Cities of the Future

[PurpleXVI]

Location: Gliese 876, Piedra De Plata

 

Time: 2213 GEY(Galactic Earth Year)

 

Ancient Background: In the year 2085, human researchers, aided by advances in cold fusion, astronomy and hull composites, managed to create the first subspace drive. This paved the way for humanity to spread to the nearby stars with frightening speed. Groups of all kinds, ideological, national and corporate, seized planets and either began stripping them of resources or terraforming them as fast as they could. This lead to humanity's first century of interstellar warfare which, unsurprisingly enough, resulted in most of the technological advances that human militaries, space-navies and civilians are enjoying at this point in time. The cost in life has yet to be calculated, but current estimates put it at around five billion lost.

 

Almost exactly 100 years after the conflict had been sparked by the rapid expansion and fights over resource-rich planets or ones that were ripe for terraforming, the conflict ended. A new threat had arrived. In the year 2186, ships crewed by humans and armed with hitherto unknown technology jumped in at several border stars and demanded the immediate, unconditional surrender of every in-system soul and piece of equipment. Those that failed to comply were killed without mercy or compassion. The previous owners of the colonies sent their fleets to retaliate and succeeded in throwing back the invaders, but not before suffering massive losses.

 

Less than a week after pushing back the invaders, a new fleet attacked. No one paid the corporations and nations who had lost their fleets and border colonies much attention. Seeing as how the rest of humanity had their own problems to deal with, or were busy taking over the remaining holdings of those who were new fleet-less. But when the invaders, now identifying themselves as the Cepheus Crusaders, began launching more raids and attacks from some unknown base beyond the borders of explored space, the gravity of the threat became apparent. No single fleet was having any success at holding them back. If something wasn't done, the Crusaders would overrun the colonies in a matter of years, and with those resources bolstering their fleets, they would be able to easily push through even the old fortified systems.

 

Swiftly ceasing hostilities and convening for the first time since the conflict began, every organization or nation with a fleet to it's name met on Earth and created the Galactic Council of Civilized Worlds. Despite the showy name, they were efficient and had soon bent all of their resources towards reclaiming the lost territories. 27 years later, they have yet to succeed. The battle with the Crusaders still takes an enormous toll in human lives and resources every year, but neither they or the Council appear ready to give up and surrender. Even after this many years, little has been learned of the threat or their origins. All that is known is that they are, to a man, fanatics who will rather blow themselves to kingdom come than let the Council fleets get their hands on any of their ships.

 

While the threatened worlds are in constant state of martial law and few things occupy the colonists beyond wondering whether the next raid will get through their orbital defenses. In the "old systems" near Earth, the civilian benefits from the war. The profit generated by the shipyards building the Council's fleets and the labs developing new weapon tech, allows almost everyone to live in luxury. In the new frontier on the opposite side of human space to where the war is being fought, brave colonists and greedy corporations still plant the flag of humanity on more and more worlds. Excepting the occasional raids, that region of space is safe and as there are so many virgin worlds and so few colonists, almost everyone has what they need.

 

 

 

Recent Background: Gliese 876 is a system just a short distance from the front lines, even so, it's only been colonized within the last twenty years. The star(A red dwarf) is orbited by two gas giants which house shipyards and habitats, their names are Eden and Serena, respectively. Also in the system is Piedra De Plata(Silver Rock), a hot and dry terrestial planet first colonized by Spanish-speaking settlers.

 

Despite the occasional raids by Shen Pirates, it's generally a safe system that has yet to be attacked by the Crusaders and so has no large fleet presence. It produces a lot of ships that are swiftly headed for the front lines, but they rarely stay in-system for long. Recently, a large construction project has been launched which has resulted in Eden's space being declared off-limits to all. Those colonists living on it's habitats have(Temporarily, the military assures them.) been transferred to either Silver Rock or Serena's orbiting habitats.

 

Silver Rock has only two large civilian settlements. Fog City and Labyrinth Chasm, both close to the northern pole, in the somewhat temperate zone there. The entirety of the southern hemisphere has been declared off-limits by the military for reasons unknown, as has the northern pole. Popular theories vary from the insane(Alien ruins) to the sensible(Weapons testing labs.). The northern hemisphere is dotted with small settlements, usually around mines or terraforming stations. Some are underground, some are domed.

