[Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

[Daigoro]

The TL stuff looks good now. It might be a bit complicated for the average gamer, but it does map out the setting well.

The Diverger stuff is a solid analysis too, it's pretty logical and makes a lot of sense. I like how there's spectrum, which means any particular society in Diverger space could be spelt out with some nuance.

It prompted one more point too-

Question 92 Why are Divergers weak?
Answer Pt ii
7) Asking the Wrong Question/Cause vs Effect:
We should actually ask why poor, struggling, underdeveloped worlds are more likely to be divergent. Settlers facing harsh environments on frontier worlds would probably opt for a cheap, reliable genemod rather than trust their lives to an envirosuit that might fail if it sustains a puncture- an echo of the economic and utilitarian principles that bred Divergers in the first instance; or would adapt for low-g environments rather than live somewhere uncomfortable that they're not suited for. Immediate concerns about safety and comfort in inhospitable extremes would be more important than some lofty humanist principles scribbled on a scrap of paper some nine centuries previous. That is to say, these would be underdeveloped, labouring worlds and space stations first, then Divergers second.

Likewise, the criminal class of bandits, smugglers and pirates would have little respect for presumptuous doctrine, and would find the attraction of easily attained muscle and lethality provided by genemodding or cybermodding much more important. That is to say, they'd be crims first, then Divergers second.

-------
And would this be an accurate summary of your different Diverger splinters, TGLS?

Democratic leaning governments- 50%
--
Humanist leaning polities- 20%
Utilitarian reformed/moderate humanists- 30%
(Some spectrum between moderate and hardcore- 30%?)
Hardcore Divergers- 20%
--
And I'm sorry, I'm not sure if you meant:
Pro-biologic/Anti-cyber- 15%
Pro-cyber/Anti-biologic- 25%
(Remainder who have no strong opinion, or are mixed bio/cyber- 60%?)

or is that...?
Radical Pro-us/Anti-them- 15%
Moderately Pro-us/Anti-them- 25%
(Undecided- 60%)

ETA:

Originally Posted by TGLS

This has only become more and more of a liability as the galaxy is fills up.

Just a note- it's easy to slip into thinking that the galaxy is getting full with that many people and aliens flying around, but there's still only a fraction of a percent of the habitable systems with any settlement at all. I think we're looking at a few hundred to a few thousand settled systems- which could all be fit into the Pleiades Cluster with its 1000 members.

[TGLS]

Quick summary of Diverger Politics:
Governance:
38% democratic, good governance.
8% non-democratic, good governance.
28% democratic, poor governance.
26% non-democratic, poor governance.
(Governance is a measure of how well the government reacts to change, and how much respect government institutions receive; poor governance worlds are slow to react to change, and are vulnerable to coups.)

Humanism:
22% insist they are Humanist.
29% are compromising Humanists.
23% admit they are Divergers.
26% admit they aren't Humanists, but won't admit they are Divergers.

Bio/Cyber Split:
5% are strongly anti-one.
10% are strongly anti-one and pro-other.
10% are weakly anti-one.
10% are weakly anti-one and pro-other.
5% are weakly pro-one.
60% have no real opinion.
Actual Bio/Cyber split is about even; Humanist Divergers and reform Humanists are more likely to lie on one side of the issue.

[(E)]

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?

The Nouveau Austral Interpol ships have a distinct profile so there is little doubt that these are the real police demanding you hand over the Data and make ready to be boarded. As an independent trader you don't really have much in the way of a say in the matter, the system you have jumped into "Neu Essen" was founded by the same Faction from Earth so its a good bet that they have a friendly relationship. So they won't be coming to your aid, you're ship is not a registered Merchant Navy vessel so you don't have any legal support from that angle. They obviously haven't realized that you have an Enclave dual cycle jump drive otherwise they would have got closer before making their demand. No time to calculate so its time for a wild jump. It's going to be rough, but on the plus side it'll give the old reputation a solid boost. "Heads up every one, prep for a wild jump".

Finger poised over the V-button the comms flare to life again "Freighter ident sh4553-nh63442, Stellar Grace, stand down and surrender the Planetary Interlock sequence or we will use lethal force"
Your finger freezes, Planetary Interlock Sequence!? the biological key to the interaction between Earth based organics and the specific alien organics of Nouveau Austral. With that piece of data any one with a grudge and a lab could hold the entire planet hostage. . . .

