Shaow Village Gamma-7 - Mertactor

  A female Aslan known to one of the players has contacted them and asked for help with a delicate matter.  One of the males of her clan has remained behind on the surface of Mertactor, while the rest of the clan are leaving.  This male has indicated his desire to go out into the world as a lone warrior, but first he wanted to make one last visit to a clan shrine in the jungles around Tambuur.  However, something has gone wrong.

---

  On Mertactor, in the southern rain forest terrain surrounding the settlement of Tambuur (location B on the world map), there is a curious, and valuable plant known as the Shaow.  The leaves and buds of the Shaow make a very agreeable, and slightly narcotic, tea that is widely sought after by aficionados throughout the Spinward Marches.

  The local environment, however, is quite delicate and fragile, and any attempts to employ mechanical means, or even to build permanent settlements, have resulted in upsetting the environment - and hurting the intrinsic value of the natural Shaow growth.  Because of that, for several weeks in the autumn, temporary laborers from the farms in and around Tambuur will come and erect temporary tent villages where they live and use as a base to harvest the very valuable Shaow plant.

Image by Arman Akopian - http://i-guyjin-i.deviantart.com/ 

  The center of this year's Gamma-7 tent village (and there may be several, at any time during the early autumn harvest, at different locations in the jungles surrounding Tambuur), there is a very nice tea house, where the working population of the village and go and relax in the evening.  It is a place where music, food, drink and conversation can be had.  After hours, it sometimes moves outside for dancing and more drinking.  This year, however, there is a problem.

 A large male Aslan (Heowimosho), from the local community at Tambuur, has become quite disturbed, and moved into the main drinking hall of the tea house.  He sits there, day and knight, maintaining a steady drunken state, but also keeping (mostly) a vigil on the hall.  He will allow no other patrons to come in, and only allows the tea house staff to serve him - which they do out of fear.  He has forcefully, and effectively, ejected all who enter, and seems to be well able to do so.  Something is obviously upsetting him, and the local rangers from Tambuur don't want to use force, for fear of upsetting the Aslan community.  Something must be done, as the workers at tent village Gamma-7 are threatening to leave, and the local Shaow crop will be lost this year.

Heowimosho - while on his spiritual quest

  The local rangers will ask the players, if they get involved, to not use violence against the Aslan, unless it is absolutely necessary.  They have figured out that there is something wrong, and that it can be worked out.

  The Aslan, if he can be approached (Persuade 8+, or Carouse 10+), will describe the fact that two generations back, his clan had built a small shrine in the jungle, and before he is ready to move off world it is his duty to pay homage to his grandsire's memory.  But, the rest of his clan has already left, and without the assistance of a female, he is not able to locate the small family shrine.  He has a general idea ("it is in a ravine, at the base of the hill that looks like a Merowagonii in the sunset"), but needs assistance.  While on this sort of spiritual quest, he has forgone modern equipment, and is armed only with ancestral blade weapons, and of course, his own dew claws.

  Travel through the rain forest will require several days of looking either on foot, horseback, or ATV.  Test twice a day against either survival or navigation, and a total of 10 effect means that the shrine has been found. If using an air/raft, three tests per day can be made, rather than twice.  However, while out searching, test every 6 hours (Mertactor has a day cycle of approx. 24 hours) for an animal encounter (below), 7+ means an encounter.

  Torrential rains come daily, sometimes more than once per day.  After the first day in the field, most electronic communications equipment will not work.  Test (comms 10+; electronics 8+) to see if the equipment can be made to work, but unless kept in a waterproof container or inside a sealed vehicle, it will require a test again the next day.

  Once the shrine is found, and the Aslan is allowed to spend time venerating the memory of his grandsire on this world, he is willing to leave with the players, and be transported off world.

