Planet: Banshu

<-Main post

Overview

A barely settled world, whose few inhabitants keep the starport running. Rich visitors journey into the calcium-forest to hunt dangerous prey.

Quick Facts

B566332-6

• Starport: B-class (good quality, refined fuel, non-starship construction)
• Gas giant in system
• Diameter: 5,000 miles / 8,000 km (significantly smaller than Earth)
• Atmosphere: Standard
• Water coverage: 60%
• Population: 1,000
• Government: Self-perpetuating oligarchy
• Law level: 2 (laser weapons prohibited)
• Tech level: 6 (nuclear fission)
• Trade classification: Non-industrial
• Space lanes to: Gaffa (jump-1), Miconia (jump-1), Anaretella (jump-1)

Government, Law, and Diplomacy

Power on Banshu is divided between four families, each led by an elder. The elders meet to settle questions that concern the whole community. Each family maintains a force of guards to keep the peace.

Laser weapons are not allowed in the startown, but can be taken for hunts in the calcium-forests.

Being barely anything but a fuel station, Banshu has no presence in interstellar politics.

Interstellar Travel

In a given week, ships with the following destinations may be present at the starport:

• Gaffa - 6+ chance
• Miconia - 6+ chance
• Anaretella - 8+ chance

The Starport and the Families

The starport and adjacent startown are the only habitation on Banshu, built on a broad plateau that rises above the surrounding calcium-forest. The four families each control a portion of the settlement, and a portion of the business being done.

The Sushki family refines and sells fuel.

The Ato family carries out maintenance and repair.

The Tanoeka family constructs small craft, such as ship’s boats and pinnaces.

The Takashi family runs the startown’s inns, casinos, and other entertainment. They also organize hunting trips into the calcium-forest.

The Calcium-Forest

The forest surrounding the starport is made up of treelike calcium structures that are not actually plants at all. They are colonies of tiny animals, akin to Earth’s coral, who gain nutrients from even smaller photosynthetic lifeforms which they raise to the sunlight. These calcium-trees come in many vibrant colors.

Other species form mobile, multi-legged colonies that graze (predate) on the trees. These are themselves hunted by other predators, forming a food chain that culminates in a colony-beast the humans call a crownmaw. A huge, two-legged thing, whose long tail balances what passes for a head: a gaping maw surrounded by several long teeth or mandibles. The teeth grip the prey, and then the creatures inside the maw release stinging toxins that stun it and begin to dissolve it. A newly formed crownmaw has only two teeth, but grows more as it becomes older and larger. Crownmaws with more than twelve teeth are rarely seen, but there are tales of truly gigantic ones with upwards of twenty.

All of the predatory colonies lack the photosynthetic lifeforms living in the “trees”, and so lack color, resembling constructs of pockmarked bone. Their diet is not limited to native life. Other organic matter, such as humans, will also provide sustenance.

The Hunts

Off-world nobility and other wealthy types occasionally visit Banshu to hunt in the calcium-forest. The most prestigious game is the crownmaw, and the more teeth, the more prestige. The Takashi family puts together these trips. Two or three experienced rangers guide and protect the hunter, while five or six assistants lure out the prey. The hunter uses a high-caliber or laser rifle to blast the neck of the target apart, decapitating it. Of course, this does not kill the colony-beast (not until it dies from starvation) and the headless body stomping around is still dangerous. The assistants douse the head with poison to kill it, and collect it as a trophy for the hunter.

The Takashi family is happy to employ outsiders as hunt assistants, such as travellers in need of quick cash.

Scenarios

- A pirate ship arrives to extort the tiny colony.

- A twenty-teeth crownmaw has been spotted in the forest, and two rivals nobles are each determined to be the one to bring it down.

Planet: Niedaoida

<-Main post

Overview

Once the prosperous governing world of the subsector, now unimportant and technologically regressed. Rusting cities are hermetically sealed against the unbreathable atmosphere, and the unusual biosphere creates a high demand for water.