Having your vessel registered as part of a Merchant Navy will grant you some legal protection, you will be tangled up with whatever political issues effect your home port though. You can be Registered if your home port is a planet or a habitat with a population of at least 100,000 sentient beings or if you know a truly exceptional forger/datasculpter


Question 93
What are some of the wonders* and great works have been built by the inhabitants of the Interstellar Drift?

Wild Rumor: There is a Dark Fleet being built by the Unaging Captain Virtue and (s)he is using Zeropoint Cetacean organs as Jump drives.
*in the civilization computer game sense

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by (E)

Question 91
It's a quiet afternoon and your in your asteroid habitat resting after a hard week surveying the system. Your proximity sensors scream a warning but it's too late to turn out the lights and hide behind the sofa. The Nth day Atheists are knocking on your airlock door and asking you about your religeon. How do you answer?

Answer
Space Faiths

They must not have seen the copy of the creed our Fiedler Intensive Stellar Cartography Engineer had pasted to the outer lock, or ignored it. But now that they were here, it would be against the unwritten spacer's code not to offer them a cup of home-still palm liquor and half an hour's hospitality. Fortunately, our engineer had collected a number of tracts, pamphlets, monographs and quartos from similar previous proselytiser visits, so he could quiz his new visitors for advice on choosing the best religion. Looking through his collection as the airlock completed the security scan and pressure cycle, he saw his options were:

- A treatise on Competitive Meditation, which seemed the most interesting to him, but out here he'd have no one to practise against.
- Teachings of the Primogenitor Worm, mostly irrelevant, but a challenging headspace to inhabit.
- Annotated Ponderings of the CyKoi First Archivist- these 17,500 year old writings still held compelling wisdom for modern life.
- Gospel of Cyberpatriarch Kirill VI of the Full Disk Scan, which seemed exceedingly sarcastic in many places, but in a way that could often penetrate to the inner kernel of one's operating system. Somewhat jargony.
- A chapter from the Scripture of Cao Dai 26.1 Revised- Revelations of the Great Navigator-Prophet Einstein. Hopefully someone could finally explain to him what it meant.
- Something called Call of The Pod, definitely written by some dude taking too much ember root between jumps. Had a fanciful artist's rendering of a vacuum whale, radiant with a halo of wisdom, on the cover.
- And a pamphlet extolling the Herald of the Cosmic Background Radiation, though again he'd need someone to properly explain how you worship a 3K temperature reading.


Question 94
"Okay everyone, quiet please. Time for a quiz before you can log out of the class. Who can name all eleven of the civilisation homeworlds? You have to name the race and the planet together... okay?"
"There's Jomo! Where the Kagoshi are from!"
"Good. Next?"
"Humans come from Odysseus!!"
"No, not quite. That is a very important world, but try again."
"I know- Earth! And Re.. Rayk... Raykhyic, for the Rhii."
"Very good, that's right. Now just 8 more to go..."

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Answer
Space Faiths

They must not have seen the copy of the creed our Fiedler Intensive Stellar Cartography Engineer had pasted to the outer lock, or ignored it. But now that they were here, it would be against the unwritten spacer's code not to offer them a cup of home-still palm liquor and half an hour's hospitality. Fortunately, our engineer had collected a number of tracts, pamphlets, monographs and quartos from similar previous proselytiser visits, so he could quiz his new visitors for advice on choosing the best religion. Looking through his collection as the airlock completed the security scan and pressure cycle, he saw his options were:

- A treatise on Competitive Meditation, which seemed the most interesting to him, but out here he'd have no one to practise against.
- Teachings of the Primogenitor Worm, mostly irrelevant, but a challenging headspace to inhabit.
- Annotated Ponderings of the CyKoi First Archivist- these 17,500 year old writings still held compelling wisdom for modern life.
- Gospel of Cyberpatriarch Kirill VI of the Full Disk Scan, which seemed exceedingly sarcastic in many places, but in a way that could often penetrate to the inner kernel of one's operating system. Somewhat jargony.
- A chapter from the Scripture of Cao Dai 26.1 Revised- Revelations of the Great Navigator-Prophet Einstein. Hopefully someone could finally explain to him what it meant.
- Something called Call of The Pod, definitely written by some dude taking too much ember root between jumps. Had a fanciful artist's rendering of a vacuum whale, radiant with a halo of wisdom, on the cover.
- And a pamphlet extolling the Herald of the Cosmic Background Radiation, though again he'd need someone to properly explain how you worship a 3K temperature reading.


