Lunar Adventure 1

The Settlement.

Your players characters start in the settlement of Da Vinci. A small independent, squatter settlement of less than 5000 people, located on the eastern side of the Mare Tranquilitatis. The town is well organised with an elected council and a mercenary squad of Legion of the Savage Wolf (LSW) Peacekeepers. The settlement is famous for a nearby underground ice field that supplies all the water they need, and enough to provide some extra income.

The settlement itself has a single class 3 dome on the surface with 3 class 2 domes attached. A dozen or so class one domes are littered around the main dome and run by small businesses or wealthy families.

The real settlement however is under ground. The area is naturally riddled with many underground fissures and several large caverns. Expanding these natural structures allowed the settlement to establish a large underground area for everyone to live in. The central caverns are pressurised to half an atmosphere and allows humans to walk freely (although new comers may need a nanobooster to help oxygenate their blood until they aclimatise). The large area of natural fissures has resulted in many smaller areas of the caverns being sealed off by other groups seeking more privacy. The LSW Peacekeepers have been given authority to cover the entire region, including those seeking privacy, and thus have a full time job keeping track and controlling the notoriously independent community.

da Vinci is unique in several ways, not only in that it is economically viable, but in some of the local individuals who have been attracted to live in the area. The ability to be part of a community but maintain your privacy has been a big attraction that many other settlements are not able, or not willing, to provide. The town council are well aware of this and make sure the Peacekeepers maintain a discreet enforcement policy that may at times result in actions not being recorded in the official town records, and a more 'hands-on' form of law enforcement.

da Vinci is governed by a Council of 8 elected representatives, with elections every 2 years for the 2 longest serving representatives. This means that each serves 8 years as a full term. Decisions are made by a simple majority, and in the case of ties by an electronic plebiscite of the community. A councilor may always veto any decision and force it to a plebiscite if they wish, but this is rarely invoked. Voting rights are available to citizens over the age of 25. To become a citizen you must pay a fee of 1000 credits and gain a majority vote on the Council. Support for your application by a sponsor/s is commonly expected. To maintain your citizenship you must maintain a 'presence in the community', it can be withdraw at the discretion of the Council (majority vote).

The below map gives an overall view of the layout, not shown are the numerous smaller tunnels that intersect the entire complex, and the many small surface domes.

Places and People.

The Core

The town core is a grouping of several large natural caverns that have been joined and then the whole area sealed to create a viable ecosphere. Access to the surface domes is via three large lifts (triangles on the map), plus there is a utility tunnel (going upto Upstairs) that exits from the central commercial cavern. This tunnel is wide enough for small amd medium sized vehicles.

The settlement core itself consists of a large central cavern, called the Commercial Cavern, and 5 smaller caverns around this. Access between the caverns is via a natural, but processed, tunnels with an air lock (mainly for safety reasons, generally these will be open). Around this core is a large number of smaller caverns occupied by various groups. Tunnels of various sizes connect them all.

The natural fissures that the area is built around are believed to have been created by water retreating from the rock and the activity of Worms. Whats left of the water is found at the south eastern end of the area in what the locals call Lake Tranquility. A large cavern filled with water ice that is the main economic strength of the settlement. This water is legally the property of the settlement and not any individual, and all income from it is goes directly to running the settlements environment. Water thieves are not unknown however, but generally are visitors or raiders.

The Commercial Cavern has an assortment of businesses appropriate to the size of the settlement, plus a few specialists stores as will be noted below. When doing searches for materials or equipment, common and uncommon materials will be available as normal, but rare and very rare materials will be +2 harder to obtain.

The Council

Councilor Malcolm Hedges (Chief); Head of the Council and also Chief Mining Engineer for the Dome, running the water processing plant.

Councilor Robin Davies; matriarch of the Davies family, one of the founding families and a very large group in the community.

Councilor Capt Rederik Samuels; retired LSW officer, acts as liaison with the LSW unit.

Council Tck (Mech); recently elected, the first mech to hold official office in a Dome community.

Councilor Nelson Ng; runs the general store, elderly but well liked.

Councilor Jack Higgins; owner of the Casino.

Councilor Saysana Rodericks; wife of the noted Worm Master.

Councilor Serena Yeo; recently elected, obnoxious, anti-mech, pro-Earth, sensationalist. Secretly an agent for the APL.

LSW: (Legion of the Savage Wolf) Law enforcement.

Nearly all towns on Lunar now have an LSW Outpost, hired by civil authorities to enforce the peace. The LSW derive a good income from this service as well as a method of providing work for veterans who are unable to continue an active military career but are not yet near retiring. Because of this the officers tend to be VERY good at their work (min 40pts). The LSW maintain an advanced communications and support system that allows agents to call up reinforcements at very short notice. It is almost impossible to take out a legionnaire without them getting off an alarm.

