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Currently there are only two established space stations that the game focuses on, though in truth there are actually many, many more out there. Here’s all you need to know about the two main ones, the Libra and the Cancer.
The Libra is among the largest space stations with twenty two decks, and it’s the one of the largest for good reason—it’s a refugee station, one of many. This is where the displaced Serunan citizens live and go about their daily lives, working aboard the station to ensure it keeps running smoothly and conducting research in their constant quest to find a habitable planet—that’s also in a safe location.
The Libra orbits far out into the galaxy and tends to hang out around Saturn, which has its benefits in that it’s far out of the way of the warring Earth and Mars and also a safe distance from the asteroid belt. However, on the downside, it’s also in a remote location and vulnerable to attack, and while the station is built to move, it is not nearly as swift as some other vessels. To make up for what it may lack in speed, the station is fortified with top of the line defensive shields and armed with state of the art weaponry and an on-board military unit trained to fight by ground and in space aboard fighter craft. The Libra is built for defense and can surely hold its own against an aggressor.
The station is comprised of a bridge, accessible only by the crew, from where the station is piloted. Security is tight; forget card keys, the Libra implements fingerprint and retina scans to identify those wishing to access the bridge. With so many people on board, there’s a lot at stake and a lot to keep safe. Ultimately, it is the captain who is in charge of the station; he or she has the final say in all affairs and one could say he or she is the leader of the station.
The rest of the station is made up of the Base Block—those decks where the day-to-day activities take place, like eating, sleeping, researching, working, and socializing—and the Training Facilities, where crew and soldiers are trained and children are schooled (which also keeps them out of the adults’ way and opens up more jobs to people by providing teaching positions).
The last two areas are the docking stations, where personal spacecraft, military spacecraft, and emergency spacecraft is stored and where guests can dock. Finally there’s the brig, the Libra’s prison. If you get too unruly or pose a threat to the other inhabitants in any way, you may be sent down there for a time out at best or to be held there until they can figure out what should be done with you at worst.
The Libra is organized and clean, with silver being its dominant color. It is easy to find your way around, for everything is clearly labeled and there are directories posted all over, and the technology is state-of-the-art with automatic sliding doors. A large portion of the Libra is military, and their uniforms are silver and blue.
1. Culture
Descended from a older culture, a large portion of Serunans are mages. It is not unusual for them to have oddly colored hair or strange features, and there is a large chunk of non-humans among them, too. What you will not find among them are psychics. Oh, there may be psychics among them, but they tend to keep quiet about what they are, because the Aedolis-Seruna conflict runs deep and many Serunans possess a deep distrust of all things psychic. Who knows, it could be a spy among them, after all.
The Cancer is the Tortuga of space, a place to trade, do business, pick up crew members...and sometimes go out and harass ships passing through their domain. Located on a major trade route above the plane of the solar system, Cancer is a port for trade vessels, travelers, and pirates alike.
The Cancer is the sort of shady place that people head to when they want to take care of business and not have to deal with people asking questions and sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. It even looks the part. Compared to the Libra with its clean, orderly, fresh look, the Cancer looks dilapidated and haphazard, with rust covering some of the shine, grated floors, and exposed pipes. It's easy to get lost there if you're a newcomer as there are few signs, the people are a bit less friendly as everyone's in a hurry, and there's no real rhyme or reason as to why things are set up as they are. Grungy is the word that best describes it. Additions are added on when needed, without any effort at architectural organization or harmony. It looks much like a welded mass of individual smaller space stations and ships. It is the size of a large city.
A trade and business hub, it attracts all manner of people from space pirates and thieves to independent contractors just passing through and needing a place to rest, load up on supplies, or even search out a good crew. It’s a busy and bustling station filled with bars, shopping and trading centers, and good entertainment.