Quick Facts

C7A3879-6

• Starport: C-class (routine quality, unrefined fuel)
• Gas giant in system
• Diameter: 7,000 miles / 11,000 km (slightly smaller than Earth)
• Atmosphere: Exotic
• Water coverage: 30%
• Population: 1 billion
• Government: Balkanization
• Law level: Generally low, but 9 at starport (all weapons prohibited)
• Tech level: 6 (nuclear fission)
• Trade classification: General
• Space lanes to: Befandefa (jump-2), Gaffa (jump-2), Miconia (jump-1), Moller (jump-1), Kasman (jump-2)

Government, Law, and Diplomacy

Niedaoida is split into 17 independent countries. Most of these are city-states, but three are larger: the bureaucratic Eikanoida at the north pole, the feudal Obareida of the north, and the democratic Volgo Federation of the south.

The smaller countries find themselves manipulated by Obareida and the Volgo Federation in a cold war. Outright conflict would cause terrible damage to both sides. If a sealed city is breached, it’s not long before the population has no air to breathe anymore.

All weapons are prohibited in Stuin, the starport city. Elsewhere, weapon laws are generally permissive. Obareida has a law level of 1 (hidden pistols, bombs, and poison gas prohibited), and the Volgo Federation has a law level of 4 (light assault weapons and heavier weapons are prohibited).

Surface Travel

• Stuin - Reika, by train: 3 days
• Stuin - Graizen, by train: 5 days
• Graizen - Meileina, by train: 8 days

Interstellar Travel

In a given week, ships with the following destinations may be present at the starport:

• Befandefa - 6+ chance
• Gaffa - 8+ chance
• Miconia - 6+ chance
• Moller - 6+ chance
• Kasman - 6+ chance

A Short History

In the days of the Imperium, Niedaoida was a prosperous industrial world, and the seat of the subsector’s governing duke. In the wars of the collapse, the duke was killed and succession was disputed. After a disastrous war between two of the planet’s main claimants, the remaining ones backed off. The barons of Niedaoida each retained control of their own cities.

Over the following years, Obareida and the Volgo Federation emerged as Niedaoida’s major powers. However, when the ore mines on Befandefa ran out, easy access to easy rare metals was lost. The world’s economy and technology regressed severely, until it could just barely sustain itself. Still, Niedaoida has the highest population of any world in the subsector.

Atmosphere and Biosphere

Niedaoida is a rather dry planet, and its atmosphere contains barely any oxygen. Its life forms have cell structures quite different from those of Earth. They are still edible to humans, but contain very little water. Humans on Niedaoida have to drink a lot more water in a day than those with diets from photosynthesis-sustained worlds.

The sky is purple on Niedaoida, and plant life is usually red.

The Sealed Cities

Niedaoida’s cities are sealed, keeping the hostile atmosphere outside. Algae tanks provide oxygen. The city’s buildings are separate, with streets and electric vehicles, but a roof and outer walls envelops the whole city. There are a few windows, but generally there is an “indoors” feeling to the whole place.

Stuin

The city-state Stuin holds the planet’s starport - once top-class, with shipyards and fuel refineries, but today most of it is abandoned and rusting. Stuin remains neutral between Obareida and the Volgo Federation, maintaining the balance of power.

Eikanoida

The smallest of the major countries on Niedaoida, Eikanoida sits on the planet’s north pole, controlling the vast water resources of the ice cap. Eikanoida exports water south by train, making great profits.

Obareida

Obareida maintains the old Imperial tradition and feudal hierarchy. Count Haigrick rules from the capital Graizen, and each other city is ruled by its own baron. With the advance of the New Imperium in the southwest of the subsector, some people in Obareida hope (rather unrealistically) that the return of Imperial rule would bring back Niedaoida’s glory days.

The library and archive in Graizen holds a lot of knowledge and history about the subsector, often lost elsewhere.

Political dissidents wishing for democracy can be found throughout Obareida, often sponsored by the Volgo Federation.

The Volgo Federation

The Volgo Federation is a collection of cities who have overthrown their feudal rulers, and formed a democratic union. Far away from Eikanoida, the Federation imports most of its water from the city-states along the Stuin river.

The City-States

The many city-states of Niedaoida are mostly ruled by their old Imperial baron families. Obareida and the Volgo Federation both try to sway them to their own interests.

The Lost Cities

The cities of the west were destroyed in the succession war that followed the death of Niedaoida’s duke. The cost of the war was horrifying, as the sealed cities quickly became uninhabitable when breached. To this day, there have been no more wars on Niedaoida, and no attempt to reclaim the lost cities have been made - the resources to do so simply don’t exist. However, the cities may still hold advanced technology from the old days, which could be reclaimed.

