traditionally, after a trader makes their first million, they paint their ship gold. Cost of the paint is quite negligible, though the first million is considerably irrelevant now; most of the gain will end up tied up in assets, so few traders actually do this nowadays.

The first billion is where things really get started though; a non-insignificant portion of the galactic economy is built on entertaining the super-rich. Many build virtual realities, constructed meticulously object by object. The ridiculously wealthy (at least 1 trillion), get around restrictions on AI by populating their VRs with other sapient lifeforms, either hired or bought (animals can be simulated). Some end up refusing to leave, and run all of their business out of the VR. The surgeon-generals advisory to withdraw from VR for 1 week a year is rarely followed, though most follow the advisory to run it at speeds slower than 5 seconds/second.

Others buy exotic luxuries or collectibles, be it unextinct fish, thousand year old wine, first prints of movies (a friend of mine retired on the gain he made selling a first print of Star Wars), metaabstract art (usually programs and devices that print art to a particular specification), Industrial Strength Ice Cream, imitation artifacts (emulates some object from a fictional work, usually non-lethal for imitation weapon), and the (semi-symbolic) purchase of a useless planet.

Random blog chatter: "Look, I'm not one of those 'Just say "no" to biomods' Neo-Humanists, nor am I saying that every person who Ikebans is or is going to join a terrorist group. I'm just saying that when at least three unrelated groups of people, who's only similarity is getting Ikebans from the same company, just so happen to plan terror attacks, something is very, very wrong."

Originally Posted by ericthered

If you follow the neo-cyroian theories, its odd numbers.

Random academic chatter: "Don't get me started on neo-cyroians! Their nine-space disaster annihilated the Titanian starport! Almost as bad as Higgs Bozos!"

Question 69 by (E)
What kind of implants and/or modifications does the typical human spacefarer have? What about other divergers and other races?

Question 72 by (E)
What do you know about the mixed species system of Vather?

Question 74 by TGLS
What makes Industrial Strength Ice Cream, industrial strength?

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by ericthered

If you follow the trans-topographical school, sure. If you follow the neo-cyroian theories, its odd numbers. Yes, 9 space is unstable, but that's a fluke. Besides, we lost how much accuracy when we started using 7-space? 11 space would only be useful for exploring the cosmic background radiation.

N-twist degeneracy, if you've been reading what's coming out of the Xylusan intraspace symposia, actually predicts a non-extrinsic metric field tensor collapse along favoured 11-space normal arcs that de-render gravitational terms to semi-finitesimals. I managed to get a dropcast of the line summary from a pair of Kagoshi merchants before it was proprietried on the base's mail server- I'll feed you a copy for that Rani's mangosteen codburger you've got in your bag. But there's no point arguing theoreticals- the Equatorial Helical Accelerator on Vather 7 is going online next year. It's going to generate the most intense hyperplasma ever seen in the galaxy, then we should get some interesting results.

Originally Posted by TGLS

Question 74 by TGLS
What makes Industrial Strength Ice Cream, industrial strength?

Answer
Industrial Nanotech. Zillions of tiny robots pretend to look like ice cream, and when you eat it they crawl down your nerve endings and stimulate a programmed selection of flavour and cold sensations, without actually being cold or flavourful. Yell out "defend!" and they'll instantly reform as a shell of ballistic armour, with hints of vanilla and formic essence. As nanotech is extremely regulated, and as these unlicensed applications are strictly prosecuted, and as any volume of nanotech is premium grade electronics, this delicacy is very expensive. And as the chance of freeform nanotech going rogue and converting your body to a stockpile of constituent chemical compounds is still quite high, eating this delicacy is akin to licking fugu liver in terms of exposing oneself to unreasonable risk of death for a fleeting epicurean sensation. This combination of pointless extravagance, contempt for legal statutes and potentiality of personal injury makes it a perfect dinner party post-prandial bonne bouche for the nouveau trillionaire.

