Help me populate a dying space colony

[Xavier Onassiss]

The old space colony in the Omicron Eridani is "technically abandoned" yet thousands of people still live there -- squatters, outlaws, refugees, lost souls and others who slipped through the cracks in the galaxy have congregated there over the years since the colony was written off.

 

I often think of the place as a science-fictional version of Roanapur from the Black Lagoon anime. To visit Omicron Colony is to tempt fate; to live there is to invite death.

 

The colony proper is a relatively small O’Neill-type

habitat with two counter-rotating cylinders, ten kilometers

in length. Even during its ‘peak’ years, the Omicron colony

was never considered more than a glorified way station.

When the Sirius system was finally opened to traffic in 2182,

the writing was on the wall. The colony went into a slow

but steady decline, surviving a number of budget cuts and

austerity measures, for 120 years. In 2301 the life-support

system in the “north” cylinder crashed, resulting in a mass

evacuation to the “south” cylinder. The extra strain nearly

caused another life-support crash, but Colonial Reserve Fleet

transports arrived in time to take off the excess personnel

and relocate them. There were many reports of resistance to

the relocation efforts, and several deaths resulted. Several

CRF officers were reprimanded in the aftermath.

Ten years later, the Omicron colony is still in operation,

but without a budget or any official backing. The south

cylinder survives as a ‘free port’, living off whatever they can

bring in via trade, much of which is illegal, and of course,

very lucrative. The facility is constantly in poor repair and

breakdowns of important services are a regular occurrence.

Those who stay here either have no way out, a personal

interest in the black market, or a need to stay away from

civilization.

The north cylinder is even worse, if such a thing is

possible. The life-support system technically still functions,

although the climate controls are gone, as are most air filtration

systems. The gas-mix is more-or-less standard, but the

air is contaminated with all manner of pollutants, particulates,

and micro-organisms living off the decay of the colony.

The formerly idyllic parklands have gone completely feral,

and some years ago, squatters moved livestock from the agricultural

modules into the colony proper. The descendants off

family dogs roam in wild packs, looking for weak animals to

pick off.

The denizens of Omicron’s north cylinder are squatters,

salvage operators, pirates and the worst sort of criminals

– those so violent they aren’t welcome even in the relatively

lawless south cylinder. There are regular fire-fights

between the squatters and the salvage operators, who make

their living removing and selling colony infrastructure the

squatters still need to survive. Everyone knows that eventually,

there will be a catastrophic failure. The salvagers don’t

particularly care – they’ve got space-worthy vessels and they

can leave whenever they wish. But for everyone else here,

prolonging the inevitable decay is their top priority.

 

If you have any ideas for characters to populate this place, please post them here.

 

Thanx heaps.

[Sundog]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Negi Vanathotera - Negi has a vaguely Indian name and appearance, and has even affected a Hindu caste-mark on occasion, but that is pure camouflage. The dusk-skinned young lady is no product of the sub-continent, but of a test tube.

Some thirty-five years ago, a then (and still) major biotech firm was looking into the field of bioengineered humans for dangerous colonial work...and perhaps the mercenary market. This research was both covert and quite illegal, and Negi was one of the results.

Negi was accidentally released when her transport crashed in the hinterlands of one of the older colonies. She was taken in by a farmer, who thought she was suffering from amnesia; years later, Negi was to learn her true origins when the company tried to regain their lost "property".

Now, Negi works as a musician and dancer in Omicron South's entertainment district. What most don't realise, however, is that her perfect memory and capacity to multi-task also allows her to run "Black Gemini", a successful (and lucrative) organization that can get anyone from anywhere to anywhere else - with completely new and apparently real documentation and name. Her only problem is that she's finally realised why the company really wants her back - the evidence that they'd been doing illegal bioengineering would be harmful, but just a slap on the wrist financially. No, it probably has to do with the fact that she looks no older than she did 35 years ago...

Campaign use: Black Gemini would be a useful contact group for any PC, though Negi herself always uses intermediaries - only the top layer of the organization knows she's the mythical "boss". Police or investigator characters could be investigating the organization - or searching for the company's lonmg lost NV-6 prototype.

