Deep Space Bitches: Galatea System Dossier

Within the next few weeks, if all goes well, I'm going to start running the first full-length campaign of Deep Space Bitches. This post is a player-facing setting document for that game, detailing the worlds of the Alpha Sculptoris system (more commonly known as Galatea). Details regarding planet classes and faction generation can be found in my previous posts on the subject. Redactions represent hidden information, future events, and conflicting rumors where everybody knows something's up but no one has the full story. Stellar bodies are ordered by distance from their primary, nearest to furthest.

1. ◎ Themis

Orange-class tidally-locked independent world. Scorched by proximity to system primary.

Outlaw base on terminator line in crater shadow, population ~10,000. Run by the pirate queen Costia Coriolis, formerly Brevet-Admiral of the Cepheii Republican Guard. The Coriolis pirate armada carved out independently-recognized territory several years ago after mutinying en masse from the Cepheii Ninth Expeditionary Fleet. Constant hazard to inner-system shipping. 

✧ Crimson Watch mercenary company reported taking shore leave on Themis between contracts, (in)famous for their high-collateral kinetic operations in the aftermath of the Periphery Wars.  

✧ ████████ spotted landing at Themis Docks and casing several ████████. Anomalous individuals, take necessary precautions. 

✧  ██████████████████████████████████████████████████████

2. ◎ Icarus

Green/Grey-class lost colony. INFOHAZARD RADIOHAZARD TECHNOHAZARD DO NOT APPROACH. QUARANTINE ENFORCED BY DAEDALUS COLONIAL COUNCIL, CEPHEI REPUBLICAN GUARD. 

Initial human settlement efforts (circa. -300 years) in the Alpha Sculptoris system chose Icarus, previously habitable Green-class, as first colony location. Records of first colonial era are sparse due to multiple spontaneous AI hard takeoffs and reduction of biosphere to raw materials for evolutionary adversarial network conflict protocols. Population decreased from >10,000,000 to below replacement levels in failed planetary evacuation to Daedalus. Over past centuries, Icarian self-optimizers have evolved beyond comprehensible combat strategies, deactivation deemed impossible without total obliteration of planetary crust.  

 

2a. ⧂ Daedalus

Blue/Red-class moon of Icarus, partially terraformed.

After fall of Icarus, refugee settlers established last-hope arcology habitat on Daedalus. Without access to abundant Icarian resources necessary for maintenance and interplanetary travel, estimated time until full collapse did not exceed 2 centuries. Imperial arrival in system provides hope for survival and opportunity for expansion; ongoing internal debates over how best to maintain unique culture while obtaining access to imperial resources. Current population ~20,000.

✧  “WHO KILLED THE WORLD” militant artist co-op committing art-terrorism against current government, demand accountability and reparations for the Icarian ecocide.

✧  Third Cosmic Internationale revolutionary thought leaders writing polemics about what Daedalus should do to survive the unstable political landscape. Prominent in system-wide ‘net discourses under pseudonym “Theseus” but not government or street activism; support largely comes from outside Daedalus.✧ Rumored ████████ intelligence presence funding ████████ factions in the Daedalan government and underground.✧ ██████████████████████████████████████████████████████

  

⁂ Minos Asteroid Belt

Rich in raw materials; noncitizen-workers contract out of Minos Station to harvest metals for Cephei presence in Galatea system. Often preyed upon by Coriolis Armada. Permanent population 0, employs ~50,000.

⧰ Minos Station 

Constructed and administrated by Cephei Republican Protectorate. Integrated jump gate, starship drydocks, industrial sectors. Residential citizen population 95,600; temporary worker and contractor population ~100,000.  

✧  AdamEx biotech conglomerate provides experimesntal but remarkably accessible healthcare to Cephei citizens, building medtech and synthesizing pharmaceuticals from biota harvested from Talos. Managed by Executive Officer of the Republic Emerson Tyler, rumored to be  ████████.  

✧  Extensive financial services industry. Sets price on dozens of intra-system commodities; stock indexes currently at all-time high. Under heavy audits by Imperial Accountant Rhea Blanche, rumored to be  ████████.  ✧ ███████████████████████████████████████████████

3. ◎ Talos 

Green/Yellow-class world, recently settled by the Cephei Republican Protectorate.  

Toxic-to-humans atmosphere hosts diverse ecosystem of photosynthetic flora-fauna; low gravity allows for vast organism growth. Prefabricated bubble-cities under martial law to survive megafauna depredations. Citizenry heavily armed. Population ~300,000 first and second-generation colonists, spread equally across three cities in close proximity. Exports pharmaceutical organics, agriculture, and reality entertainment shows about hard-bitten mech-suited warriors surviving the Talosian jungle.  

✧  Autonomist Talosian sovereignty movement demands right to self-determination. Primary spokesperson is mech-warrior and prominent actor Akina Jakande, who’s managed to escape the colonial gov’t’s repression through the threat of mass popular outrage and her Republican Guard commission (honorably discharged).

✧  Charismatic demagogue Heath Burke building biochauvinist power base in reaction to autonomists. Uses threat of monsters as easy rhetorical tool to demonize anyone who would challenge “safety” of status quo, reportedly heavily invested in AdamEx.   