 

The planet has no native life, but as terraforming efforts have begun to drop the intolerable temperatures, so a few kinds of engineered flora and fauna have been released. At the moment the atmosphere would still kill most humans after a couple of seconds, even if the temperature didn't bake them alive.

 

Labyrinth Chasm is a city that's almost entirely underground, placed in a long, but narrow canyon. It's mostly an industrial city, and tends to be populated by lower-class people and has some severe crime problems. It's directly connected to Fog City by an underground railway. Fog City is a more upper class, domed city, but excepting a few, even the upper class on Silver Rock are pretty down-to-earth. It gets it's name from the crack in the ground at the center of the city(Now covered by a large processing facility, but still a tourist attraction.) which continually emits large amounts of steam, pure oxygen and some highly toxic poisons. The facility removes the toxins and distributes the water and oxygen to Fog City and Labyrinth Chasm. So far the source of the steam and oxygen are unknown, as any attempts at descending into the chasm have been met with temperatures powerful enough to melt titanium after a kilometer or so.

 

Surface temperatures during the day vary between 203 degrees Celsius(Equator) and 21(North pole), during the night the variance is 156(Equator) and -43(North Pole). Of course all settlements have climate control that holds the temperature close to a pleasant 25 degrees, dropping it to 20 during the night.

 

 

 

Technological Advances: Most advances useful during the average person's day lie in nano-bot waste recycling, nano-surgery and holographic entertainment. On some of the more affluent planets, hover-vehicles are also popular, but they remain too expensive to be present outside of the core systems in any great numbers. A few of the richer citizens have their own space-yachts and sometimes even small, private fleets, but them excepted, most space ships are limited to corporations, national fleets and pirate navies.

 

Despite the promises of science fiction movies, energy weaponry still isn't very much in use except in space battles. Energy demands prevent most vehicles smaller than tanks, including people in power armor, from mounting plasma cannons or ion beam-casters(The two most common kinds of energy weapons.). Overheating also tends to be a problem on any worlds which aren't arctic. Therefore ballistic weaponry is the norm within the atmosphere.

 

Effective cybernetic replacements for lost limbs or organs are mostly limited to the extremely rich or people in the military. If you're a member of the working class, you'll have to deal with mechanical legs that short out if you step through a puddle or cyber-eyes that can only see the world in shades of puke.

 

Power armor is mostly just mechanical lifter harnesses that allow the wearer to wield absurdly large weapons or which have lots of armor plates grafted on. A few experimental suits have been created which magnify the wearer's strength and reflexes without encumbering him, but all that has leaked about them is that they have flaws. What kinds of flaws, no one knows, but it's always said in a really ominous tone of voice. The Crusaders, unlike the GCCW, have managed to make extremely effective and powerful suits of power armor, which means that any world where they're allowed to land is usually lost. Rather than digging out their entrenched troops, most navies opt to bombard them from orbit till they're gone, no matter what the cost in civilian lives.

 

 

 

Subspace: Subspace drives allow swift movement over large distances, though there is a limit to how far they can go. The farther someone tries to use them to jump, the larger the chance of some sort of malfunction or ending up in the heart of a star. They can only travel from near large gravity wells(Usually planets) to near other large gravity wells. Near is an important word. Jump too close to one, or jump from too close to one, and you'll end up in a really bad way. Jumping work somewhat like travelling wormholes in that any ship in subspace is outside of normal reality.

 

Subspace gates have been constructed between some systems, but mostly only the core ones. They provide virtually fault-free jumps even to ships that aren't fitted with subspace drives. No one is quite sure about the nature of subspace, but it seems to be a sort of pocket reality that surrounds all of our universe. No one has ever spotted anything else in there while travelling. No ships, no stars, no creatures. The only things from our reality that seem to intrude on subspace without entering it is large gravity wells.

 

The Crusaders don't seem to use subspace, for some reason, relying instead on something called G-Drives to propel them over vast distances without leaving our universe. G-drives still seem to rely at least partially on gravity wells, however, so some of the principles must be similar.

 

 

 

Out Of Character Notes: This game will emphasize staying in character. No OOC goofing around. If you want to join, PM me and talk to me about what sort of character you want to run and I'll introduce you. One requirement is that you know how to capitalize words, spell and use punctuation at least semi-correctly. This game will use a rudimentary rule system rather than being free-form, to prevent anyone from creating over-powered characters.