Question 75 by Daigoro (new)
What is the Gaiaplague, mentioned somewhere waaaay upthread? (I've been compiling another summary.) And how does Prof Rega Exhuma stop it from doing whatever it does to whoever it affects on Starbase Quintalux?

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Question 75 by Daigoro (new)
What is the Gaiaplague, mentioned somewhere waaaay upthread? (I've been compiling another summary.) And how does Prof Rega Exhuma stop it from doing whatever it does to whoever it affects on Starbase Quintalux?

Gaiaplague? Man, those new writers they've hired really must be running out of ideas if they're turning to urban legends for stories. The legend apparently dates back to pre-interstellar Earth, or maybe shortly after. But the idea is that a virus, of unknown origin, was found by some disease control or bioweapons organization. They test it on a pig, but when they are deploying it, the HazMat suit fails, so the guy and the pig are left in containment. Then, as they are observing the guy, both the pig and him make an escape attempt! So they interrogate the guy, and he says that he hears its thoughts. One person asks why the pig would want to escape. Guy says, not the pig, the bacteria, the virus all at once. Then he tries to break through the glass. Then, depending on who is telling the story, they sterilize the containment chamber, or they destroy the facility after he breaks out.

Somebody called it the Gaiaplague myth, because he figured the virus was intended to turn the world into some kind of superorganism like in the Gaia Hypothesis. My guess is that Rega is going to sterilize the room of bacteria, then use nanites to clean out the virus, permanently. Or maybe use targeted bacteriophages, or something.

[ericthered]

Question: Are wars mostly fought within species or between species?

[Daigoro]

The open questions have dropped below the critical safe threshold.

Standing-

Question 69 by (E)
What kind of implants and/or modifications does the typical human spacefarer have? What about other divergers and other races?

...and...

Originally Posted by (E)

Question 72
What do you know about the mixed species system of Vather?

As a partial answer, thus leaving it open, I'm going to say that it's one of the most cosmopolitan systems, where all the cross-species/cross-cultural mingling happens, and a major trade hub, with bucketloads of wealth passing through.

Therefore-

- It's a trends and fashion centre, thus vidmags like Vather Good.

- It hosts a major inter-species science and research institute along the lines of CERN on Vather 7, partially funded by the Vather government for all levels of blue-sky research in a range of disciplines, with support from other governments and institutes from around the galaxy who get to share in the results. Their major project is the Equatorial Helical Accelerator (from above) investigating hyperdimension physics (with almost vanishing chances that it could create an accidental black hole, seriously. If anything, it'd be a protoquasar. But vanishing chances, vanishing.)

And ericthered's ninja question-
Question 76: Are wars mostly fought within species or between species?

And some to fill up the clip a little-
Question 77
Mid-jump, intruder alarms sound from the cargo bay. The jolting and jostling must've shaken the stowaway(s) from their hiding place? Who are they, how'd they get on board, where are they trying to go, and how will they plead not to be keelhauled?

Question 78
Who is the recsoft celebrity travelling in disguise on your freighter? Why are they travelling 4th class like this?

Question 79
You picked up a mail package in your last port of call to carry to the local network postal hub, but when you arrive in system, it seems the security/police/military or royal guard from the last system have beaten you there and are waiting to intercept. What's in the 160TB package, and how strong is your duty to get the mail through?

Question 80
What are the main power blocs currently in control of Earth? There was some answer about this before, but I don't think this detail was covered. I'm going to cheat and say one is the Commonwealth of Pacific States (CommPac)- so who is CommPac, and who are the other main contenders?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by (E)

Question 69
What kind of implants and/or modifications does the typical human spacefarer have? What about other divergers and other races?

Implants? Typical? Those divergers got to you. You don't have to sacrifice your humanity to have that stuff! Anything you can implant you can either wear or is messing with your mind. And there's a lot of cool stuff. My shirt measures ambient radiation, temperature, the works. Tells me as soon as I get sick. My glasses are full spectrum with recording. And that's before I added apps. There's this one that uses sonar to let you see through walls...

Question 69b
What are the most common types of human divergers? biological, cybernetic, and so forth.