[OOC] Duster's Odyssey (A Space Western)

[Shu]

𝔻𝕌𝕊𝕋𝔼ℝ’𝕊 𝕆𝔻𝕐𝕊𝕊𝔼𝕐

It was the year 2405 and humans had terraformed much of the solar system. In their search for resources and extrasolar worlds to colonize, probes and expedition ships scoured the stars, funded by Tycho. A megacorporation based from Earth that dominates mining and trade in the Sol system. Word returned from the fringe of distant worlds ripe for colonization and human expansion and waves of colony, mining, and military vessels stampeded from Sol over the decades. Humanity had found it's new frontier and the race was on.

One such theatre of this new age of exploration is the Schon Cluster. A collection of dwarf stars, asteroid fields, and planetoids. There are only two inhabitable planets in the entire cluster, both of which are small and harsh worlds to live on. While mass colonization has been dissuaded prospectors, scientists, and mining corporations flock to Schon. Constructing drill platforms, mine complexes, and orbital stations.

Thirty years later, the Schon Cluster is perhaps one of the most frictional and contested regions in the Terran Federation. With Tycho having a total monopoly on Khione and it’s surrounding territories, prospectors, smaller companies, and merchant coalitions squabble over what’s left. The desert world of Dumah - the only other habitable world in the entire cluster - has become the new west of modern exploration and colonization.

ℙ𝕃𝕆𝕋

The year is 2435, and our tale centers on the desert frontier world of Dumah. As colonists and miners try to make a life on Dumah, they find that life on this planet isn’t easy to put it lightly. Resource shortages, severe sand storms, and hostile wildlife have always been a constant threat. Within the last decade the planet has begun to see a rise in crime.

Smugglers prowl the desert while raiders and mercenary bands harass the colonists and frontier settlements. Many merchants and land barons wage petty trade feuds and engage in claim jumping and hostile takeovers via threats and actions of violence. Between local rivalries and raider and smuggler bands, the Enforcers - a corporate funded security force stationed on Dumah - are spread thin.

This is where the Dusters come in. Dumah, even as isolated and desolate as it is, plays host to a multitude of characters. Bounty hunters, mercenaries, assassins, ex-military thugs - a plethora of diverse figures that roam the wasteland. They are no organization or firm, Dusters are merely drifters for sale. Gunhands that offer their services to an employer. The term “Duster” derives from them typically being wanders who travel the deserts alone or in small groups. They are typically native born to Dumah and most of them grew up on the frontier or small settlements. Dusters come in all shades of character, some are heartless contract killers and assassins, others are merely drifters who offer their protection to small settlements or innocent civilians. They are welcome by many and reviled by more.

You are a Duster. Be you Dumah-born or an immigrant. You ride the wastes on your horse or zoomer, your reasons your own. Loss of identity. Greed. A seeker of justice. A killer who searches for new prey. Who other than you can say?

Regardless of your personal affinity you will play a hand in the events of coming days. Times are changing on Dumah and in more ways than one. Tycho intends to tame the savage wastes of Dumah and subjugate it to their corporate whim as they have across the rest of the Federation. Dumah is far from Earth and it’s authorities and Tycho’s influence is widespread and deeply rooted across the colonies. And then there are the raider and smuggler threats that grow worse by the year. Not to mention the dangers of the harsh planet itself. In this gritty opera that is the shaping of Dumah - everyone must find a place.

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DUMAH

Near half the size of Earth Dumah is a desert world of rolling deserts, deep canyons, and seesawing mountain ranges. Water is a scarce resource and must be pumped up from the ground and imported off-world. The latter being the more common and collectively practical method for sustainability. Scattered oasis’ and cavernous springs can be found, though these are rare and more often than not claimed by raiders.

The planet is home to little life aside from small rodents and various species of lizards and serpentine creatures. While most of the creatures are edible, they cannot be relied on as a viable food source. Typically prospectors, raiders, and Dusters are the only ones who hunt these reptiles for food. The most dangerous creatures currently known are various poisonous serpents and a particularly large lizard resemblant to Earth’s Komodo Dragons. They are extremely poisonous and many have died from the lethality of their bites. While treatable the poison is extremely potent and typically kills the unprepared victim in just over an hour.

Plant life is restricted to cacti, bush plants and fruits, and various fungi cloves that grow in ravines and around cliffs. An edible and medicinal algae that grows in underground caves and in oasis ponds is a favorite find of botanists who visit the wastes.

There are signs of larger life on Dumah that have been turned up over the years that are of some concern. Particularly the skeletal remains of large quadruped creatures in deep canyons and out in the dune seas. Some as large as whales. While no such living colossus’s have been verified this doesn’t stop wild tales of sun-stroked prospectors and shifty Dusters from spreading tales of great beasts out in the wasteland.

Dumah is moonless and one of three planets orbiting the star Ishmael. The other two planets are Jetur, a Jupiter-like gas giant, and Tema, a volcanic planetoid sixty-five million miles from the star. Jetur has been profitable for mining companies due to heavy deposits of metals and crystals on it’s seven moon. Tema, while undeveloped, is hopeful for future mining endeavors. That said the unforgiving volcanic nature of the Tema has proven this to be a difficult pursuit.