Question 94
"Okay everyone, quiet please. Time for a quiz before you can log out of the class. Who can name all eleven of the civilisation homeworlds? You have to name the race and the planet together... okay?"
"There's Jomo! Where the Kagoshi are from!"
"Good. Next?"
"Humans come from Odysseus!!"
"No, not quite. That is a very important world, but try again."
"I know- Earth! And Re.. Rayk... Raykhyic, for the Rhii."
"Very good, that's right. Now just 8 more to go..."

I still say that "Terra" sounds cooler then "Earth". Although there is only so cool you can make a planet named, "dirt". But then earth means something different to agriculturalists.

[TGLS]

Ms. Schwarzschild: "OK, now who can tell me the name of the Xylysus homeworld?"
Pierre: "Xylotell!"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "No, that's their former homeworld. How about the modern one?"
Kelu-Qi: "Xylote-Ki?"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Very good! The Xylysus left Xylotell after solar activity threatened their homeworld with firestorms. How about the Sulth?"
Pierre: "Tree Land!"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Uh, no..."
Emily: [Whispers] "Do you have a speech impediment Pierre?"
Emily: "Isn't it Trelend?"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Yes! Though many people do call it Tree Land, do the irony of the name sounding like Tree Land, when there are literally no trees on the planet. How about the Akriti?"
Steve: "Aquos!"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Correct! Many people travel to Aquos because of its many pretty beaches. The Chetai?"
Pierre: "JSec-L3?"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Umm... Wrong again, though almost all Chetai in their home system live on it."
Steve: "Jemu?"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Uh... I think that's right, it seems I forgot to put it in my notes... It is a very beautiful planet, despite the slime molds. How about the Enclave Worms?"
Pierre: "Defuxitenidxifudefuxoridfuxicottetetotofedeto--"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Pierre, you can stop now. I don't actually have the full written here. Defu is what most people call the planet, if only because name takes a full minute to say."
Kelu-Qi: "What about Neo Manila-Shanghai? I heard that was a homeworld."
Emily: "Isn't that the Diverger homeworld?"
Steve: "The Divergers don't have a homeworld. My uncle says they are at home everywhere and nowhere."
Pierre: "You're uncle is a Neo-Humanist swine."
Ms. Schwarzschild: [Mutes Pierre, then whispers] "Pierre, you take a moment to calm down, then you can return."
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Divergers came from Earth, like Emily, Steve and I. Neo Manila-Shanghai is just one of the most populated Diverger worlds. What is the Mar Kan homeworld?"
Emily: "Isn't it Arielius?"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Yes. The Mar Kan didn't actually have a name for their homeworld before contact. They just took the name that Captain Littleton gave the planet."
Ms. Schwarzschild: [Unmutes Pierre]
Steve: "What about Muliphein?"
Pierre: "Muliphein? That's Gamma Canis Majoris. There aren't any habitable planets orbiting that, it's too big!"
Steve: "My spacer cousin said that's where Space Whales live."
Pierre: [Rolls Eyes]
Ms. Schwarzschild: "OK, what's the CyKoi homeworld?"
Steve: "Blue Girls Heaven!"
Ms. Schwarzschild: "No! Who call's it that?
Steve: "My spacer cousin."
Pierre: "BelGriHevnu."
Ms. Schwarzschild: "Yes! It's also the capital of the CyKoi coalition and houses the Grand and Lesser parliaments. What about the Wren Ti homeworld?"
Pierre: "Neo Cannes-Diyarbakır."
Kelu-Qi: "What?! It's Timu-Chai-Soon, you Diverger imperialist!"
Pierre: "Please. The planet was named Neo Cannes-Diyarbakır for 350 years."
Ms. Schwarzschild: "This is going to be a major stumbling block. How about we work with the name Sigma Pyxis IV?"
Kelu-Qi: "And continue the destruction of Wren-Ti culture under the guise of "fairness"? No!"
Pierre: "I see no reason to give the planet such a terrible name."
Ms. Schwarzschild: [Mutes Pierre and Kelu-Qi]
Steve: Check it out, it's a video my spacer cousin took of a Hipelli.
Emily: Isn't it illegal to visit Psi Canis Minoris?
Steve: Nah, he was wearing a stealth cloak or something.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

I still say that "Terra" sounds cooler then "Earth". Although there is only so cool you can make a planet named, "dirt". But then earth means something different to agriculturalists.

Actually, it doesn't have to be English at all. The main languages include Afrikaans, German and Vietnamese- which one of those has a word for "Earth" that would lend itself to a catchy new pidgin version?


