Martian towers in Space 1889

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Have any of you ever seen any writeups of those 200 story tall towers built by the Martian City Builders and now only occupied at the bottom four or five stories or completely abandoned? Preferrably with floorplans.

I'm trying to work out a small introductory adventure as a prequel to Canal Priests of Mars. The common interest of all the PCs is archeology/exploration, so I started thinking about hunts for lost treasure-filled temples. Then I came across this paragraph in the description of Martian cities:

The spectacular Martian towers still stretch for miles beyond the canal banks. Their towers reach upwards for hundreds of stories. Fabulous rooms filled with unfathomable devices remain even today. But the Martians make use of only a fraction of the assets their cities provide. Rather than climb unending stairs, they restrict themselves to the lower three or four stories of their massive buildings. Rather than travel long roads to the life-giving water of the canals, they restrict themselves to buildings closest to the waterways. Whole sections of Martian cities today lie empty, deserted, and unclaimed except by the local vermin.

And right away I started thinking about one of the few unlooted towers inside the city the PCs are staying in for a different kind of lost 'temple'.

Possible plot elements:

* If the Colonial Building Authority hears about it, they'll lay claim to all the nifty goodies.

* What difficulties are associated with walking up 200 stories worth of stairs? how long would it take?

* Rival archeologist uses a liftwood vessels to get up to the top of the tower.

I'm also wondering what other problems I can throw at the PCs. And, as I implied at the beginning, I'm wondering about how such a tower would be constructed.


Hans

[Shrale]

• Is tower construction identical for each ?
• Discovery of tower laying on its side (buried or half buried -- even in shows like Ghost in the Shell, they show the ruined cities and buildings laying all a-kilter).
• Escher-esque ? Either false trails or dead-ends or something equally baffling. Could they be filled with water and flooded ? (either up or some sort of cistern from above raining down).
• Significance of layout of X-number of towers in the set ?

More depending on how super-natural the setting is...

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[pyratejohn]

What books have you checked for other references?

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by Shrale

[list][*] Is tower construction identical for each ?

No, the basic principles are the same for all cities, but architectual style is "as varied as on Earth".

More depending on how super-natural the setting is...

It's Steampunk. The cities were build MANY millenia ago, when Mars' oceans began drying up. A lot of the technology is incomprehensible to Earth Science. The City Builders seem to've been ecologically inclined. For instance, all waste material is collected in sewers deep under the city where it is turned into agricultural supplements that is piped into the surrounding countryside, and bio-gas that is used to power the city.

Eventually the cities began to fail, but I'm not sure how much of that was due to actual breakdowns and how much was due to the lessening of resources. Less water, less crops. Less crops, fewer people. Fewer people, less waste. Less waste, not enough power to keep everything runnning (Not enough garbage in, as it were).

Some things that did unequivocably break down were canal pumps and locks. Some canals were completely cut off from water and turned into pure desert.

About 5000 years ago (recent history, as the text calls it ;-), a Martian Alexander conquered a third of Mars (including the part where humans have moved in) and repaired a lot of the canals, albeit with cruder technology. For 3000 years this empire survived and kept the canals in repair. Then there was a civil war and since then some canals have received less maintenance than others. The whole system is slowly decaying.

But the towers built by the City Builders still stand and the cities still work after a fashion, so it would seem that they built to last and to require no maintenance (Steampunk, remember?)


Hans

[Shrale]

Any chance Mars needed a "beanstalk" type of construct ? (thanks to embargoes or other forms of pressure).

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[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Shrale

Any chance Mars needed a "beanstalk" type of construct ?

No, they had liftwood (anti-gravity).

[Shrale]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

No, they had liftwood (anti-gravity).

I meant before it grew on trees ;)

That said, I don't know the history/origins of driftwood vs the origins/history of this city. Chicken or the egg?

I could see some sort of Egyptian Pharoah construction, but that might be way off the mark.

>

[Shrale]

Originally Posted by Hans Rancke-Madsen

It's Steampunk. The cities were build MANY millenia ago, when Mars' oceans began drying up. A lot of the technology is incomprehensible to Earth Science. The City Builders seem to've been ecologically inclined. For instance, all waste material is collected in sewers deep under the city where it is turned into agricultural supplements that is piped into the surrounding countryside, and bio-gas that is used to power the city.

Hans

when the oceans began drying ? why go to the sky ? so the towers weren't built before this happened. can you come up with logic or a mindset that would make this necessary ?

another method of scaling might be the good old balloon, perhaps rigging a scaffolding/tether as you climb to hasten an exit just in case of trouble. Or once an internal group makes X floors they put something out to bring up a balloon filled with stuff that's too heavy to carry.

If the towers are within bowshot/crossbow/ballista range of each other it could be a way to move from tower to tower in a reasonably quick fashion, with a tether to tether balloon maneuver. The architecture/makeup and look of the towers also have a lot to do with things. Flat or with various types of protrusions.