Mertactor - Southern Rain Forest
2d6	type	weight	str	dex	end	inst	num app
2	scavenger (carrion-eater)	1 kg	1 (-2)	7 (0)	1 (-2)	10 (1)	3d6
	Veronica vulture avian (Flyer)	body slam (hooves) and serrated beak (teeth) 3d6		feathers (-1)		A11/F7
3	omnivore (gatherer)	200 kg	8 (0)	18 (4)	14 (2)	4 (-1)	2d6
	Titanopede flying arthropod (Flyer)	headbutt (horns) and teeth 3d6		chitin (-1)		A9/F7
4	scavenger (reducer)	1 kg	1 (-2)	3 (-1)	1 (-2)	8 (0)	3d6
	Harpies (Veronica chicks) avian (Flyer)	stomp (hooves) and serrated beak (teeth) 3d6		feathers (-1)		A10/F7
5	omnivore (hunter)	1 kg	1 (-2)	6 (0)	1 (-2)	5 (-1)	1d6
	Warbeak avian (Flyer)	beak (horns) and serrated beak (teeth) 3d6		feathers (-2)		A6*/F5 (note 1)
6	herbivore (intermittent)	50 kg	3 (-1)	16 (3)	23 (5)	3 (-1)	5d6
	Ramboes mammal (Walker)	antlers (horns) 1d6		fur (-2)		A10/F4
7	herbivore (intermittent)	50 kg	4 (-1)	20 (4)	15 (3)	6 (0)	4d6
	Tree Cassowary flightless avian (Walker)	beak (horns) 1d6		feathers (-1)		A10/F4
8	herbivore (filter)	100 kg	9 (1)	19 (4)	19 (4)	2 (-2)	1d6
	Forest Roc avian (Flyer)	claws 1d6		no armor		A10/F5
9	carnivore (pouncer)	12 kg	2 (-2)	9 (1)	1 (-2)	10 (1)	2d6
	Wendigo mammal (Walker)	hooves 3d6		hide (-1)		AS*/FS* (note 2)
10	Event
	GM discretion
11	carnivore (pouncer)	12 kg	1 (-2)	15 (3)	5 (-1)	12 (2)	2d6
	Tree Kappa mammal (Walker)	constriction (thrasher) 3d6		no armor		AS*/FS* (note 2)
12	carnivore (trapper)	12 kg	1 (-2)	7 (0)	4 (-1)	4 (-1)	4d6
	Giant Wasp flying arthropod (Flyer)	stinger 3d6		no armor		AS*/F5 (note 3)

Notes:

1. Attack will be 10+ if smaller than prey.
2. Will attack if gains surprise, else will flee.
3. Will attack if gains surprise.

Mertactor Rain Forest Events

1. Quicksand - Vehicle or half party members on foot get mired in sinking sand
2. Insect Swarm - Millions of tiny, tiny insects clog the intake on vehicles, and firearm receivers
3. Poisonous Plants - All make a test, 9+ means horrible itching (temp -2 to all physical stats)
4. River - 200m wide river must be crossed, moving swiftly
5. Lost - Lose the next time period to regain location
6. Earthquake - Causes general animal stampede

The Forest Shrine - by Ricardo Lima http://ricardotlima.deviantart.com/

Collace - SM1237 - District 268

Collace       1237 B628943-D  S Hi In              101 Cs

UWP:	B628943-D	Location:	Spinward Marches/1237	System:	Collace
Starport:	B	Good, refined fuel, spaceship repair
Planetary Size:	6	Medium 9,600 km
Atmosphere:	2	Very Thin, Tainted - Requires Respirator and Filter
Hydrosphere:	8	84 percent surface area covered by oceans
Population:	9	High Population 1,000,000,000
Government:	4	Representative Democracy
Law Level:	3	Low Law - Heavy Weapons Prohibited
Tech Level:	D	Average Stellar (holo data storage)
Base(s):		Scout
Travel Zone:		None
# of Planetoid Belts:	0		# of Gas Giants:	1

Main World
Collace is a world covered primarily by oceans, and with a very thin atmosphere.  There is a chemical taint to the atmosphere, so that respirator equipment must also be equipped with a filter, for those who want to venture outdoors.  The extremely thin atmosphere also does not provide much protection against sunlight, with exposure remaining a constant problem.  The only vegetation common on Collace is small, scrubby stuff, mostly grasses, some large clump lichens, and low spreading brush.  Other than plant life, the only indigenous terrestrial life animal life is very small, most of it is microscopic, and tiny arthropods, mostly flying insects.  Very few species are heavier than 5-10 grams, however vast swarms of flying insects exist around some of the equatorial coastlines.  Burrowing insects are common wherever the low plant life is common.  The oceans, however, are home to a wide variety of different species of animals, and plants, some ranging quite large.