Known for the unruly types it attracts, the Cancer is not above poking its nose where it maybe doesn’t belong, and it certainly is not responsible for those visitors who might leave the station—only to go out and harass a passing ship. However, the Cancer is not quite as unorganized as it might seem. It keeps in close contact with other space stations and aids here and there where it can in missions that might prove benefitial to it.
The Cancer is comprised of two main districts: the Gold District and Red District. The Gold District is more restricted, the place where the bridge and armory are located, as well as the high end businesses and residences for the powerful people of Cancer, the people with influence and high rank. The guard's barracks are also located in this district. Others can obtain permission for entry if they have business to see to here. If legitimate means won't work, there's always bribery and subterfuge.
The Red District is the business district, where there are areas for shopping, trading, and just hanging out, getting a bite to eat, and throwing back a few drinks. It’s the perfect place to socialize and look for crew members. Business of all kinds—both legal and criminal—gets done here.
The space stations are the remnants of a kingdom known millennia ago as Serendipity. Located in the countryside and stretching on toward the ocean, Serendipity was a peaceful farming and fishing community heralded for its accepting nature. It was a diverse country that mostly kept to itself and never gave anyone else any trouble, though it was subject to a multitude of attacks over the ages by forces that misinterpreted Serendipity’s peaceful nature as a sign of inherent weakness. Time and time again the kingdom proved these aggressors sorely mistaken, for while it may not have been interested in launching attacks, it was well prepared and capable of defending itself, and this kingdom produced a long line of strong leaders and powerful mages.
Back in those golden days, Serendipity was allies with a neighboring country that is now known as Aedolis. But back then Aedolis was called Adela, and while bitter enemies today, back then there couldn’t have been stronger allies. Adela always was the stronger of the two with a military force to be reckoned with, and when one kingdom fell between a rock and a hard place, the other was always close by to lift them out of the crevice. There were tense spots here and there where their relationship was shaky at best, when differing viewpoints and basic personality differences (Adela’s more aggressive nature versus Serendipity’s complacent one) made them less than willing to tolerate each other, but in the end they depended too much on each other when it came to matters of commerce and basic protection.
But the times change, and with them so do the people.
As the centuries passed and technology advanced, Serendipity (now Seruna) began to fall behind and its relationship with Adela (now Aedolis) began to seriously fracture. While the neighboring countries began to take more of an interest in technology and science, Serendipity’s people proved to be a bit too comfortably set in their ways. Why invest in technology when magic could do just as much, if not more?
In the end, they had no choice but to look to technology simply to survive.
Serendipity and Adela, now Seruna and Aedolis, split apart. As Aedolis’ military grew, as their technology advanced…well, as they say, too much power too fast corrupts, and it didn’t help that they were already known as an aggressive force. They became greedy and began to use their new power to attack neighboring countries and settlements, to gain more land and influence. Seruna and a country called Edanith were able to hold out against them, but it wasn’t just Aedolis’ military that was the problem.
With all its experiments, with all its testing, with all its nightmarish weapons, with all its building and expanding, Aedolis wasn’t just destroying those people it attacked.
It was killing the Earth.
Dumping toxic, radioactive byproducts into the oceans, cutting down forests to make way for its elaborate cities, draining the Earth of its natural resources to keep up with an ever expanding population, over time the once green Earth began to look like a wasteland. Even if Seruna could hold out against Aedolis’ attacks, the country was using up resources that they also needed to survive, and Seruna began to weaken.
If they stayed any longer, they would be destroyed and absorbed into Aedolis’ ever-growing empire.
Seruna chose to leave.
Some stubborn people stayed, of course, and they were either killed in the various wars or by the harsh elements themselves—or they assimilated into the corrupt Aedolis.
Those that left escaped Earth completely to go live out on a series of space stations that Seruna had constructed, some of them built ages ago and used for observational purposes, but now nearly all of them have been converted to serve as refugee camps for the displaced Serunans.
Today, they orbit the solar system, always in search of a new home—and ever sympathetic to those still suffering on Earth.
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