For GenCon 2012: Introducing "Throwing Stones", the latest Terracide adventure

[Xavier Onassiss]

Throwing Stones: a Terracide Adventure

 

Desperate Times: In the aftermath of the Terracide, the military Junta has declared martial law in the Core Colonies, and refugees flood the nearest Frontier habitats. In the backwater region known as the Old Outer Loop, a ramshackle coalition of outsiders, exiles, and fugitives prepare to take a desperate stand against the new regime. The notorious corsair, Major Ekaterina Petrova aka Catherine the Great, has taken her remaining warships to liberate Omicron Station from the Junta’s occupation forces, while the salvage vessel Coprolite has gone in search of reinforcements from the infamous corsairs of Zheng Zhilong station at Ross 614.

 

Petrova’s last ship, the True Companion – a prize yacht stolen from the Solar Express Company – has been sent with a hand-picked crew on a vital diplomatic mission to the far-flung colony known as Glass House. Without Omicron’s resources and Petrova’s corsiars to act as a buffer, the Junta will eventually take Glass House, and without Glass House’s technological capabilities, Omicron’s bid for independence will be very short-lived. Petrova’s message to all settlements still remaining free: Stand Together or Fall Apart. Omicron is offering a mutual defense alliance with Glass House, and the freedom of both colonies and all their people depend on the success of this mission.

 

However, a courier from the Solar Express Company has arrived at Glass House ahead of Petrova’s mission, and it isn’t clear who sent them, or why….

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: For GenCon 2012: Introducing "Throwing Stones", the latest Terracide adventure

 

Excerpt from Galaxy’s Most Dangerous, 2310 edition:

 

The second planet orbiting Pi3 Orionis (aka Tabit) has been the property of Cytherians since humans first arrived there, sometime in the 22nd century. Unfortunately, the details of mankind's first contact with this enigmatic species have been kept classified by ISTAR, so nobody knows exactly how long there has been a human presence in this system. However, the original ISTAR outpost, established to prevent unauthorized human contact with the Cytherians, was written off after the third trade war with Terran Galactic Operations in 2280.

 

Given the hellish environment on this world, ISTAR likely considered the whole endeavor good riddance; it was a wonder they persisted so long. The world of Tabit-2 has been described in terms of “Venus turned up to eleven” for purposes of comparison. The atmosphere is incredibly dense, composed mostly of CO2, with SO2, Nitrogen and Fluorine, thanks to extensive “xeno-forming” on the part of the Cytherian tenants. The average global temperature is almost 500 celsius. On the surface, it looks like a world where humans go to get killed.

 

But looking only at the surface would be a mistake; sixty-five kilometers above the surface of Tabit-2, the pressure and temperature drop to Terran norms, and the gravity is only slightly above one G. Even better, the standard Terran atmosphere functions as a lifting gas. Here in the upper atmosphere, amid the acidic clouds and raging winds, Terran Galactic has built a floating monument to human ingenuity: the Glass House Colony.

 

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Glass House is a dome two kilometer across, encased in an envelope of alloy, composites, and of course, glass – to prevent the corrosive effects of Tabit-2's atmosphere. This floating city is home for almost 250,000 TGO clients, most of whom are involved in some way with Cytherian relations; trade, diplomacy, cultural exchange, xenological research, or other areas of focus. For almost a quarter of a century, the inhabitants of Glass House have defied one of the most hostile environments in Terran Space. Ask them why, and they won't give any pretensious answers about expanding human knowledge or representing our species in the galactic community. They'll just say they live in the most hostile place known to mankind because they can.

 

Glass House society is complicated and sometimes confusing to first-time visitors. The colony has a complex legal code, due to its governance by a byzantine system of elected councils with differing fields of jurisdiction. Rather than geographical, each council’s jurisdiction is a particular area of technical or professional expertise. At any given time, ultimate decision-making ability may change hands depending on the current state of Glass House politics, but on most occasions the Executive Council is considered to have jurisdiction over law enforcement, as well as diplomatic affairs. An independent Advocacy Board offers free legal representation to all visitors, which Galaxy’s Most Dangerous strongly recommends to anyone visiting Glass House for the first time.