Random Adventure Outline #1

Capt Opportunia Dinh, skipper of The Mee Regent, is having a bad day. First, skipping into Dao Shen, they appeared in a dust cloud and took some micromete hits, apparently damaging something in the fuel manifold. They made it down the hole to dirtside on Chenghao, but she'll need to patch it up and refuel before the return leg.

Landing at their tiny cosmodrome, the weather turned to some kind of warm acidic snow that'll mar the paintwork somewhat, and the infobroker failed to show.

Then, she found out that the milled chia shipment she brought can't be off-loaded because the grain silos were only filled last week. This is contrary to the intel she picked up in Rizumo, which was updated yesterday saying they were running low.

Worse still, she filled up a datasilo with, among other things, the complete season 22 of Crossxene Specialist, now encoded with the new emotion entraining track, all 58 dropcasts of it. The rumour back on Rizumo was that they idolised Prof Exhuma here, so the latest season should boom. The first part was true- there were holofigures of Exhuma everywhere, looking part-quizzical and part-pensive, gazing at a mysterious tissue sample. Problem was, once she'd tracked down an infobroker who explained it, the first 6 seasons had dropped here and seriously boomed, but there hadn't been a shipment since, and no one wanted to pick up from s22 without catching every single intervening dropcast. Besides which, everyone's recsoft rigs are at least 4 iterations out-of-date and won't support emotion entraining.

Finally, the expected cargo of the planet's ectosprite harvest for the last quarter, 400 tonnes of it, had of course been shipped up last week. Starting to feel suspicious, Capt Dinh checked with the infobroker who the trader had been that dropped through last week.

"Kesper J," he said, and her blood chilled. But who else could it have been? Who else but her long-standing rival would go so far to spoil a whole mission like this? Pulling up the dropnet orders and rumour tags that had led her here from Rizumo confirmed it- they had all originated, with faked source dates, from a P. Jasker, a pseudonym so obvious she felt stupid for not noticing.

Question 95
Qn 95a: So what is there on this barren, Octagon Class planet with a Rank 9 economy that could possibly be bought to try to salvage this trip?

Qn 95b: Who is her rival, Kesper J, and why does he/she have such a grudge against our viewpoint character?

Qn 95c: To add insult to injury, a day after getting back to Rizumo Base, Capt Dinh finds that her whole crew (except the loyal engineer) have actually defected to Kesper J's ship! And The Maudlin Jester has already cleared port, apparently with whatever cargo Dinh had scraped together from Chenghao!! The nerve!!! So, where can a captain and engineer go to pick up a new crew? It might have to be out-of-system, because her reputation has been totally trashed here on Rizumo.


BTW- I know, I've still got a post coming about jump drives and extra-galactic journeys. Soon.... Soon-ish.

[(E)]

Question 95a and 95b

Captain Dinh came storming in to the central cabin and stood there breathing deeply for a long moment. Her eyes blazing she began to swiftly issue orders to the crew.

"Va'aiga go check out what the locals brew up and drink, keep an eye out for any strange bottles too. I don't care if it tastes like ouzo mixed with floor cleaner it'll be exotic in the next port" "ugrh ouzo" "check out the synopsis on crossxene too, someone might want to talk about it."

"Luca, run a search on the local plants and wild life I know it's a long shot but there could be something here we can export. Find out if any of the local pets eat Chia or if any local pets eat something that eats Chia while you're at it."

"Dinn, the local harvest's over right?" "Only." "Shut up, retorical question, find out of there is any shortages for any metals used in the harvesters, we can always do a quick jaunt to a local miner. Keep your eyes open for any passengers too"

"Wulson, you and Fiomer can do a round up of the usual gravity well goods we can sell off at the 'hook, you know the stuff, fresh food and so forth. Grab anything home made if you see it, we might be able to unload it in the next system."

"Hayjay just go for a look around check the local hangouts and all the usuals. There is nothing on this planet that can't be made cheaper or better somewhere else so we need to find anything specific to this world. Art, unique geology, anything cultural, stuff that's legal here but not elsewhere and find out why people are on this bod forsaken rock anyway."

"I'm going to find out if there's any information worth selling on this rock."

"First one back cooks Chia loaf for dinner."

Why the animosity? Well let's say if your racing to get the first batch of Chateau de Chateau to the very wealthy humanist planet of Detmer Prime and you want your competition slowed down.
One way to do it would be to pay off the local customs officers to slow Kester J down. But when they wanted too much money you decided a more, do it your self approach was in order. 180TB of pro Biomod propaganda, 3 Kilos of suspicious looking alien compost in small plastic bags, a late night visit to the maudlin jester and an anonymous tip.