Physical description: Negi is a slender woman with brown skin, hair and eyes. She stands 5'6", and is rarely found without her electric Sitar. What isn't obvious is that she's pretty much peak human physically, something she only demonstrates when dancing - or breaking the arms of too-fresh patrons - or the necks of people she considers a threat.

[Badger]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

XZY-028

 

A left over slightly rusty maintenance droid. Few people pay him any mind. But, the hidden truth is he has suffered a "malfunction" and now has plans to eliminate the fleshies and rule the colony and its machines.

[Badger]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

The old space colony in the Omicron Eridani is "technically abandoned" yet thousands of people still live there -- squatters, outlaws, refugees, lost souls and others who slipped through the cracks in the galaxy have congregated there over the years since the colony was written off.

 

I often think of the place as a science-fictional version of Roanapur from the Black Lagoon anime. To visit Omicron Colony is to tempt fate; to live there is to invite death.

 

 

 

If you have any ideas for characters to populate this place, please post them here.

 

Thanx heaps.

 

I put in a robot. I assume non humans (aliens and robots) are allowed

[Christopher]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

XZY-028

 

A left over slightly rusty maintenance droid. Few people pay him any mind. But, the hidden truth is he has suffered a "malfunction" and now has plans to eliminate the fleshies and rule the colony and its machines.

Every villian need an Arch-nemesis:

B0-ND-007

 

An very modern Maintenance droid, that somehow got on this backwater colony. He is so modern, nobody here speaks his hyper-dense machine language. So he was so far unable to warn the humans of the treath XZY-028 and instead wages a "shadow war" against the others sabotages to the life support systems.

 

Perhaps the characters can help him defat his arch-nemsis for good?

[Manic Typist]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Heh, I like that Christopher.

[Lucius]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Ten years ago, the ship called The Girl With Green Hair limped into the Omicron Eridani Station for repairs. The pilot - the only survivor of a battle with pirates - had not gotten the word that the station was just closed down and abandoned.

 

Spencer Bruce has been trying to get his ship spaceworthy ever since. Genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced for piloting, he could have long ago left on another ship and never looked back, but for some reason he has developed an obsession with restoring his derelict craft, which is if anything further from being whole than when it arrived because for the first few years opportunistic scavengers stole bits and pieces from it.

 

People needing a good pilot know to look for Spencer Bruce. He will fly the Green Hair to some remote spot in the system, taking his life in his hands every time he makes even such a short journey, then return in the lifeboat - dubbed Bad Penny ("It always comes back") - and stow the lifeboat in the hold of whatever vessel he's shipping out on this time. He'll earn some money, buy supplies and parts, and return to Omicron Station, retrieve the Girl with Green Hair and get back to work, half the time needing to clean up bodies and repair damage done by his own booby traps. No scavenger has managed to actually escape with anything of worth in five years, but they keep trying. Having survived a raid on the Green Hair is a mark of honor among them, and his fiendish traps are the stuff of legend. Still, every time he leaves the station on another mission, there's two or three groups racing to find where he hid it this time, and bookies take bets on who will find it first, or if no one will (one rumor says it has a cloaking device that, like everything else aboard, only works half the time.) The bookies routinely lay odds of 400 to 1 against any given gang getting away with something valuable THIS time.

 

Rumors abound about what makes The Girl With Green Hair so special that her pilot refused to abandon her. Dozens of variations exist of the "treasure hidden aboard" story, mostly featuring mysterious and powerful relics of unknown alien manufacture, as well as macabre tales of a terrible curse or of the mummified remains of a wife (sometimes with children) moldering away in one of the cabins. Some who escaped the deathtraps swear that the ship itself is possessed, or haunted. Others surmise the presence of an experimental AI gone rogue.

 

Bruce himself just laughs when confronted with such tales, and says "That's my ship, and I'll get it running again. You'll see."