There are two major cities on Dumah, New Anchorage and Silverwall. New Anchorage is the site of the first outpost on Dumah. Today it is the planet’s major space port and trade hub with a teeming population of around fifteen thousand people. New Anchorage is a testament to the progress made on Dumah and offers much; commerce, food, entertainment, employment, security, and pleasures galore. Some of it’s notable structures and locations are Pohl Spaceport, Nourse Medical Research Center, the Tycho Commercial Center, and Hauzer Arms and Security.

The other major city is Silverwall located nearly a day’s trip west of New Anchorage. Silverwall is notably smaller with a population of around seven thousand. Silverwall is more of an industrial city with trade and commercialism falling second behind mining, refining, and manufacturing. The city was named for the deep cavernous mines just to the north that dive deep into the cliffs and are rich with silver. Kahlo Mining, the corporation that first funded Silverwall when it was merely an unnamed compound, has profited handsomely and developed Silverwall into a sizable and productive city. Most of the population work in the mines, refineries, and factories. A number of private farms and ranches nearby also offer employment and provide food directly to Silverwall.

Aside from these two major cities there are over a dozen small towns and outposts scattered across the wastes, their populations being anywhere from a hundred to just ten people. Most are mining compounds, trade posts, or farmland, with several up and coming towns as well. Most of these settlements are funded and managed by smaller companies and entrepreneurs based from Earth or other older colony worlds, what with major corporations like Tycho focusing on major cities. These isolated locations are more likely to draw in both outlaws and Dusters alike, what with major corporations and the Enforcers not looking favorably upon freelancers like the drifters of the wastes.

Life on Dumah is divided between the harsh and gritty frontier and the cold, uncertain environment of corporate metropolises. Everyone must find their place and keep their wits about them. Safety is limited even in the lap of luxury and tenderfeet don’t last long on Dumah.

TYCHO

Founded over fifty years ago, Tycho funded the first major expeditions to the other worlds of the Sol system. Tycho funded scientists developed next-gen propulsion and starship designs that allowed humanity to take to the far stars. Their theories and research into FTL travel allowed mankind to break the bonds of Sol and traverse the galaxy itself.

In the mid twenty-second century Tycho had managed to establish a monopoly on nearly all extraterrestrial mining and shipping industry. What began as a major industrial manufacturer with investments in the mining and shipping industry became an interstellar power with - in uneasy practically - more power than entire continental governments on Earth.

Today, Tycho holds the monopoly on planetary manufacturing, extrasolar trade and commerce, and mining. Worth trillions of credits, Tycho is rarely denied or defied and in one form or another always comes out on top. Be it irresistible deals or hostile takeovers none have ever outfoxed them.

Tycho has several security firm subsidiaries including the Enforcers, a paramilitary force who also are the protectorates of Dumah. They and other Tycho subsidiaries provide security to various political and other corporate figures. With their near endless monopoly on commerce and industry and having countless senators and various planetary government officials on their list, most will admit that Tycho are the absolute authority at day’s end.

Dumah is their newest target for monopolization, and Tycho will gladly crush anyone who tries to deter this. Unless they can buy them of course.

DUSTERS

Like the gunfighters and cowboys of the old Earth Wild West, Dusters have become the stuff of legend in the roughly three decades since Dumah was first settled. Sunset eyes and fast hands at the holster, delivering justice or downfall at the flick of a finger before riding off over the horizon.

Dusters are received in mixed fashion across Dumah. Typically in the twin cities and in major settlements (especially corporate hubs and outposts) they are viewed with caution and coolly received. They are typically depicted as disloyal mercenaries and unpredictable gunhands. And many of them are.

But there are many Dusters that are honorable and civilized at soul, even if gritty and uncertain at face. Stories of the Dusters of Dumah circulate across the Union, most romantic legends while others are laced with some truth. Tycho specifically holds a mixed stance with Dusters. The mega-corporation often hires them as protection for small convoys, hunting down outlaws and bands of raiders, and even as agents of threat and intimidation. More than a few Dusters have run defenseless homesteaders from their plots or bullied small towns into scattering over the horizon so Tycho could crack open the earth to mine. Other Dusters find themselves gunning down renegade Enforcers and Tycho hustlers and disappearing into the wastes.

In the days to come the Dusters will have a leading role in shaping Dumah and all of them will be forced to pick a side.

RAIDERS

Sackers, salvagers, butchers, slavers, and rapists. Raiders are the worst of the worst to be found on Dumah. The term is a generalization for the savage groups and "clans" of marauders that rove the deserts. They dwell in abandoned mines and natural caverns, only emerging from their hideouts to plunder and pillage. They prey on land convoys and small settlements and installations, stealing everything they can carry off and those they do not slaughter are taken as captives and slaves.