Collace - each hexagon is 192 km

Chief Arcology Clusters
A - Eden Cluster (home of Stellos Adjunct beanstalk)
B - Khatra Cluster
C - D'Laria Cluster (home of Collace League, world government)
D - Himaque Cluster
E - S'Airiing Cluster
F - Me'Tang Cluster

The population dwells, mainly, in large arcologies (massive, self contained, city-sized buildings).  These have been built in successive stages over the last two thousand years.  There was a colony at Collace for about a thousand years prior to that (Solomani colonists that became part of the old Sindalian Empire), living in underground dwellings and domed cities, but it was on a sharp decline when it was contacted by Darrian scouts about two millenia ago.  Since that time, and thanks to some shrewd mineral rights trading with the Darrians, the human population have been steadily increasing the size of the population, and the civilization of Collace.  There are currently no longer any Darrian mining operations on Collace, but there is a small minority population of Darrians living in some of the arcologies.  There are abandoned hulks of empty megacity structures, but most of these have been repurposed and reclaimed for materials.

Lower levels of the Shian Hero building, now given over entirely to robot assisted manufacturing

New arcologies are being built all the time, usually in complete balanced mixes, where large scale industry takes place, along with all of the elements a city needs for its citizenry.  As the newer arcologies age and become worn down, they are given over to more lower class dwellings, and the lower levels are claimed for even greater use by industrial purposes.

Much of the industrial workings of the planet are handled by robot assisted methods.  These robots exist in two main forms, at the nano scale (nanotechnology is used for both materials manufacturing, and also for reclamation of older, abandoned materials and structures), and large scale in-place manufacturing and processing robots.  Humaniform robots are illegal on Collace, going back to a very early tradition when the first mining colonies existed nearly two thousand years ago.

Buildings of the mammoth D'Laria Cluster - home of the world government, the Collace League

The main government of the planet, the Collace League, has its seat in the arcology cluster known as the D'Laria Cluster, with five massive structures, and underground housing and city space, holding a population of 55million altogether.  It is one of the 20 main clusters, all featuring a similar sized population (40-80 million), but divided up among various structural arrangements from the incredibly sized Himaque cluster, with just two buildings (each holding 30 million people), to the more decentralized S'Airing cluster, with twelve buildings, each holding between 5 and 8 million people.

The two massive structures (left top, bottom) of the Himaque cluster, with details on the right

Each cluster thinks of itself as something similar to a "state", and all have various levels of representation known as Cluster Demos.  These also come together at the Collace League meetings in D'Laria Cluster, to handle planet wide affairs.  The main thrust of the League, is to foster the world (and the surrounding worlds) into an arrangement where the whole subsector comes under Imperial control (with Collace as the subsector capitol, of course).  The world is officially a client state of the Imperium.

Collace is involved in a cold war with Trexalon.  Trexalon is itself dedicated to furthering the status of the worlds within the District 268 subsector, but Trexalon is aligned with the Sword Worlds.  The Collace League believes this to be a ridiculous prospect, and is actively working against Trexalon, even including an arms race.

Starport
Stellos High Port is the main starport of the system.  It is a type B orbital starport, featuring spaceship manufacturing berths, and starship repair births (for hulls up to 3000t; larger ships are handled in orbit, by EVA and robotic workers).  Stellos is a proper orbital city in it's own right (population 20 thousand, with about three thousand employed in operating the starport, and the rest working the businesses and shops), and has a very strong Imperial presence, in spite of only having the status of "Client" within the Imperial Star Port Authority (it is independent, under control by the main world's government, the Collace League, but willingly operates as an Imperial SPA starport).

Each cluster, and sometimes each arcology in a cluster, has its own spaceport, typically able to land and take off grav vehicles and space vehicles up to 50-80t in size.  The Missi Bar arcology, of the Eden Cluster, is built at the base of a beanstalk, that rises up to a small port called the Stellos Adjunct, it is for handling extremely high value, but smaller, cargoes and passenger transfers.  There is typically an 18 hour transit time from the Adjunct down to the surface, to Missi Bar arcology.