 

Player Characters may run across Spencer Bruce if they're looking for a pilot, or need their own ship repaired - his methods are unorthodox but if you're stuck on Omicron Eridani and can't get the right parts, he can cobble together something that will hold long enough to reach a proper spaceport, especially if you trade him something he needs to fix his own ship.

 

Spencer Bruce is a tall, slender figure always dressed in some variation of a pilot's uniform. He is usually cheerful and often whistles or sings old spacer songs like "The Green Hills of Earth" or "Rest Stop."

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Where do you hide a palindromedary on a spaceship?

[Shadow Hawk]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

"Captain" Gabrielle

Gabrielle, the infamous "Archangel of Death", pirate, mercenary, and captain of the vessel "Hang the Expense XXVII" uses the station as a place to transfer her ill gotten gains, and give her crew of cutthroats time off. She usually doesn't visit often, as time spent at the station is time not making money... but lately, she's been on station an awful lot, and her crew has been much better behaved than normal. Laying low? Not the M.O. of the Archangel. Planning a takeover? Perhaps. Or preventing a different pirate gang from staging a takeover in her absence?

 

Gabrielle is a middle aged human woman, with dusky skin and blazing red hair. People who claim that her hair is dyed, or that she's visited a surgeon to keep her looks usually don't live long enough to reach the airlock. She has the almost mandatory pirate's eyepatch, which conceals a heads-up display showing her ships functions. She's usually heavily armed and accompanied by her very loyal first mate and several crewmen when she walks the station.

 

Hang the Expense XXVII is a Moltke-class battlecruiser. The Moltkes were considered too weak for the wall of battle, and too expensive to operate for peacetime patrols. They were supposed to have all been scrapped 20 years ago... Long ranged, heavily armed, fast, but lightly armored (for thier size, they outarmor most heavy cruisers!), it's a very heavy ship for a lone pirate. In fact, the cost to operate and man the vessel would easily pay for 3 light cruisers or a dozen destroyers or frigates that are more typical of pirates... so where did she get it, and how can she afford to keep it operational?

 

Why would a palindromedary need a starship?

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

The Sons of Gideon

 

You see them in the North Market on cycleday, selling what their little colony produces. An Evangelical sect from Old Northam, they say. Very close, very private --with a lot to be private about. In any halfways civilised place, Children and Youth Services would have stepped in long ago. That's not all, though. Heard rumours. 'Bout old war science. 'Bout alien stuff. 'Bout treasures dug up from ancient mounds in the fairyland the taletellers call "Ohio." Not too specific, I grant you, but the Sons have something worth stealing.

 

They say that their Prophet doesn't mind living in a dying world. It's all dying, he says. He even predicted the fall of Terra. Got all the details right, they say.

 

I know, you'll ask, what details? Someone will ask. They always do. I been telling that story for two months now. Since before Terra went down, in fact. Ask anyone. They'll tell you.

 

So I'll tell you this, and this is free, like air is down planetside. You do the long hike downcap from the Market to their mouldering Colony Hall. You talk to their prophet, like Doctor Maverick did. (And ain't he a piece of work --but that's a story for another day.) If the Prophet's in the mood, he'll tell you. If he ain't, well, let's just say, I hope you like dogs, and I hope dogs like you.

 

But better make it fast. The Prophet's dying, the Doc says. Then, who knows. Maybe the Prophet'll figure a way to take them all with him. Or maybe his son will take over. Or maybe it'll be the Prophet's lieutenant. The one's crazy, the other's hard. Hard and ambitious. Too ambitious for this craphole in space, tell the truth. Those hard-eyed young men, the Sons of Gideon? There ain't many of 'em, maybe 20 or so, but no-one crosses them now. You wait 'till they're following orders from someone hard --or someone crazy.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

This thread is for my latest Terracide campaign, so the emphasis is on humans, either natural or modified. There aren't any aliens at Omicron Station, and very few robots that still work. Robots in Terracide generally aren't sentient (not if they're made by humans) but illegal alien software upgrades are possible, especially at Omicron Station.