Several of the cities are now occupied by shrubstriders, a local species of centauroid beings. They have learnt rudimentary tool use, but not language. In a few hundreds of thousands of years, they may develop true sapience.

Scenarios

- Zaikon “18 Bodybags” Rels is wanted by the Obareida authorities for eighteen counts of murder, and water theft. His gang operates out of Eikanoida, crossing the border into Obareida to rob water transports going south. The Eikanoida government doesn’t care to stop him. They’ve already been paid for the water, after all.

- One of the lost cities has an underground starship hangar holding a noble’s yacht, forgotten in the chaos of the succession war. A family of shrubstriders has made it their home, however.

Planet: Befandefa

<-Main post

Overview

A tiny, airless planetoid. Once a mining colony, now a world dedicated to the development of advanced technology. The planet’s comfortable city is reserved for the privileged citizens. The non-citizens scrape a living in the old mine tunnels.

Quick Facts

B100458-E

• Starport: B-class (good quality, refined fuel, non-starship construction)
• Naval base and scout base in system
• Diameter: 1,000 miles / 1,600 km (significantly smaller than Earth’s moon)
• Atmosphere: None
• Water coverage: 0%
• Population: 30,000 (3,000 in Upper Befandefa, 27,000 in Lower Befandefa)
• Government: Feudal
• Law level: 8 (all weapons except daggers prohibited)
• Tech level: 14 (interstellar)
• Trade classification: Non-industrial
• Space lanes to: Sheen (jump-1), Tench (jump-1), Gaffa (jump-1), Niedaoida (jump-2)

 

Government, Law, and Diplomacy

Befandefa retains its old Imperial noble hierarchy, ruled by countess Ranathalo. Law in Upper Befandefa is enforced by her knights, who are well trained and equipped with combat armor, laser rifles, and broadswords. Lower Befandefa is lawless.

Befandefa is one of the three allied systems forming the BST Triumvirate, contributing advanced technology expertise. A space station in orbit around Befandefa is the base of the Triumvirate’s navy. A contingent of soldiers are also posted there.

Surface Travel

Starport - Lower Befandefa, by elevator: 5 minutes.

Interstellar Travel

In a given week, ships with the following destinations may be present at the starport:

• Sheen - 4+ chance
• Tench - 4+ chance
• Niedaoida - 6+ chance
• Gaffa - 8+ chance

Gravity

Befandefa’s low gravity lets humans make high jumps or skip across the ground at high speed. But it is also hard to slow down, and a careless person could hurt themselves by slamming into an obstacle.

Firing a gun (other than laser weapons) causes the shooter to be thrown backwards by the recoil. Make a 10+ Endurance roll to just stumble backwards, instead of being thrown to the ground.

The Starport

Befandefa’s starport is located on the surface. Docking tubes attach to visiting ships for the transfer of passengers and cargo. Entrance to the city, Upper Befandefa, is only allowed to citizens and those with a permit. Firearms and long blades are not allowed in the city. Weapons can be kept in storage at the gates, or the knights can be paid a bribe of 1,000 credits.

Elevators descend from the starport to Lower Befandefa.

The Lauper

In geostationary orbit above Befandefa’s starport is the Lauper, a 5,000-ton battleship from the old Imperial navy. Its jump drive no longer functions, but its weapons and shields are fully operational. The gigantic ship ensures Befandefa’s independence, as a powerful deterrent against invaders.

Lower Befandefa

Lower Befandefa is located in the underground tunnels once used to mine for ore. A cramped shantytown is built into the tunnels, lit by neon lights. Many inhabitants of Lower Befandefa do manual labor in Upper Befandefa, entering the city with day permits and returning underground when their shift is done.

In side tunnels, various collectives maintain hardy plants and algae under UV lights. Without these, there would not be enough breathable air in the tunnels.

A group of unnerving fences, who arrived at the planet a year ago, pays well (5x normal price) for prototype technologies stolen from Upper Befandefa. These are in fact robots from Bansko, disguised as humans. They smuggle their wares back to Bansko on regularly visiting ship.