Law enforcement in da Vinci is handled by a squad of 20 LSW legionnaires under the command of Captain Jenkins. These legionaires are hired by the Settlement Council to enforce the peace and have a fairly wide ranging discretion as to what this means and how they handle it. There are very few 'laws' on the moon so the legionnaires are simply given the power to 'keep the peace' as they see fit. Objections to their decisions can be made to the Council for review. Legionnaires who become Peacekeepers are however well trained in the duty by the LSW, it having become one of their main sources of income after the loss of Lost. Peacekeepers are generally 10 year veterans of the LSW and have undertaken at least a year of 'peace keeping' training that includes psychological training and criminal profiling.

Generally 5 legionaires will be on duty at any one time and 5 others will be in the settlement ready for immediate call up if the need arises. The other Legionaries can be armed and ready within 10-30 mins (d6 x5 mins). External re-inforcements from nearby domes can be incoming within 2-4 hours on an emergency basis, and 6 hours otherwise. Legion standard practise is not to go into an even standup fight, but to wait for overwhelming force.

Punishments for crimes are dispensed by the Senior LSW Officer, acting as judge and jury. Citizens can appeal to the Town Council if they wish. but this is rarely successful. Theoretically everyone has a right to appeal to a higher court run by the controlling mega-corp (APL), but in reality this only really works for corporate employees.

Punishment by the LSW includes local detention (limited to 3 months), detention at a LSW prison facility (the nearest is located at Capella), banishment and 'spacing'. Banishment means that the individual must leave immediately and cannot ever return to the colony, if they do then 'spacing' becomes the sentence. A banished person is also branded on their forehead with a 'banished' mark that will make their lives very difficult in most of the larger domes (-2 to all social rolls). This can be surgically removed. Branding is not possible on a mech at this time.

Spacing is a death sentence, the individual is simply put into an external airlock and cycled through without any protective gear. Spacing must be approved by the Council and requested by an aggrieved party. With the arrival of mechs a similar punishment is enacted but has taken the term 'smelting', the mech is melted down in a forge.

Rodericks Tunneling Services

Roger Rodericks is a tunneling service with a difference, he uses Boring Worms instead of machines. Rodericks has the Beastmaster edge and managed to find a clutch of borer larvae and imprint himself on them, so that they think he is their parent. It has taken 5 years of hard work but the worms are now about 2 metres wide and 20 metres long. They are now able to dig through most forms of lunar rock and create finely crafted and silicon sealed tunnels. He has five worms in his service and has trained them to work as a team, allowing for tunnels upto 4 metres wide. The existence of the worms is not widely known, but isnt a secret either. The worms are kept in the Lazy 'S' Ranch cavern. The settlement Council recognises the potential of this enterprise and go out of their way to make sure it stays.

Roderick has 3 daughters (16,18,21), one son (16) and a wife, who take an active role in the family business. The daughters have inherited their fathers Beastmaster edge.

Amadaus's Junkyard

Amadaus is a Wierd Scientist in the weirdest sense. Eccentric in the extreme and completely lacking any focus he moves from partial invention to partial invention, never completing many of them, or leaving them in a dangerously not-quite-complete state. He is also a compulsive hoarder and his 'shop' is a huge collection of what most would call junk. At one point the city council moved in and cleared a large portion of his junkyard and moved it into his own cavern, much to his anger. He quickly recovered however when he realised how much extra room he gained out of it, plus the ability to carry out testing in a much safer environment. Every now and then however he comes up with a very useful invention, and he is a very generous individual, so the community put up with his strangeness. Amadaus is now located in the Crossover Cavern.

He has attracted a small group of like minded, and mostly as crazy, followers. This group now undertakes the task of completing the masters work where he leaves off, and then selling the devices on the open market. This allows them to collect a goodly income with which they maintain their leaders ongoing research and development.

Julia's Trash & Treasure

Julia Roberts runs a minor side cavern where she collects everything that has been left behind,or is no longer wanted. She is in constant conflict with Amadaus as the two often clash over left behind rubbish. She is often away from the settlement on collection runs on the surface. She maintains a robust and powerful re-cycling shop with which she can safely reduce materials into useful components or raw materials.

Matthew and Daughters Mechanical Services.

Matthew Albertson and his 6 daughters run the garage in Upstairs as well as a smaller shop in the Core. He is a skilled mechanic (d10 with a WD for skill rolls). The six daughters are all very robust and independently minded, not to mentioned skilled mechanics. The oldest is 32 and the youngest 18. Their mother was killed some 10 years ago in an accident. There are several grand children around but no fixed male partners for any of them.