 

I owe Shadow Hawk rep for Captain Gabrielle, although I'm not sure I can use the character -- it's somewhat similar to another NPC I've already introduced. (Great minds think alike!)

 

Major Ekaterina Petrova, aka Catherine the Great; Commander of the former CRF Light Assault Vessl Constantine.

Following the infamous "Omicron Incident" Major Petrova rose to the top of the OFFICE's most-wanted list when she lead her vessel's entire company of Ursa troops in a mutiny against its command crew and took over the spacecraft. After departing the Core Loop for the "Far Between" her people found their former commanders guilty of "high crimes against humanity" and returned to Omicron just long enough to turn them over to its provisional government before disappearing again.

 

"Catherine the Great" and her vessel, the Constantine, have resurfaced several times since then, working as mercenaries for various parties in the Outer Colonies and the Far Between, sometimes even taking work for TGO clients in the so-called "Lunatic Fringe."

[Shadow Hawk]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

This thread is for my latest Terracide campaign' date=' so the emphasis is on humans, either natural or modified. There aren't any aliens at Omicron Station, and very few robots that still work. Robots in [i']Terracide[/i] generally aren't sentient (not if they're made by humans) but illegal alien software upgrades are possible, especially at Omicron Station.

 

I owe Shadow Hawk rep for Captain Gabrielle, although I'm not sure I can use the character -- it's somewhat similar to another NPC I've already introduced. (Great minds think alike!)

 

Well, you're right, Captain Gabrielle to Major Petrolla... so, you use Gabrielle as a legend/tall tale, the pirate queen that has a major warship.

 

Hmmm... replacement character...

Where pirates gather, there will be the people they sell the cargo to, and provide supplies in return. Terrence Ward is that man on the station. He buys thier ill gotten gains, then sells it to semi-legitimate merchants (who, in turn, sell it to legitimate merchants). In return, Terrence provides weapons, ammunition, food, medical services, 'entertainment' for crews, and minor ship repairs (doesn't have a 'space dock, so can't perform major ones). "Terry War" has enough bully boys on his team to prevent pirates from stealing from him, but for major problems he talks to his bosses in 'the syndicate'. Only suicidal people cross The Syndicate, so Terry rarely has major problems, and never with the same pirate twice.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Well, you're right, Captain Gabrielle to Major Petrolla... so, you use Gabrielle as a legend/tall tale, the pirate queen that has a major warship.

 

Hmmm... replacement character...

Where pirates gather, there will be the people they sell the cargo to, and provide supplies in return. Terrence Ward is that man on the station. He buys thier ill gotten gains, then sells it to semi-legitimate merchants (who, in turn, sell it to legitimate merchants). In return, Terrence provides weapons, ammunition, food, medical services, 'entertainment' for crews, and minor ship repairs (doesn't have a 'space dock, so can't perform major ones). "Terry War" has enough bully boys on his team to prevent pirates from stealing from him, but for major problems he talks to his bosses in 'the syndicate'. Only suicidal people cross The Syndicate, so Terry rarely has major problems, and never with the same pirate twice.

 

Also very good, and I needed a "fixer" type character. I still owe Shadow Hawk rep! For some reason I have this image of Terence Stamp playing him in the movie....

[Badger]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Every villian need an Arch-nemesis:

B0-ND-007

 

An very modern Maintenance droid, that somehow got on this backwater colony. He is so modern, nobody here speaks his hyper-dense machine language. So he was so far unable to warn the humans of the treath XZY-028 and instead wages a "shadow war" against the others sabotages to the life support systems.

 

Perhaps the characters can help him defat his arch-nemsis for good?

 

 

Curses, and I would have gotten away with it. If it wasnt for you meddling kids.

[John T]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

The old space colony in the Omicron Eridani is "technically abandoned" yet thousands of people still live there -- squatters, outlaws, refugees, lost souls and others who slipped through the cracks in the galaxy have congregated there over the years since the colony was written off.

 

I often think of the place as a science-fictional version of Roanapur from the Black Lagoon anime. To visit Omicron Colony is to tempt fate; to live there is to invite death.