✧ █████████████████████████████████████ 

✧  Primary criminal enterprise is poaching rare flora and fauna to smuggle off-hab. ✧ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

 

4. ⦵ Rhea

Coral-class ringed gas giant. 

Atmosphere is rich in fuel gasses, hydrocarbons, and recently discovered ██████. Permanent population 0, employs ~100,000.

4a. ⧂ Hestia

Red-class moon of Rhea with thin, barely-breathable artificial atmosphere. 

Private habitat owned by Brett Lightspeed, trillionaire founder of LightSpeed Enterprises. Population ██.  

✧  Brett Lightspeed’s private estate is the size of an entire city. Hosts lavish parties for the system’s elite, both corporate Cepheii and noble Siriac. The afterparties are legendary for brutal ████████████, which Lightspeed has elevated to a spectator sport.

✧ ██████████████████████████████ 

✧  The Green Light Brigade operates out of Hestia, as an informal club of biochauvinist paramilitary thrill-seekers with extensive combat experience.

 

4b. ⧂ Hera

Grey-class asteroid moon of Rhea. 

A fully-privatized rentier habitat. Occupants are billed for breathing – plan visit costs accordingly. Houses the workforce for the Rhean megacorporate gas mine, owned and operated by by Lightspeed Enterprises. Gas harvesting, mining ship construction/maintenance, and gas refinement are all vertically integrated into Hera habitat; worker turnover is 85 percent within 5 years. Population ~500,000.

✧  Labor organizers with the Gas Miners’ Local 19520 are working to get a growing general strike off the ground, obstructed by both dissent within union and from larger workforce.

✧  Dissent within workforce fueled by LightSpeed Marketing’s extensive propaganda campaigns and the recent discovery of ██████. Union boss Talia Lin, respected for her unmatched 20 years working Hera habitat, has not yet weighed in on dispute.

✧ █████████████████████████████████████████████████████

 

4c. ⧂ Demeter 

Blue-class ocean moon of Rhea with a thick, icy crust. 

Independent research commune runs a wildlife preserve for theoretically fascinating but visually unremarkable local ecosystem. Researchers hail from across the Sculptoris sector, with a focus on pure (read: unweaponizable) science. Population ~2000.✧ Primary export is rare food and narcotics, manufacturing process is highly secretive and tightly controlled by the commune so as to maintain leverage that can keep them independent from LightSpeed.✧  Famous for bite-sized farm-raised xenofish, fed on a diet of proprietary ███████████████, kept in ██████████████████████████████ until they can be dispensed onto the plate and flop around a bit before being eaten whole and alive as an affront to every deity on record. 

✧  Demeter ecosystem recently discovered to be substantially more interesting than previously thought in submersible █████████████████████████████████ disaster, precipitating recent LightSpeed acquisition demands.

by alexson1

5. ◯ Mnemosyne 

Cyan-class ice giant. High water concentration, in ice rings and vapor atmosphere.

5a. ⧂ Semele

Purple-class frozen moon of Mnemosyne with Siriac naval base.

Being strip-mined to construct next-generation battlefleet. Mining operations are owned and operated by minor nobility exploiting android labor. Population ~100 aristocracy, ~500 familial servants, ~5000 administrative staff. Android labor force ~50,000.✧ The family patriarchs of the mining houses aspire to become Holo-Men, and pride themselves on emulating their inhumane detachment.✧  Royal Bank of Galatea established in moon’s spaceport to fund fleet construction. Holds unmatched wealth in Second Dark Age art, imperial treasury bonds, and ██████. 

✧ Android noncompliance incident rate rising by  █ month over month, in loose correlation with shipments from ███████.

 

⧮ Mnemosyne Station 

Constructed and administered by the Royal Navy of the Federal Kingdom of Sirius. Integrated jump gate, heavy military cordons. Imperial naval shipyard and base - all traffic must be sanctioned by local admiralty. Population ~5,000 permanent support staff, ~25,000 naval personnel, docking capacity ██. 

✧  Under administration of Admiral Viktoria Zakharova of the Siriac Royal Navy’s Nova Fleet. Highly decorated in the Periphery Wars, but took heavy casualties at the Battle of Gamma Sculptoris III and was ultimately forced to retreat by Costia Coriolis.  

✧  Most non-military personnel on station are part of an archeological dig excavating potential relics of a long-dead civilization in Mnemosyne's atmosphere. 

✧ ████████████████████████████████████████████

6. ◎ Theia

Grey/Purple-class dwarf planet, ice-cold, in eccentric elliptical orbit. 

Potentially a captured rogue planet. Vivarium House Sculptoris’ local satellite campus. While established less than a decade ago, enrolment is already highest in the sector.✧ Affiliated with the Federal Kingdom of Sirius, unable to settle any world closer to star because of strained relations with current Cephei government.✧  Governing council is research-focused, with the primary goal of ███████. Advancing psychic research at startling rate.  

✧ ███████████████████████████████████████████████████✧ █████████████████████████████████████████████████████ 

by Fred Gambino

 

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REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED DO NOT APPROACH. QUARANTINE ENFORCED WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE.✧ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████✧ ████████████████████████████████████████████████✧ █████████████████████████████████████████████████████