UNCLE Offices

The UN keeps a small office presence in all communities, maintaining a watchful eye and acting as an official beaurocracy where required. In those towns not officially linked to one of the Big Three this is more an observation and oversight task for the officers assigned to it (and usually a punishment detail). There are likely only 2-3 UN Officers present at anytime and they are very lonely people.

Shanti-town.

Surrounding Surface Lift 3 is an area of less than permanent structures occupied by miners and scavengers who are barely meeting ends (the majority of them). The huts are generally thrown together with bits and pieces and every now and then one will collapse, which leads to everyone else pillaging the remains. The Council tolerate the area, and even polices some basic rules, such as no shanty can be more than 4x4m in area. Two large wharehouses also reside here where miners and small traders can setup shops (as a sort of flea market arrangement). The entrance to the Casino can also be found nearby.

Arena.

Space-Sumo Wrestling has become the hottest past-time on Lunar. Wrestlers are equipped with special suits to protect against injury but other than that it is pretty much the same as the original, but with a little less ritual and perhaps a bit more of the old american style performance wrestling. The fact that the gravity is much lower has added some interesting extra moves has only made the sport more popular. Official space-sumo tournaments are held once per year at various bases, mainly the larger ones. But each year a single tournament is held in one of the smaller bases as a promotional gimmick. It is a hotly contested event as it brings in a lot of money for the winner, plus they gain focus for when a permanent tournament is awarded as the competition is expanded. In the meantime local and minor leagues flourish and a Space-Sumo Arena can be found in nearly all settlements.

Casino.

Gambling is still big business, especially on the frontiers where miners and scavengers need a place to blow off steam. This casino is run by Black Jack Higgins, a character of dubious repute and many varied backgrounds. He won the casino in a poker game (of course) some 2 years ago and has managed to turn it around from a dump to a fairly respectable establishment. The occasional story keeps popping up that the casino is a front for his other activities, but no one is exactly sure what those other activities are, but the wildest ones suggest drugs, slavery, aliens and lots of money. It is a widely believed legend that there is a secret tunnel out the back of the casino, but nobody knows why.

Higgins maintains a small brute squad to keep things under control within the casino itself. An unofficial agreement between the squad and the LSW ensures that they keep their activities confined within the premises, and many a patron has managed to escape the attentions of the brute squad by fleeing out the front door and the safety of the LSW. The LSW are quite willing to arrest and prosecute abusers of this privilege.

Upstairs

The emergency route to the surface, which also provides a ramp for small and medium sized vehicles. Upstairs Cavern is primarily a garage and mechanics shop. Lunar vehicles can be parked here and service and repairs can be carried out.

Powerplant.

Da Vinci's fusion reactor, kept safely away from the base itself, and on the far side of the valuable glacier. The cavern it is in is some 10 km from the Core.

Lazy 'S' Ranch

Roderick keeps his tame boring worms here. He also has established a research centre for the worms and now sponsors a small group of scientists in their efforts to understand the worms. He is hoping to be able to breed them and expand his stock. His work is beginning to attract a lot of attention from the Big Three. He recently accepted funding from the LSW in a joint venture to expand his research, and to gain some protection.

Basement

Basement is were most of the settlements waste is disposed of. It includes a toxic and radiation screener to prevent pollution of the site (it is a criminal offence to put contaminated debris into the public waste system). It includes a conventional dumping hole as well as recycling services. Roderick's worms often eat here.

Crossover

Amadaus's Junk Yard and Technical Emporium uses the crossover cavern. There are a number of smaller settler groups in this cavern who do collection work for Amadaus.

Brokenback

Brokenback is a large tunnel complex that has been formed by the glacier over a long period of time. The water from the glacier has resulted in the rock rupturing and collapsing to form a complex maze. Brokenback gets its name however not from the rock formations, but from the fact that the first team to explore the area was hit by a collapsing ceiling and one of the crew had his back broken as a result. Brokenback is about 3km long.

Lake Da Vinci

A large cavern (roughly 5 miles long and widening upto 2 miles across, but mostly less than 50 meters high) where at some time running water has flowed, flattening out the ground and forming a mud plain. Lunar fungus have moved in and flourished, establishing a colony in the hardened mud/rock. Research has shown that the lunar fungus are able to draw off water from the nearby glacier via a very sophisticated tendril system. The settlement have been able to farm the fungus as a food and pharmaceutical source.