 

If you have any ideas for characters to populate this place, please post them here.

 

Thanx heaps.

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious..."

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious..."

 

Well, I thought I'd never find a "more wretched hive of scum and villainy" but then I watched the Black Lagoon anime, and discovered the city of Roanapur, which would seem to make Mos Eisely look a cub scout jamboree. So I've been interested ever since then in doing a science fiction version of Roanapur.

[Lucius]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Ken Barnaby is an old hermit living in the North Cylinder. He actually prefers it to the South.

 

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. "

 

He is one of the reasons scavengers have not yet stripped away all the life support equipment.

 

Rumor has it that the "flashlight" he wears at his belt is actually a powerful alien tech weapon, and a couple of times "hit squads" sent after him specifically for interfering with salvage operations have been found dismembered (and cauterized.) Mostly, though, he seems to somehow convince people not to do what he doesn't want them to do; he even persuaded salvage hunters who were delighted to find a couple of still operational maintenance robots that they were looking for some other robots and should look elsewhere.

 

Another rumor has it that someone named Sky Lukewarmwater, accompanied by a couple of robots, has been looking for Barnaby.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Help me, palindromedary. You're our only hope.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Ken Barnaby is an old hermit living in the North Cylinder. He actually prefers it to the South.

 

 

 

He is one of the reasons scavengers have not yet stripped away all the life support equipment.

 

Rumor has it that the "flashlight" he wears at his belt is actually a powerful alien tech weapon, and a couple of times "hit squads" sent after him specifically for interfering with salvage operations have been found dismembered (and cauterized.) Mostly, though, he seems to somehow convince people not to do what he doesn't want them to do; he even persuaded salvage hunters who were delighted to find a couple of still operational maintenance robots that they were looking for some other robots and should look elsewhere.

 

Another rumor has it that someone named Sky Lukewarmwater, accompanied by a couple of robots, has been looking for Barnaby.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Help me, palindromedary. You're our only hope.

 

Nooooo!!!!!

[Lucius]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Now, Negi works as a musician and dancer in Omicron South's entertainment district. What most don't realise, however, is that her perfect memory and capacity to multi-task also allows her to run "Black Gemini", a successful (and lucrative) organization that can get anyone from anywhere to anywhere else - with completely new and apparently real documentation and name.

 

Harcourt Fenton works closely with Black Gemini. A wanted man on several worlds, he is a central figure in Omicron south's adult entertainment district and has contacts and business connections in many other systems. It is widely believed that the women (and some men) he imports and employs are either bio-engineered or heavily modified; some suspect that he uses realistic robots. The truth is that he controls the local supply of the Venus Drug, a substance so rare it is often regarded as legendary, which enhances the attractiveness of anyone who takes it. Of course it's also true that some of his women are heavily modified, and some might even BE sophisticated robots. Harcort Fenton is not known to turn his nose up at any way to make a buck.

 

Fenton is amiable to everyone, even the Sons of Gideon, who deal with him despite their expressed contempt. He sometimes arranges for them to take in women who, as he puts it, "Find that they're ready for a simpler life, tired of the all night parties and drinking and feeling like they always have to be putting on a performance, you know what I mean? Ready to retire to the country. Even if it's an artificial plot of country in a big rotating tin can." The women are never seen again of course; only the SONS of Gideon appear outside their compound.

 

Someone spending a long time on station and making very good Deduction and Streetwise rolls might put the pieces together: The Gideonites are said to have a secret valuable resource of some kind. Fenton deals with them. Fenton is rumored to have access to the legendary Venus Drug. Could the Sons of Gideon, or someone among them, be the source of the drug? If not, where does it come from?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

House of the Palindromedary

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

It's all very clear to me now!*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Clear as Mudd... I saw what the Palindromedary did there.

[Shadow Hawk]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Hmmm... is Harcourt Fenton working with Terrence Ward to provide 'entertainment' to the visiting pirates, or is he 'competing' with Terrence in that area?