Upper Befandefa

Upper Befandefa is a small city under a glass dome. The dome is tinted to give the appearance of a blue sky when the sun shines through it. The city consists of luxurious white buildings, mostly tech development centers and spacious apartment blocks, with walking paths and lawns in between. Rooftop gardens provide oxygen.

Prototype weapons and armor in development have an advantage and a flaw from the lists below.

1d6 weapon advantages

• 1: More powerful; +1d6 damage.
• 2: Target finder; +1 to hit.
• 3: High rate of fire; shoots twice (at same target).
• 4: Not detected by sensors.
• 5: Small; pistol-sized, or pen-sized if already a pistol.
• 6: Long range; one extra range band.

1d6 weapon flaws

• 1: Less powerful; -1d6 damage.
• 2: Inaccurate; -1 to hit.
• 3: Single shot; must reload after every shot.
• 4: Overheats; 1d6 damage to shooter if they roll doubles to hit. Explodes for 3d6 on double 1.
• 5: Huge and bulky.
• 6: Short range; one range band less.

1d6 armor advantages

• 1: Stronger; -1 to be hit.
• 2: Stealth camo; almost impossible to see while standing still.
• 3: Grav belt.
• 4: Slim; can be worn under normal clothing.
• 5: Inbuilt grappling hooks.
• 6: Bladebreaking; roll 9+ when hit with a blade to break it.

1d6 armor flaws

• 1: Weaker; +1 to be hit.
• 2: Fragile; roll 5+ when hit or the armor breaks.
• 3: Makes a lot of noise when moving.
• 4: Heavy; can’t carry other items heavier than daggers.
• 5: Must be recharged after use, for the same amount of time.
• 6: Chafes; -1 to Dexterity rolls.

Scenarios

- Spies from Bansko plot to board the Lauper, repair its jump drive, and steal it.

- A person from Lower Befandefa didn’t return home from their job as a cleaner in Upper Befandefa, and their family is worried. They were kidnapped to test out a “regenerative” experimental suit of armor.

Planet: Sheen

<-Main post

Overview

A world covered in towering rock spires, some of them topped with cities. Herders in grav vehicle and their flocks of winged cattle fly between them. Inside the spires are mysterious cave systems.

Quick Facts

A577799-C

• Starport: A-class (excellent quality, refined fuel, starship construction)
• Gas giant in system
• Diameter: 5,000 miles / 8,000 km (significantly smaller than Earth)
• Atmosphere: Standard, tainted
• Water coverage: 70%
• Population: 20 million
• Government: Bureaucracy
• Law level: 9 (all weapons prohibited)
• Tech level: 12 (interstellar)
• Trade classification: Agricultural
• Space lanes to: Tench (jump-1), Befandefa (jump-1), Bennec (jump-1)

Government, Law, and Diplomacy

Sheen is controlled by a single ruling party. The head of the party is a man named Arvan Hoyn, though his personal power is limited. There is a well-supplied police force, though it concerns itself mostly with the cities and bigger towns, rarely visiting smaller settlements.

Sheen is one of the three allied systems forming the BST Triumvirate. Sheen’s contributions to the partnership are starship construction, and cattle export.

Surface Travel

• Travel between two neighboring spires by grav vehicle takes 5 minutes.
• Travel between two major cities takes 2 - 3 hours.
• Travelling down through the cave systems of a spire, from the top to the water level, takes three days. Going back up takes six days.

Interstellar Travel

In a given week, ships with the following destinations may be present at the starport:

• Tench - 4+ chance
• Befandefa - 4+ chance
• Bennec - 6+ chance

The Starport

Sheen’s great starport has a spire all to itself, neighboring the spire of Yorcha, the capital. The starport has shipyards for commercial and military use. It is here that the warships of the BST Triumvirate are built.

Weapons are not allowed on Sheen, and are confiscated by customs officials unless a bribe is paid (200 credits).

The expanding starport facilities have pushed the startown over the edge of the spire. It is now partially built vertically on the spire’s side, creaking buildings stacked below each other, and secured in the rock by steel beams.