 

There is, of course, more to the world than what's been presented in this post, but those things will be explained as you encounter them. All characters will be human, natives of Silver Rock(Possibly born one of the Eden or Serena habitats, but unlikely.) and start out in either Fog City or Labyrinth Chasm.

 

You may attack other players, but don't do so unless you have a roleplaying reason for doing so. You may not specify the actions of NPC's or reactions of other characters to what you do. I have no limits on language, and some descriptions of violence may become somewhat gory, so if you're touchy when it comes to such things: Don't join.

[Stampede]

I'm in.

[PurpleXVI]

(OOC: Intro post for Knocko, Stampede's character.)

 

It was, as always, a warm and sunny day on Gliese.

 

Knocko Jones, as most people knew him, was returning to Labyrinth Chasm, where he lived, after a month* of duty at a terraforming station up north, near the Northern Restricted Zone. It had been an utterly unincidential shift, except for some standard maintenance and a few faulty pieces of equipment needing fixing, but a paycheck was a paycheck.

 

He was coming home on one of the regular supply convoys that travelled between the settlements and the outlying mines and facilities.

 

The ancient, tracked vehicles were arriving at the rift in the ground that contained Labyrinth Chasm after a few weeks of travelling, and everyone on board breathed a sigh of relief as they entered one of the upper entry bays and could leave. None of the convoy vehicles were in any way luxurious. All eight of the passengers who were returning after a shift and not going out again had been sitting in empty cargo holds. Sleeping in padded containers and using crates as chairs.

 

Those who weren't hanging around to help load the convoy and then heading out again immediately headed for the elevators which would take them further down into the city. The top level was nothing but garages, storage and hangars. Most of the actual city was further down, deep into the rock and sand. It wasn't easy to keep a family when you were away for over half the year*, Knocko was the only one on his terraforming station who managed it, so most of the others were likely just off to visit prostitutes and bars.

 

As soon as he stepped out of the dry, dusty air of the cargo compartment and into the slightly less dry and dusty air of the large garage bay, two mails arrived for him on his PDA. It could connect to the Galacti-web to fetch any messages for him, but only when he was near a wireless network connected to it, like in most cities.

 

(OOC Info:

 

Labyrinth Chasm: Deserving of it's name, LC is deep and labyrinthine. The upper levels are relatively easy to find one's way around and decently ventilated. The lower slums, however, are utterly impossible to navigate for anyone without a map or a guide. There are twenty-one levels downwards, including the top-most garage level. Most of the city, however, is clustered around the canyon, which has been sealed off by a see-through membrane. Those residences providing a view of the canyon, and natural light, are extremely sought-after. While houses with windows opening up into the canyon are permitted, no one is permitted to build in the canyon itself. Most of the public spaces of Labyrinth Chasm are is boring stainless steel corridors. A lot of private residences and businesses are more decorated, but few public areas are.

 

Knocko and his family live on the 11th level from the top. A middle-class neighbourhood, with some crime problems. It's one of the widest layers.

 

*Years, Months, Days: Almost all human settlements use Earth GMT time, even if their days are three weeks long or they go around the local star in less than a month. It helps make time-keeping easy for appointments and such. Earth GMT is also used to govern the artificial days and nights aboard large space craft.)

[Stampede]

Knocko paused and grunted. He took out his PDA and began the process of opening his new mail.

[PurpleXVI]

The first mail was from his wife, she'd heard his shift was over and had written a small essay on the things that had happened while he was gone. His oldest son had gotten some remarkably good grades while Knocko was away, and the younger one had been attacked by a rabid dog on the way home one day. Fortunately nothing had happened that modern nano-medicine couldn't deal with and the dog had been put down.

 

Then there was the second email.

 

Knocko didn't know the sender, his name was Dante Adriano and his account was registered with Zanzara Industries. It was a short and simple message instructing him that he had a chance to earn some extra money if he met Dante in a disreputable bar called The Black Mushroom down on the 19th level, which was one of the slummiest places you could find in Labyrinth Chasm. At least the 20th and 21st layers were less awful because few people had moved there yet and they were still under excavation.