People who compete with Syndicate service providers tend to have 'accidents'. But Terrence wouldn't be the cause of such an accident, he's a good neighbor, like all good fences are.

[Shadow Hawk]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Robert "Tinker" Bell is the owner, captain, master, and chief engineer of the tramp frieghter "O'Brien's Victory". He's the closest thing to regular frieght and passenger service, making the run about once a month, hitting (major system) and (minor system) in a classic 'triangle trade' on the cheap. A major customer for Terrence Ward's 'acquired goods', he's one of the semi-legitimate merchants who Terry War sells to. If asked, he'll deny that he bought them from a fence, of course.

Tinker is a laconic man, given to saying a lot with few words. He wears the uniform of a major shipping line, with the patches removed. One of the hundreds of people who worked for a big company, then bought his own ship to go into business for himself. It's only odd because he's a engineer, not a ship captain.

 

"O'Brien's Victory" is severly undermanned, and looks overdue for an overhaul. Looks are decieving, the ship's in much better shape than it appears, as buying and selling stolen goods is actually quite profitable. The normal crew for a cargoman of that size would be 20-25, but Tinker only has about 14. "O'Brien's Victory" is a mass produced * class frieghter, one of the most common in the galaxy. No one knows who O'Brien was, or what he was victorious at. If asked, Tinker says that's the name it had when he bought it, and it's "Bad luck to change a ship's name".

[Steve]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Grace is a study in contrasts. Standing 5'11" with the shapeliness of a magazine cover girl, underneath her curves are rock-hard muscles. Her face is as ugly as her body is beautiful and could best be described as thuggish, with a heavy jawline, a thickset brow and a broad, flat nose that has been broken more than once. She is extemely handy with both the gun and heavy knife she wears at her hip, and she makes her living as a gun for hire and occasionally a bare-knuckles brawler.

 

In a satchel at her hip, she carries an ancient King James Bible printed on Terra, and she sometimes can be heard mumbling Latin liturgies as she's gunning down men or knocking out a man's teeth with an uppercut. Violence or abuse against children, either in her presence or that she hears about, triggers a homicidal rage in her.

[Lucius]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

"I found a bar and broke some regulations,

Then went out lookin' for an engineer.

 

'Cause I'm lookin' for an asteroid named Rest Stop

Relief driver damn well better be waitin' for me there

Cause after fifteen hours of bussin'

Third class cargo and riders cussin'

I just might drive to Blazes and not care.

 

I found this Joe Von Krugan on a barstool

So drunk on coolant fumes he couldn't stand.

I told him I could pay him in fresh chickens

If he'd try to fix my drive,

So I could leave that port alive.

He staggered to my ship and stood there laughin'

As bedraggled spaced out chickens filled the air.

He sat down on the nearest passed out Shriner

And he said 'Just shoot this ship; it's only fair.'

 

But I'm lookin' for an asteroid named Rest Stop

Relief driver damn well better be waitin' for me there

Cause after fifteen hours of bussin'

Third class cargo and riders cussin'

I just might drive to Blazes and not care.

 

.......

 

I paid out four fat chickens for a patch job...."

 

"Rest Stop" Sally and Barry Childs-Helton

 

 

He can't be THE Joe Von Krugan of course, if there ever really was such a person. The song's been around since Humans first went into space. But he answers to the name and fits the long standing stereotype of an engineer no one wants on their crew because he's always smashed out of his gourd on something (couldn't really be coolant fumes, that stuff eats your brain....please tell me he doesn't really sniff coolant fumes...) who scrapes a living out because he's cheap and available and thus caters to the broke and desperate, and who somehow, miraculously, doesn't seem to have killed anyone yet with his repairs. At least not without warning them "Yeah, I can get it to fly out of here, but it'll probably get you killed before you reach the next stop." Some people are REALLY desperate to get out of here.

 

When no one in the South Cylinder is that desperate, he sometimes goes to the North Cylinder to work on life support equipment in exchange for food. He is also said to know the location of every still in the North.