Runoff

Is similar to Brokenback, an area permeated by water and eroded by time. The rock here is less solid to that in Brokenback and considered 'soft' by the locals, and it is a local joke that it is soft because it is damp. The area is quite unstable and risky to travel through except for what lies at the other end - the glacier. Runoff is about 5km long.

Da Vinci Glacier

The largest free standing body of water ice on lunar, buried beneath the lunar surface. It was this discovery that has made Da Vinci an extremely wealthy settlement. The water ice is actually buried in the rock and dirt and has to be extracted and filtered before it can be used, but it is a comparatively rich source.

The Worm Holes.

Two very large worm holes enter into the Core from the west. Airlocks have been placed over them to seal them off. The worm tunnels themselves are fairly old and stem from a time before the colony was established. The size of the tunnels however suggest an extremely large worm. Both tunnels are open to vacuum.

The top tunnel continues west for several kilometers and then begins a slow rise toward the surface. It ends in a collapse before making it to the surface and thus is a dead end. Some plans have been made to convert it into a service tunnel for large vehicles, but nothing has come of them yet.

The lower tunnel heads south west for several kilometers and then begins to descend at an increasing angle, eventually turning directly downward into an apparently bottomless pit, called Hells Hole by the locals. Soundings of the hole suggest it levels out again further down and then a collapse ends it.

The Story Begins.

Your players need to have a reason for being here as part of their background.

To give the group an excuse to bond several small missions are suggested:

Brute Squad: a member of the casino's brute squad approaches one the the players and offers them some work. Someone has upset them and managed to escape punishment. The LSW are not willing to act in this case as the offense was minor and lacks any solid evidence. This sort of thing can't be left to undermine the squads rep so they are seeking a third party intervention, and will pay reasonably for it. The Brute gives them a picture and the name of the offender and advises the players that they want some bones broken (inflict a wound in this case, but inflicting 2 wounds will mean they kill him). He will also say that they are pretty sure there is a partner involved but they do not know who he is, but his bones need breaking also. The offending parties were using a sophisticated electronic system to count cards, working as a team.

• Find the victim and partner
• Isolate them
• Inflict one wound (but not 2)
• Takes pictures to prove their work
• Report to the Brute and collect wages.
• Dont get arrested by the LSW.

Junk Recovery: a miner living in the Slums will approach one of the players with a job. He seems rather anxious and urges the player to act quickly. The job is to recover something he accidently threw away, and which now can be found in the basement. He would go down and get it himself but he has phobia of worms and can't bring himself to go down there. He will pay a small amount and claim that the task is easy, just be careful of the worms. The object will be easy to find as long as they act quickly, it is in a yellow plastic thermos bottle (1 litre). The more people searching the easier it will be.

• Make their way down to the Basement.
• Notice the presence of the worms (who will be feeding)
• Work out some way to avoid them (easy)
• Search for the object
• Recover the object
• Get attacked by local wildlife (spacerats and radroaches)
• Return thermos to the Miner.

Vehicle Recovery: this is a fairly common work task and can be used regularly. An individuals vehicle has broken down on the surface of the moon and needs to be recovered. The local garage is busy and cannot get around to it for over a week, but the Patron needs it back NOW! Generally this sort of job will be posted on the Community Noticeboard and is available on a first come first paid basis. The players will need a vehicle of their own, which is big enough to tow the broken machine back, or they will need parts and skills to repair it. A homing signal has been activated and this can be used to track it.

• Make sure they have a means to get the vehicle back
• Track the signal and get to the vehicle (3 days), make driving and terrain handling tests. Introduce some difficult terrain for them to overcome.
• Clear away some form of wildlife that has been attracted to the site - Bugs would be good, this will be a first sighting of Bugs so this can be expanded later when they return to tell the tale.
• Repair or tow it
• Get attacked by hijackers who want to steal all your stuff
• Notice evidence that the hijackers are working for the person who offered the job (communicator file if hacker present, or folded piece of paper with notes).
• Notice that the vehicle was sabotaged rather then broke, implying deliberate intent.
• Deal with the Patron themselves (risky), or take action through the LSW (safe)
• If the later, partake of the trial (give evidence, easy task).
• Option to request 'spacing'.

Atmosphere Breach; this is just an exercise for your human players to remind them that they live in a vacuum. A small meteor

Citizenship: the team will need to become citizens of da Vinci if they stay here very long. To achieve this they will need an existing citizen to sponsor them (one for each of them), someone of good standing. They then need to get a majority vote from the Council and pay the 1000 credits. The players will hopefully have done some work for various people around the community and this will be how they can generate a sponsor. Councillors can be approached to try to charm them into voting for you but bribery is a risky option. Certain