Rumor: The Circ-de-solaris will be visiting the DenGret system. The first time the long running human circus will perform on a CyKoi world.

[Daigoro]

Standing questions are spread over a few pages now, so for a quick recap:

Question 77 by Daigoro
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 81 by (E)
With many militaries changing to the Black Bess their old weapons are being sold off, What exactly is hitting the markets, legal or otherwise?

Question 84 by ericthered
Have other galaxies been explored? why or why not?
- This is still on my to-do list

Question 88 by (E)
Are there any fashionable Melee weapons among the species of the galaxy? And the laser hammers from the recent "Transgalactic pitfighter" recsoft don't count.

Question 89 by TGLS
Can somebody stat one of the alien races?

Question 90 by (E)
I have just retired from my career as a tectonic engineer where should I go on holiday now I have finished slinging Psuedo-nukes and asteroids at uninhabited planets?

Question 93 by (E)
What are some of the wonders* and great works have been built by the inhabitants of the Interstellar Drift?

Qn 95c by Daigoro:
To add insult to injury, a day after getting back to Rizumo Base, Capt Dinh finds that her whole crew (except the loyal engineer) have actually defected to Kesper J's ship! And The Maudlin Jester has already cleared port, apparently with whatever cargo Dinh had scraped together from Chenghao!! The nerve!!! So, where can a captain and engineer go to pick up a new crew? It might have to be out-of-system, because her reputation has been totally trashed here on Rizumo.

[Daigoro]

Question 88 by (E)
Are there any fashionable Melee weapons among the species of the galaxy? And the laser hammers from the recent "Transgalactic pitfighter" recsoft don't count.

Answer
Melee Weapons du Jour
Plasma Baton
This is an extendable truncheon that sheathes itself in a tightly contained plasma halo. Damage can be tuned to have similar effects from neurolashes to plasma torches, along the length of the baton, or focussed from the tip for a more intense globe of heat.

Variations include similar functionality on plasma knives, whips, and scimitars.

Plasma-emitting melee weapons are the cool thing these days, and most nights in the seedier ends of starport will eventually be lit up with their flash and hiss. Burn scars from such brawls are likewise also commonly seen nowadays.

Deck Boots & Deck Gloves
These items of utility apparel are close to universal among humanoid spacers, so you're likely to see a large range of brands, designs and price levels. Common to all types of glove and boot though, is that they're designed with vac-sealing and have universal attachments for full vac-suits.

A typical deck boot has a multi-mode sole- a durable thick-tread base for casual street wear to rugged terrain; computer-controlled vacuum-suction and magnetic coupling for maintaining surface adhesion in zero-g, while advanced versions will have a retractable nano-cilia layer that adheres to most surfaces with micro electro-static Van der Waal bonding (see UTp96- Gecko Gear).

Deck gloves have similar adhesion properties, but their most useful feature are their utility pods. These are 6 to 10 cylinders, 25mmx200mm, arranged around the cuff for deploying various retractable tools, or if necessary, weapons, directly into the user's grip. As well as whatever tools the user might require, they commonly mount mini-grapnels or hand thrusters for EVA manoeuvring, both of which are also seen on deck boots.

Commonly mounted weapons include retractable blades, mini-plasma batons, 25mm grenades- either as a simple deployment tube or as a mini-launcher- or liquid projectors. In close combat, the nano-cilia can act to maintain a firm grapple on an opponent, while the grapnel or hand thrusters also make good improvised weapons. Some spacers may also equip their deck gloves with zap glove, karatand or neuroglove functions (UTpp163&165).

Diverger spike raiders will load up their deck gloves with neural spikes. Other users, if they have the money, may use nanoburn or primitive industrial disassembler nanoglop (UTp161). This is often coloured in hazard warning hi-viz green or orange, and when activated will start to glow indigo as the nano-units fire up lidar for scanning and linking with the rest of the swarm. Some cunning free traders have bluffed their way out of a tight corner by using similarly coloured sealant foam, and one tale told around the pubs of Old New Melbourne is that a starport construction worker scared off a Diverger thug by smearing a dab of Vegemite on him.

Question 96
Symbionts and Genemods
It was (much) earlier mentioned that inhabitants of the Diverger-leaning system of Galadriel use symbiotes and genetic engineering. What forms do these take?