System Details
Collace is a planet in the fifth orbital around a type F star.  The first two orbitals are within the star's Jump Shadow, and the first three orbitals are in the Inner Zone.  All the worlds further our than Collace are in the Outer Zone, and there is a large Gas Giant, with 11 moons.

Collace/1237 System Layout

Orbit    Contents
 1 Erin-A  - Planetoid (sz1) IZ
 2 Erin-B - Terrestrial Planet (sz6) (2 moons, Canni and Puppo) IZ
 3 Emir - Terrestrial Planet (sz2) IZ
 4 Sappho - Ice World (sz3) HZ
 5 Collace - Terrestrial Planet (sz6) (2 moons, Dill and Thyme) HZ
 6 Crag - Planetoid (sz1) OZ
 7 Chun - Large Gas Giant (4 terrestrial moons, 7 ice moons) OZ
 8 Slaad - Ice World (sz3) (1 moon, Flipper) OZ


Animal Encounters
As  the animals on most of the land surface don't amount to much more than microscopic creatures and some insects, due to the very thin atmosphere, there are some interesting aquatic bioforms worth noting.  Here are the encounter charts detailing different types of the oceanic regions of Collace.

Collace - Ocean Shallows
2d6	type	weight	str	dex	end	inst	num app
2	scavenger (hijacker)	1600 kg	15 (3)	7 (0)	22 (5)	4 (-1)	6
	aquatic mammal (Swimmer)	claws and teeth 2d6		blubber (-1)		A7/F6
3	omnivore (gatherer)	800 kg	17 (3)	9 (1)	14 (2)	8 (0)	4
	aquatic reptile (Swimmer)	stomp (hooves) 4d6		scales (-1)		A9/F7
4	scavenger (intimidator)	1 kg	1 (-2)	6 (0)	4 (-1)	8 (0)	6
	flying mammal (Flyer)	quills (stinger) and teeth 2d6		no armor		A8/F7
5	omnivore (hunter)	6 kg	1 (-2)	8 (0)	7 (0)	11 (1)	11
	aquatic (Swimmer)	stomp (hooves) 3d6		scales (-2)		A6*/F5 (note 1)
6	herbivore (grazer)	800 kg	8 (0)	7 (0)	10 (1)	9 (1)	16
	aquatic (Swimmer)	claws and teeth 1d6		no armor		A8/F6
7	herbivore (grazer)	400 kg	18 (4)	5 (-1)	25 (6)	11 (1)	12
	aquatic (Swimmer)	horn ridge (horns) 2d6		scales (-2)		A8/F6
8	herbivore (grazer)	1 kg	1 (-2)	3 (-1)	4 (-1)	4 (-1)	13
	flying aquatic reptile (Flyer)	tail spikes (horns) 1d6		scales (-1)		A8/F6
9	carnivore (siren)	1600 kg	11 (1)	11 (1)	24 (6)	3 (-1)	2
	aquatic mammal (Swimmer)	thrasher 4d6		fur (-2)		AS*/F4* (note 3)
10	Event
	GM discretion
11	carnivore (chaser)	800 kg	11 (1)	12 (2)	18 (4)	5 (-1)	10
	aquatic (Swimmer)	body slam (hooves) and suckers (teeth) 4d6		scales (-1)		AO*/F5 (note 5)
12	carnivore (siren)	25 kg	5 (-1)	15 (3)	11 (1)	7 (0)	6
	aquatic (Swimmer)	thrasher 3d6		no armor		AS*/F4* (note 3)