The Rock Spires

Sheen’s thousands of rock spires all share the same characteristics. The height is consistently around seven kilometres above sea level, with almost vertical sides. They have circular flat tops with a diameter of three kilometres. The spires form a pattern - each spire has six neighbouring spires, each at a distance of six kilometres. The spires are found across the planet, on land and in the sea. However, there are some regions where the spire pattern is uneven, the spires have fallen, or there just are no spires at all. If one were to study the planet’s continental drift, it would appear that there was a “perfect” pattern about ninety million years ago, which has since become distorted.

A wide variety of winged animals fly through the air between the spires, and the planet’s low gravity allows them to grow to impressive size. The goat-sized thornwings fly in flocks, and graze on mosses growing on the side of the rock spires. The humans of Sheen have domesticated them, and herd them across the air from grav vehicles.

The largest predators, bloodrainers, have a wingspan of over twenty metres, and are a threat to sky-herders and their flocks alike.

Sheen’s atmosphere contains gases dangerous to humans. Their concentration is greater the closer you are to the ground. On top of the spires, a filter mask is enough for protection, but starting about a kilometre from ground level, a respirator is also necessary due to low oxygen levels.

On top of the rock spires are entrances to labyrinthine cave systems.

The Ground

The ground is desolate. Moss grows there, but there are no animals other than various tiny worms. Even though Sheen’s larger animals are not harmed by the atmosphere’s gases, the lack of oxygen means they cannot survive here.

The Cities

The capital of Sheen is Yorcha, a city that is starting to outgrow the rock spire it sits on. The buildings rise high, and the streets are narrow and crowded. Other major cities include Shaykan, Leelon, and Poedes. There are many smaller towns, villages, and homesteads, each on its own spire.

Grav vehicles are ubiquitous for travel between spires. In the cities, ground vehicles are limited to small two- and three-wheelers.

The Caverns

The cave systems inside the rock spires don’t seem to be carved, but are too smooth and regularly shaped to be natural formations. Ten or so metres down, air in the caves becomes breathable. It is not known how deep the caves go.

In a major city, the caverns inside the spire house all kinds of people.

• 1d6   Cave inhabitants  Demeanour
• 1       Homeless camp      Aggressive
• 2       Criminal gang         Cautious
• 3       Artist commune      Isolationist
• 4       Cult                        Welcoming
• 5       Science lab             Well-meaning
• 6       Political dissidents   Sinister

Unknown to most surface people, some have moved even deeper. At about sea level, the caverns become filled with water. There, small communities dwell, catching fish for sustenance. Occasionally, metal orbs float up from the depths of the water, which they trade upspire for goods, usually to criminal gangs. Orbs are sold on for about 5,000 credits, but only to trusted buyers.

An orb is one centimetre across, hollow, and covered in blunt spikes. Someone who carries an orb on their person will “attune” to it after 24 hours, gaining the ability to mentally reach out to another person’s mind, reading surface thoughts and learning their emotional state. Every time an orb is used, the referee rolls 2d6. On a roll of 11+, the orb stops working, and its spikes retract into it.

Each orb is filled with the dangerous gases of the Sheen atmosphere, in high concentration. If they are released, they will make the air in a normal-sized room unbreathable in 15 seconds. The thin metal can be cracked by applying pressure with a knife or similar.

Scenarios

- A monk from Gaffa has heard a rumor of the spiked orbs, and wants to bring some back to their homeworld. Unfortunately they don’t have a lot of credits.

- An aggressive bloodrainer has been killing thornwings, and a village of sky-herders has placed a bounty on it. Turns out it has been tamed by a hermit on a remote spire, and has been bringing her food. The hermit doesn’t know that many of the thornwings her pet has brought are from domesticated flocks.

Hexmap Settlement Generator

Here's the settlement generator promised in the last post! Some more direct Traveller inspiration in this one. There's probably room for improvement, but it seems to work well enough

Like Traveller's generator, this is meant to jog your imagination, rather than provide a complete description of a site. The regions will be full of city-states rather than kingdoms, though of course you could interpret the results differently.

* * *

SETTLEMENT GENERATOR

This generator produces settlements that can be described with a code of four more letters, eg. BED-BC. The first letter indicates size, the second government, the third laws, and the fourth and following religion.

1. Settlement presence

For each hex, roll 1d6 and apply terrain modifiers. All relevant modifiers are added together. For example, a dry hill hex on the coast would have a total modifier of -1. A result of 4 or more indicates a settlement.

