Planet: Banshu

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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

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• 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.