Collace - Open Ocean
2d6	type	weight	str	dex	end	inst	num app
2	scavenger (reducer)	25 kg	11 (1)	10 (1)	11 (1)	3 (-1)	11
	aquatic reptile (Swimmer)	claws and suckers (teeth) 2d6		scales (-2)		A10/F7
3	omnivore (gatherer)	400 kg	16 (3)	9 (1)	26 (6)	6 (0)	9
	aquatic mammal (Swimmer)	hooves and suckers (teeth) 4d6		fur (-3)		A9/F7
4	scavenger (intimidator)	6 kg	6 (0)	10 (1)	7 (0)	3 (-1)	8
	aquatic (Swimmer)	stomp (hooves) and suckers (teeth) 2d6		scales (-3)		A8/F7
5	omnivore (gatherer)	400 kg	17 (3)	6 (0)	19 (4)	5 (-1)	11
	aquatic (Swimmer)	body slam (hooves) and suckers (teeth) 4d6		shell (-2)		A9/F7
6	herbivore (grazer)	1 kg	1 (-2)	5 (-1)	4 (-1)	8 (0)	13
	aquatic (Swimmer)	claws 1d6		shell (-4)		A8/F6
7	herbivore (grazer)	1 kg	1 (-2)	3 (-1)	4 (-1)	6 (0)	15
	aquatic (Swimmer)	smashing beak (horns) 1d6		scales (-3)		A8/F6
8	herbivore (grazer)	10000 kg	32 (8)	3 (-1)	35 (9)	4 (-1)	7
	aquatic (Swimmer)	horn ridge (horns) 4d6		scales (-4)		A8/F6
9	carnivore (siren)	100 kg	8 (0)	12 (2)	11 (1)	7 (0)	5
	aquatic (Swimmer)	body slam (hooves) 3d6		scales (-1)		AS*/F4* (note 3)
10	Event
	GM discretion
11	carnivore (chaser)	100 kg	11 (1)	11 (1)	8 (0)	12 (2)	8
	aquatic (Swimmer)	thrasher 4d6		scales (-3)		AO*/F5 (note 5)
12	carnivore (chaser)	25 kg	7 (0)	18 (4)	5 (-1)	8 (0)	8
	aquatic (Swimmer)	stomp (hooves) 3d6		scales (-3)		AO*/F5 (note 5)

Collace - Deep Ocean
2d6	type	weight	str	dex	end	inst	num app
2	scavenger (intimidator)	3200 kg	12 (2)	4 (-1)	23 (5)	3 (-1)	11
	aquatic (Swimmer)	thrasher and teeth 3d6		shell (-1)		A8/F7
3	omnivore (gatherer)	10000+ kg	28 (7)	3 (-1)	30 (8)	7 (0)	6
	aquatic mammal (Swimmer)	hooves (flippers) 5d6		fur (-2)		A9/F7
4	scavenger (hijacker)	6400 kg	28 (7)	3 (-1)	35 (9)	8 (0)	12
	aquatic (Swimmer)	stomp (hooves) and suckers (teeth) 5d6		hide (-1)		A7/F6
5	omnivore (gatherer)	200 kg	8 (0)	11 (1)	18 (4)	7 (0)	12
	aquatic (Swimmer)	stomp (hooves) 2d6		shell (-3)		A9/F7
6	herbivore (grazer)	10000+ kg	46 (13)	3 (-1)	40 (11)	9 (1)	14
	aquatic (Swimmer)	headbutt (horns) and suckers (teeth) 5d6		scales (-2)		A8/F6
7	herbivore (grazer)	10000+ kg	34 (9)	3 (-1)	25 (6)	11 (1)	13
	aquatic (Swimmer)	horn ridge (horns) and teeth 4d6		scales (-2)		A8/F6
8	herbivore (grazer)	10000 kg	36 (10)	3 (-1)	29 (7)	10 (1)	14
	aquatic reptile (Swimmer)	claws and teeth 4d6		scales (-3)		A8/F6
9	carnivore (chaser)	1600 kg	23 (5)	14 (2)	17 (3)	11 (1)	12
	aquatic (Swimmer)	smash (thrasher) 5d6		scales (-3)		AO*/F5 (note 5)
10	Event
	GM discretion
11	carnivore (killer)	200 kg	16 (3)	6 (0)	12 (2)	11 (1)	8
	aquatic (Swimmer)	thrasher 4d6		shell (-4)		A6/F3
12	carnivore (chaser)	800 kg	11 (1)	10 (1)	19 (4)	3 (-1)	6
	aquatic (Swimmer)	smash (thrasher) 4d6		shell (-1)		AO*/F5 (note 5)

Notes:

1. Attack will be 10+ if smaller than prey.
2. Will attack if gains surprise, else will flee.
3. Will attack if gains surprise. Will attack automatically if Siren is immobile (2d6, 8+).
4. Will attack if gains surpise.
5. Will attack if outnumbers foe.