This all assumes LIFTwood isn't a common article. I don't know how much equipment in the setting is reliant on driftwood this and driftwood that.

It might be a rival archeologist has laid plans to misdirect the players, perhaps extolling his own wild ideas of the purpose of the towers and what they're for (red herring) to get them to 1. perform some service without realizing it 2. just distract them from his own exploration. Perhaps the heights of the towers calculate to Prime Numbers or are arranged in a fashion that suggests something greater. An observation balcony or patio on one could give an impressive view of the area, and also maybe shed light on a mystery that saves the players time or reputations.

What way is the campaign heading ? (what sorts of PCs are involved and what are their interests ?)

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[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by Shrale

when the oceans began drying ? why go to the sky ? so the towers weren't built before this happened. can you come up with logic or a mindset that would make this necessary ?

I don't understand the question.

Another method of scaling might be the good old balloon, perhaps rigging a scaffolding/tether as you climb to hasten an exit just in case of trouble. Or once an internal group makes X floors they put something out to bring up a balloon filled with stuff that's too heavy to carry.

I don't want the PCs to have access to anything that'll save them the bother of shlepping all the way up the stairs. Fortunately, since two of them are wealthy, balloons are practically unknown and liftwood flyers rarely available for hire.

If the towers are within bowshot/crossbow/ballista range of each other it could be a way to move from tower to tower in a reasonably quick fashion, with a tether to tether balloon maneuver.

You mean, the present-day inhabitants might have fixed bridges between towers to substitute for no-longer-functioning ones? No, the present-day inhabitants just don't use the tower floors above the 4th or 5th. So there's no reason to haul rope and wood up 200 floors to fix a bridge between two towers.

Hmmm... but there could be OLD bridges linking the towers. Bridges that used to have some sort of force field canopy for safety and comfort, but the force field doesn't work anymore...

Thanks for that idea. I will definitely use it somehow.

The architecture/makeup and look of the towers also have a lot to do with things. Flat or with various types of protrusions.

If no one has written up the Syrtis Major, and I'm beginning to believe no one has, the architecture could be anything.

This all assumes LIFTwood isn't a common article. I don't know how much equipment in the setting is reliant on driftwood this and driftwood that.

Liftwood is rare and much in demand. In a game I played in, my inventor character looked into buying liftwood scraps to invent a liftwood parachute and a liftwood indoor lift, and even the scraps cost a lot.

It might be a rival archeologist has laid plans to misdirect the players, perhaps extolling his own wild ideas of the purpose of the towers and what they're for (red herring) to get them to 1. perform some service without realizing it 2. just distract them from his own exploration.

Oh, the machinations of rival archeologists I've several ideas for. One is that the rival has a small liftwood ship at his disposal and arrives just as the PCs struggle up the final stairs <Evil grin>.

What I can't seem to come up with are some environmental obstacles along the way. Preferrably problems that are due to a lack of power or a genuine breakdown of some sort of machinery.

What way is the campaign heading ? (what sorts of PCs are involved and what are their interests ?)

A rich dilletante, a rich hunter, a journalist, and an explorer. Their common interest is exploration and archeology. This is just a prequel before I run the written adventure. A shakedown cruise, as it were. Also to introduce the arch-rival and a native scholar who will be killed early in the real adventure.


Hans

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Hans Rancke-Madsen

What I can't seem to come up with are some environmental obstacles along the way. Preferrably problems that are due to a lack of power or a genuine breakdown of some sort of machinery.

For the most part, they'd be much the same as for an old building that isn't a tower. The buildings are still standing, so structural problems are not severe, which rules out most of the ways buildings are likely to be unsafe - one assumes the designers were not idiots and they didn't start out with a lot of hazards. Still if nobody ever goes up very high somebody might have looted the stair rungs at say the 15th down to the 10th floor, or taking the decorated safety railings for reuse or something. Light seems a possible complication, hauling a bunch of torches up a few hundred stories will be hard work, and stairwells may not have a lot of windows. Hinges and trackways are probably pretty corroded or filled with dust, so getting doors open may be a bit of a challenge. Well sealed rooms may be depleted in oxygen, causing everybody to pass out when opened. Missing windows may have allowed wildlife to colonize areas. True 1889 Mars is thin on wildlife, but a lot of it is fairly hostile, so something nasty nesting in the stairwell certainly isn't impossible. Security systems aren't too serious without power, but who knows how long they can stay up on reserve if nobody ever triggers them. A still active bit of a fire safety system might not take well to those torches either - and water's scarce, so covering the area (and the unfortunate party) in sticky smothering goo makes a lot of sense.

If all else fails there's been *lots* of time for crazy loners or insane cults or whatever to set up on the 30th floor, install some traps and vanish 1000 years ago themselves.