Edge of Space

Setting

This is a TL 9-11 campaign. The year is 21,390,093.

The slave world of Darkard on the edge of known space is owned by the Watari corporation. Dartarous (population 500) is a simple mining colony on this lonely planet, with a thin atmosphere and 150% Earth gravity. The founding leader of the colony is also named Dartarous.

300 people are in the mining crater daily.

With their labor, many of the miners are paying ancestral debts accrued 80 years of war. Peace was achieved in this sector four years ago, but these miners are, in effect, enslaved.

The mining operation has been going smoothly, with refined ores and alloys going to support Watari.

Recently, however, evidence of an ancient civilization has been uncovered, and Watari is sending men and materials to unravel its mysteries.

Character Development

These are 250 point characters with up to 100 points in Disadvantages and up to 100 points in Advantages.

TL9 and TL10 equipment is allowed. TL11 is classified/military only and requires approval of the GM.

You are probably human, but the GM is ready to entertain other sci-fi species, cyborgs, etc. Contact the GM for approval of your concept if you are going a non-human route.

You have been working at the mine for at least two years, and have an ongoing Duty to support your leader Dartarous. You may be paying an ancestral debt accrued in the war, or you may be Watari corporate, or have a military background.

You are required to have some sort of Mining expertise, whether it's Metallurgy or Mechanic or Management, etc.

You are advised to select one or more of Engineering, Pilot, Navigation, Sensors, Military Rank, Leadership.

Characters

• Jasmine, John's synthetic companion
• DeWayne, Jess's mine-mech genius
• Stan, site-security officer

What Happened

Prelude

The party wakes up to the alarms going off seismic sensors are going crazy, something just fell out of the sky and crashed in to the dig site, ash and debris is settling as an eerie glow from deep below the cliff side is seen from the pods away from the dig site.

People are running to stations.

Party meets up outside the pods: one medical officer who slept in his suit again and was ready to get out first, a synthetic who doesn't need a suit, and a mine-mech operator that helped open a stuck pod that had no power in below freezing conditions.

The dust settles and forms to the inanimate objects that it lands on - conformed, melded to the surface.

Through Dartarous' help the party finds that it has a crystal structure that can be separated with sound.

Freezing temps cause some NPCs to perish. There's a morale crisis.

The party exits the pod, helps a pod get power up and running.

Jasmine (now wearing baggy coveralls), trying to be helpful, delivers a tool kit outside to Dewayne and Stan as they try to break through a dust-encrusted pod door (the armory).

At dawn, while DeWayne works on the pod, Stan and Jasmine jog to the rim of the crater to see what landed.

But then, the red-brown Mars-like environment adjusts, becoming silvery mist. As they approach the mining pit, the temperature rises. The smell of the air changes - less rust, more water.

Jasmin hears movement in the mists swirling in the mining pit - a collection of bone-scraping, chattering movement sounds.