[Stampede]

Crazy kids. Knockos oldest, Teddy, was definitely his wifes kid. He was the soft spoken, bookworm type. Nothing wrong with that. His youngest, Ray,...well...he was more like Knocko. Always getting into scrapes and the like. Whenever Knocko saw him acting up, he discouraged it...but secretly he got a big bang out of the kids behaviour.

 

Hmm..the other message was intriguing...he sure could use a couple of extra bucks. The kids education was burning a serious hole in his paycheck, not to mention Kate always hassling him to take her on one of those orbital cruises.

 

He absent mindedly picked at one of his artificial fangs a permanent reminder of his misspent youth.

The Black Mushroom, what a dive. It amused him that 10 years ago, he would not have thought twice about going to a place like that. Now...things were different.

 

He checked the mail to see if there was any indication as to what time he should be there.

[PurpleXVI]

Knocko

 

The mail had been sent just as he disembarked from the convoy, judging by the time tags, so most likely Dante was expecting him to head down to the Mushroom right away. How the guy had known when Knocko was arriving was unknown, but he'd probably had someone watching the entry bay.

 

As the large man stood around pondering the emails, he almost got run over by a forklift loading a crate of artificial flour into one of the trucks. The driver was about to yell at him for standing in the way, the swerved had almost taken HIM into one of the bay's supporting pillars, but upon seeing how big Knocko was, he had hastily stomped on the gas* pedal and continued on his way.

 

 

 

(OOC: Most atmospheric vehicles are powered by hydrogen energy cells, but old words persist.)

[Stampede]

Knocko raised a bemused eyebrow in the direction of the irate driver and shook his head.

 

Right...well, he had two choices, go and see this mystery man in a dump of a neighborhood...or go straight home to his wife and kids. His wife was expecting him soon....she was a little firecracker when she got mad and if she knew he had stopped at bar...

 

"Ah, what the hell."

 

The extra cash and a vacation for the two of them would cool her off, he could use a second honeymoon.

Knocko began to make his way to the bar...by whichever way would get him there the quickest.

[PurpleXVI]

Knocko

 

Knocko entered one of the large personnel elevators and began the downwards descent.

 

The walls of the elevator were heavy diamond-glass and offered a perfect view of the Chasm during the first few levels. It stopped often, and took on a lot of people during the first half of the trip, but by the time he was down to the 15th layer, most of them had disembarked. The ones that remained looked wholly untrustworthy. Likely muggers and corporate mercenaries all of them, the only ones that didn't look like they'd knock him down and steal his kit the moment he turned his back were a few Brazilian* Fleet pilots on leave.

 

Most people kept a wide distance, though, due to his size. And teeth.

 

As the elevator reached the 19th level, everyone except for a few techs heading further down disembarked. A small group of people roughly shoved their way past Knocko when he stepped out, getting on the elevator. They looked like the usual thugs found down there, except for one of them, who was wearing what looked like a bright red wetsuit, for some reason.

 

When the elevator had continued on it's way, and he on his way towards the Black Mushroom, he noticed that someone, most likely a member of the group of thugs, had stolen his lighter out of one of his trouser pockets. The tech didn't smoke, but it was always handy to have around.

 

The Black Mushroom was a few blocks down the street. Even though the air was thick with dirt and smoke, and most of the walls were so grimy that just touching them would make a man feel like he needed five long showers to get clean again, the bar managed to look even dirtier than the rest of it's surroundings. Two large bouncers hung around outside the entrance. Both of them were carrying heavy stun batons, and no doubt a large array of hidden weaponry under their clothes.

 

(OOC:

 

*Even though the GCCW allocates fleets to the defense against the Crusaders on a galactic scale, individual fleets are still under the command of their respective corporations, nations or groups. And the fleet sections not on the front are not under GCCW command. Gliese 876 is currently under the protection of the Brazilian fleet, along with Blacklance mercenary fleet elements.)

[Stampede]

Knocko frowned in irritation and perhaps even disappointment. If somebody wanted a lighter that badly, he would have just given it to them. The sooner he got out of this social cesspool the better. Hoo boy, if Kate could see him now, he'd be in for a thrashing.

 

The strange red outfit that resembled a wetsuit was an odd site, but then again, kids were dressing more crazy everyday.

 

He nodded respectfully to the two bouncers and strode into the club. Keeping as alert as possible. Provided the bouncers give him no hassle, he will find a spot at the bar, buy a drink and enquire about his contact.