Smugglers from off-world regularly touch down with their stealth systems active and do business with raider clans. Trading weapons, food, narcotics and booze, and other base resources in exchange for salvage, slaves, and tech taken by raiders. Dusters are often hired on by settlements and prospectors to guard them from raiders. Some Dusters meanwhile do business with raiders and even aid them on sizeable raids.

Raiders have no loyalty beyond their own bands and often feud with each other over territory and loot, though occasionally they unite under strong leadership to carry out large raids. Dumah is home to thousands of these scum after all. Everything from ex-convicts to disgraced security and military personnel and addicts. Some raiders are rather notorious, particularly their bosses or "chiefs". Men like Red Eyed Jeb, Clubber Munn, and Geoff Skulley are infamous raiders with sizeable bounties on their head.

[Shu]

RESERVED FOR INDEXING, TIMELINE, AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

[Letter Bee]

Mind if I join?

[Mixtape Ghost N]

~~Crickets~~

[Lunar]

I'd be interested, ill try to get my CS up by tomorrow. Quick question though, why is the height capped at 6:4? If the planet has reduced gravity then the native-born population would be generally taller.

[Lunar]

Almost finished the bio of my OC, just wanted to make sure this is still alive since it's been quiet for a bit. It seems like a pretty cool universe so it'd be sad if it ended before it even begins

@Shu

[Lugubrious]

I'm still trying to pull stuff together, but I'm definitely not out.

[Lugubrious]

While I work on the rest of the sheet, how's this for my character's backstory? Five paragraphs was a little intimidating but I think I managed to get something together.

The story of Ruben Schuyler

No natural disaster or unbeatable crisis drove humanity to seek worlds beyond their own. No ecological meltdown, no doomsday event, no world-wide war. Humanity still had enough space, for earth still featured a wealth of uninhabited areas. So when Earth's first intrepid few joined Tycho to venture beyond the planet's atmosphere and into space, they did not wonder or refuge among the stars, but wealth. As they found it and work out in space and on other worlds became more normal, colonies sprouted where the seeds of industry took root. Well before the Schon Cluster was a twinkle in Tycho's eye, the corporation bent the frigid outer planets and moons of the solar system to its will, and in one of the cities carved out of those inhospitable worlds Ruben Schuyler's story began.

Like his engineer father and pilot mother, Schuyler was someone who dared. His upbringing was no stranger to hardship, for the colonies lacked the millennia of civilized infrastructure accumulated on earth, but he was taught to meet the challenges that came his way with uncompromising strength of character. With a lot of toughness and a little luck, his family held their own. Their life working as a few of the boots on the ground for Tycho wasn't comfortable, but that dauntless engine of progress offered nothing if not opportunity. More a man of dexterity and fortitude than accounts, electronics, or equations, Ruben honed his skills in the risky fields of construction and then security.

For a time he even served with the Enforcers, but everyone knew that while Tycho still worked the old colonies, they had their sights elsewhere. Tycho had already begun its conquest of the Schon Cluster, sending industrialists and colonists alike, and something in Ruben drove him to long for the frontier all over again—the sense of adventure that was the very lifesblood of the colonies in his earlier years. Unable to secure transfer from his employers, Schuyler resigned and joined an up-and-coming PMC interested in the new frontier. Poised to become the second option for protection on Dumah, wherever Tycho and its cronies might be unwelcome, Hawkwood Solutions gave Schuyler the chance he needed to reach Dumah himself.

Of course, he spent a while as an escort guard for ships going to and from Dumah before setting foot on the place himself, but eventually Schuyler reached his destination. He, and indeed Hawkwood itself, arrived at an important time. Farther than ever from the threat of accountability, Tycho was ruthless in its utilization of the people to rake in the profit. As dissatisfaction with the corporation and rebellious sentiment grew, Hawkwood presented itself as the alternative, a helping hand by the people for the people, and for a time business was very good. Schuyler found for himself a place where he truly belonged, and friends he soon found he couldn't do without. Yet all too soon Tycho turned its eye on the lucky startup competing with their Enforcers, and it spared no expense making an example. Sabotage put an unbearable strain on Hawkwood's operations, and it quickly escalated into full-blown shootouts between Hawkwood troops and the Enforcers across the desert. When it came the killing blow was struck with dizzying swiftness. Hawkwood's troops, branded as undesirables, were left marooned on the frontier, with no funding, no backing, no security, and no escape. Schuyler was one of them, and like the rest found himself faced with a choice as to how to make the best of sorry circumstances. Then again, since his options were the execrable Raiders or the drifting Dusters, it wasn't really a choice at all.

With what retrofitted equipment he could scrounge up Schuyler set out to earn a living for himself as a Duster. Though many of his fellows danced around the lines that ought not be crossed, he set out to abide by the law, if not strictly uphold it. As he wandered across great distances, finding work here and there as a bodyguard or escort, he maintained a loose connections with his former comrades from Hawkwood, with whom he shared the bond of being abandoned together. It's been quite a while now, but as tensions mount across Dumah his old grudge bubbles to the surface, and his service rifle -long since cut down to the size of an inconspicuous pistol- yearns for what once was.

[Blizz]

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