Walston - SM1232 - District 268

Walston       1232 C544338-8  S Lo Ni              302 Cs

UWP:	C544338-8	Location:	Spinward Marches/1232	System:	Walston
Starport:	C	Routine, unrefined fuel, small craft repair
Planetary Size:	5	Medium 8,000 km
Atmosphere:	4	Thin, Tainted - Requires Filter
Hydrosphere:	4	40 percent surface area covered by oceans
Population:	3	Low Population 3,000
Government:	3	Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy
Law Level:	8	High Law Bladed Weapons Controlled, Stunners Prohibited
Tech Level:	8	Pre-Stellar (superconductors)
Base(s):		Scout
Travel Zone:		None
# of Planetoid Belts:	0		# of Gas Giants:	2

Main World -

Walston is a low population, non-industrial world.  The atmosphere is breathable with a filter, and the oceans are composed of water that is able to be consumed by humans, with a minimal filtering effort.

World Map of Walston/1232 - each hex 160km

The population of 3,000 consists of mostly Vargr (about 2,000), living in fishing towns on the coastline of Settlement Island (in the sea known as Central Lake).  The Human population (about 1,000) live in Landing Town, a compact colony town at the center of Settlement Island.  A small class C downport (Port Lena) is located at Landing Town (with 50 landing pads, accommodating ships up to 300t).

Landing Town, with almost all structures connect, to keep out the tainted atmosphere

The planetary government is run the Walston Corporation (a chartered colony company, with ties to the Imperium), but its membership is limited to Humans.  The Vargr have representation at company meetings, through Population Officers, but are not allowed to join the board directly.  This has caused some friction.

Vargr Bar by Sabakakrazny

The Vargr live in a number of (very remote) coastal fishing villages, each with only a half dozen family units or less (population each village, 75-100), but each operates one or more fishing trimarans that is crewed by the males of the village (and occasionally the females).  This provides the livelihood for the families, although the villages are required to be self sufficient in nearly all things, as they are spread across the coastline of a 450km wide island.  The oceans are bursting with life, and with proper treatment some of the more numerous species are quite edible, and even serve as an export product.  One particularly valuable species, a sort of giant eel known as a Trabino Fish, is eagerly sought after by the Vargr fishing crews, as it is not only edible, but also contains an oil that serves as the basis for several anagathic drugs usable by Humans.  Offworld purchasing agents will pay top value for fresh Trabino oil (and, indeed, compete to supply the Vargr fishermen with the best quality trimarans and sea-harvesting equipment).  The danger to the Vargr is that the Trabino Fish is also hunted by a rather nasty sort of large kraken.

Trimarans used by the Vargr fishing villages.  An imported TL9 Ling-Standard product, provided by Diego Pharma.

The Vargr villages themselves were built at the end of the Fourth Frontier War, with assistance from the Imperial Scout Service, as a sort of refugee settlement, and they slowly became permanent for the population of Vargr that settled here.  New structures have sprung up, but the original pre-fab buildings have proven to be so sturdy and useful, that they are still in use.

Pre-fab structures forming a seaward looking Vargr fishing village

Landing Town is built as a large hive, with offices and work spaces, along with living quarters, for the approximately 1,000 regular human inhabitants.  To allow the interior to be breathable without assistance, almost all of the facilities are connected to each other.  It is mostly a trade town, but much of the local economy is due to many offices that exist in support of the Scout base in the system, and also in support of the various Imperial offices that have been set up in anticipation of Walston (and the rest of the Bowman Cluster of worlds - Faldor, Bowman, Flexos, Walston and Squallia) becoming full members of the Imperium.  Many of these bureaucrats, scouts and agents are not part of the Walston Corporation, but only live on the world with temporary work visas.

In order to manage tensions between scouts on R&R, disgruntled Vargr, locals who feel the situation slipping out of their hands, and heavy-drinking bureaucrats on long-term detached duty, the Corporation has instituted a rather strict weapons policy - no firearms of any type permitted outside of Port Lena, and all blade weapons carried outside of Port Lena have to be declared to the local Corporation Security offices.  Carrying an un-declared blade is a criminal violation punishable by a 100cr crime, and/or confiscation of the weapon, and/or a 7 day stint in the local jail.  The Corporation takes the matter of armed locals very, very seriously (probably because of fear of a Vargr uprising).

Map of Settlement Island - 450km across

Port Lena is a type C starport, with basic services (some cargo handling, posting of cargo and passenger opportunities, unrefined fuel, etc).  It exists as a fenced-in 15 kilometer square territory near Landing Town.  There are almost always some air/rafts for rent, but for moving larger cargoes in between the port and the settlement, use of hired trucks is recommended.  The central area has pads for two dozen ship's craft, and the dispersed pads can handle up to 60 vessels on the ground, with some pads handling ships as large as 300t.  Additional, or larger, vessels could be "parked out on the grass" but it is usually easier to leave them in orbit, and use ship's boats to descend to the surface.  Additionally, craft sometimes park in the 60km wide body of water next to Landing Town.  By tradition, this is referred to as Landing Pond (despite it's size), out of deference to the fact that the ocean that Settlement Island is located in was named as "Central Lake" by the first settlers.

Port Lena, central offices and fueling facility

There is no high port in orbit around the mainworld.  Several geosynchronous stations are operated by the IISS, and one is sponsored by the Walston Corporation as "Lena Highport".  It is, today, little more than a 20 person station, running a basic surface/orbit transport service, communications operations, and some rudimentary rescue equipment.  But the Starport Authority agents running Port Lena have aspirations to one day have a proper high port. 

The Imperial Interstellar Scout Service maintains a large base (Karpie Scout Base) built on the surface of Raglan, the largest moon of the gas giant Greenish.  In the system the IISS maintains a regular navigational beacon system, with a satellite system around the main world.

Karpie Base has about 1800 regular duty personnel, plus any number of scout vessels docked at anyone time.  It represents a significant number of the inhabitants in the system, but they do not count towards the official census population of the main world.  The main facilities of the base are located near a mountainous region of the moon known as the Fire Crater District.  Nearby is an interdicted area referred to as the Raglan Anomaly, it is considered a localized Red Zone area, and is controlled by the Scout Service.

Karpie Base (all connected by a tube train) - See map (above) for locations
A - Ship pads and maintenance facilities
B - Fuel Processing Facility
C - Dispersed Zero-G Training Facility
D - Raglan Skunkworks - testing ground for experimental Scout Service equipment
E - Main Observatory

Karpie Scout Base, on the surface of Raglan

System Details
Other than Karpie Scout Base, on the moon Raglan, there are no other facilities within the system.  Note, this does not include the small manned orbital station over the main world, nor the IISS satellites and listening posts found throughout the system.

Walston has two natural satellites - Bread and Ale.  No facilities are known to exist on either on.

Other than Walston, there are four other worlds in the system, and two gas giants.

• Primary - Albin's Star
• Hot Spark - IZ - rocky world (size 2)
• Jebbing - IZ - rocky world (size 2)
• Kramm - IZ - rocky world (size 3)
• Walston - HZ - mainworld, two moons (Ale, Bread)  
• Pearse - OZ - rocky world (size 4)
• Greenish - Gas Giant - three main moons (Felting, Wooly, Raglan)
• Insive - Gas Giant - four main moons (Ibar, Beldro, Zarr, Chorine)