• River [+1]
• Coast [+1]
• Island [+0]
• Plains [+0]
• Forest [-1]
• Dry [-1]
  
• Hills [-1]
• Mountains [-2]

2. Size

For each settlement, roll 2d6 and apply terrain modifiers again. This shows the size of the settlement. A natural roll of 2 is always a ruin.

• 2-     (  )  Ruin - Roll 2d6 without any modifiers. This shows the number of inhabitants before the settlement fell to ruin.
• 3       A  Lair. 1d10 inhabitants. [-4]
• 4-5    B  Hamlet. 1d10 x 10 inhabitants. [-2]
• 6-8    C  Village. 1d10 x 100 inhabitants. [-1]
• 9-10  D  Town. 1d10 x 1,000 inhabitants. [+0]
• 11     E  City. 10,000 + 1d10 x 1,000 inhabitants. [+1]
• 12+   F  Major city. 20,000 + 1d10 x 1,000 inhabitants. [+2]

Keep in mind that the settlement is not necessarily a village, town etc. It could also be a monastery, a fortress, a bandit camp, and so on.

A town or city probably shares its hex with several smaller hamlets and villages.

3. Government

Roll 2d6 and apply the modifier from size.

• 2-     A  None [-2]
• 3      B  Imposed [+0]
• 4      C  Powerful being [+0]
• 5      D  Religious [+2]
• 6      E  Tyranny [+2]
• 7      F  Oligarchy [+1]
• 8      G  Absolute monarchy [+1]
• 9      H  Feudal monarchy [+1]
• 10     I  Factions [-1]
• 11     J  Democracy [+1]
• 12+  K  Magocracy [+0]
  

Government types are explained below.

4. Laws

Roll 2d6 and apply the modifier from government. All laws above the result are also in effect.

• 3-        A  Lawless.
• 4         B  Theft outlawed.
• 5         C  Slaying and assault outlawed.
• 6-9      D  Creation of undead outlawed.
• 10-11  E  Magic outlawed.
• 12+     F  Carrying of weapons outlawed.

5. Religion

Roll 1d6.

• 1  A  Animism
• 2  B  Physical god
• 3  C  Local god
• 4  D  Common god
• 5  E  Common pantheon
• 6       Roll twice more on this table

Religion types are explained below.

Governments

• None: No government.
• Imposed: Conquered or ruled from outside.
• Powerful being: Ruled a powerful nonhuman being.
• Religious: Rule by religious leaders.
• Tyranny: Unrestrained single ruler.
• Oligarchy: A small group is in power.
• Absolute monarchy: Monarch with weak or no vassals.
• Feudal monarchy: Monarch with vassals who hold power of their own.
• Factions: Several factions compete for control.
• Democracy: Citizens get to vote on laws and/or rulers.
• Magocracy: Rule by mages or magic.

Religions

• Animism: Belief in the spiritual essence of all things.
• Physical god: A physical being or object is worshipped.
• Local god: A god unique to this settlement.
• Common god: A god also worshipped elsewhere.
• Common pantheon: A pantheon of gods also worshipped elsewhere.

* * *

Here's a new map I rolled up to test the settlement generator out, and here are the settlements:

13 BED-BC
18 CEF-C
20 DFC-A
22 BDF-C
24 BAB-E
26 CCE-D
31 FKD-C
32 DGE-D
38 DED-ABC
40 DHD-A
43 DED-E
47 BGD-E
51 BHE-C
56 BED-C
58 EJE-B
59 BAE-B
71 AAB-C
84 (C)GD-A
88 DFC-C
90 CJD-D
91 CHC-D
92 CDF-A
97 DGB-D
98 DDF-BB

The major city of 31, ruled by mages, stands out as the major power of the region.

The next largest city is in 58, a democratic island nation. It has outlawed magic - perhaps fearing infiltration from its rival?

The small settlement in 13 worships a physical god and a local god... maybe a cult whose tyrannical leader is worshipped side by side with a nonphysical god?

The settlement in 97 seems like a rough place, as its monarch allows killing and assault without legal punishment.

In contrast, the religious settlement of 98 just to the south does not even allow the carrying of weapons. There are probably tensions between these two...

* * *

Seems like there's some stuff to poke at!