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