 

He once offered his services to Spencer Bruce. No one knows what he actually did or tried to do to The Girl With Green Hair but some people swear Bruce chased him clear around the Cylinder three times, cursing him for a drunken incompetent fool the whole time. That was about the time Bruce started getting really serious with the booby traps now I think of it.....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Now I got the palindromedary started and it's going to sing that song through a couple times. Good thing I like that song.

[Christopher]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

There is this Schlock Mercenary Storyarc in Credomar, roughly a O'Neil Cylinder.

It even deals with some "Hard-Sci-FI" about living (and fighting) in such an environment:

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-05-25

 

Got some intersting people too.

[The Weapon]

Re: Help me populate a dying space colony

 

Mr. Unaccountable. a.k.a. Mr. A. , Jones the German Spy, Mr. Walker, and well really too many psuedonyms to count.

 

He's a spy. For who? Well there's the bookies have The xxx Empire at 4-1, Interstellar Insurance (Kidnap & Rescue Division) 2-1 and various other organisations, governments, crime syndicates and pirate groups at various odds. He put a $50 bet that he was working for the illegimate son of the present King of (minor kingdom) to arrange his eventual succession he got 1000-1. The name he answers to changes about once every 3-4 weeks. For 2 or 3 days after a change he will tell people looking for him with his former name that he only looks like that person, but he can pass on a message. After that he doesn't even acknowledge that he ever answered to that name.

 

He has no visible means of support, he refuses work for various criminal gangs, even though he has the skills. Offers to fight in the gladiatorial pits, either in a deathmatch or knockout bout he turns down politely, often with a joke that implies he gets enough combat. He is known to be an effective and alert fighter with blades, beams, projectile weapons or bare hands. He has survived at least 3 known major assasination attempts and god knows how many muggings. It's generally considered a mark of skill if he has to kill you rather than disable you.

He has piloted a variety of small ships to various places and done things in those places. Some of those things were heroic (e.g. saving several orphans), some were larcenous, some were just bizarre (why hijack a pirate ship just to make it yaw 90 degrees and then leave?). Sometimes he hires people to help him do these things, sometimes he does them alone. Those who have been hired by him report that he is a competent, calm, professional operator, who gives his team mates any "acquired" goodies other than what was going for. He usually rents the ships, although at other times his access to them remains unexplained.

He also interfers in crimes on Omicron, although not with any particular consistency, one week you can cut a throat right in front of him, other weaks robbing a fruit store gets your arm broken. He often questions people, sometimes about things that are clearly important, other times about seeming trivialities. He does not take kindly to being lied to, but honest mistakes are fine. He trades information but only for other information, he does not pay in cash or goods.

He is curious, friendly and willing to pay for drinks and entertainment for anyone who isn't obviously hostile towards him and might talk. Curiousity generally gets you a punch in the face or worse in Omicron but people have stopped trying with Mr A.

 

Rumours about his source of income include blackmail, smuggling, bounty hunting (the number of pirate ships that operate out of Omicron has gone up since he came, but the number destroyed or captured has stayed fairly steady), arranging ransom payments and/or rescues for kidnaped people covered by insurance, liason between criminal groups and intelligence agencies and an allowance from his familly to stay away from civilised areas where his bizarre behaviour would embarass them. All of these are allegedly done through intermediaries since he clearly doesn't work for anyone directly. The most biazrre explanation is that he is in fact the bastard son of a powerful ruling family (he looks a little like one of them), who gets a huge family stipend and that he stays here because it's actually the safest place for him. Due to the every-shifting, ever-lethal nature of (ruling family) politics all it's members have to be combat and intelligence trained to even have a chance to survive. Anywhere else in known space assasins could infiltrate, subvert or otherwise nullify the security forces and get to him. Here he knows everything that happens before anyone else. Sneaking up on him is almost impossible and he is allowed to carry whatever weapons he likes. People are alert to the possibility of attacks, unlike in calmer places, and tend to shoot people who they find planting mysterious objects under people's cars. Since Omicron is the last place you'd look for a rich man who wants to stay away from violence it's a great place for him to hide.