ETHYRAIAEthyraia is a class-I planet. Ethyraia is the second planet from its sun, a stable K-class star (or 'orange dwarf'). Its radius is approximately 4600 kilometers, and it has three small moons as well as a significant dust belt/debris disc around the planet resulting from the collision of an asteroid with one of its moons some many billion years ago.
The odds were just right to tip the scales over into the development of multicellular organisms! Well within its solar system's circumstellar habitable zone, Ethyraia enjoys such luxuries as rapid temperature changes, regular meteor showers, acid rain, and other dangerous and unpredictable atmospheric phenomena! The weather is considered to be volatile. The average temperature is 19 degrees Celsius, but it can go as high as 60 degrees Celsius in some areas, and as low as -70 in others.
Numerous oceans cover Ethyraia's surface, as well as large subterranean lakes. It has expansive jungle-like biomes, as well as deserts and, nearer to the planet's poles, vast swaths of ice several kilometers thick. Regular volcanic eruptions can result in atmospheric dust blotting out the sun, which can last for 5-10 'Earth' years, and impact the development of planetary flora. Most fauna is omnivorous, but then again, so are most of the plants.
Beyond Basecamp Leviathan, the world is a wild and unpredictable place, full of danger. Carnivorous plants are the norm, and there are all manner of wild creatures eager to fight it out for their place at the top of the food chain. The landscape close to the basecamp is a high elevation, so plants will exist on rocky outcroppings along cliff-faces. The landscape here is mostly high desert, which means it is full of thin, calf-high grasses, scrub plants, and non arable land polluted by dense, alkaline soil and rocks. Once you get a little further out, specifically to the north-west, the soil will become quite fertile, but Earth plants would find themselves hard-pressed to grow in it without proper precautions for the acid rain in place.
As of right now, the only accessible locations are those within the BASECAMP LEVIATHAN.QUICK FACTS: ❀ The Adamant crashed three years ago, killing a considerable percentage of its passengers and crew.
❀ 12,000 passengers and crew members survived the crash. This population includes a mix of the military crew members, laborers, and once-wealthy elites who purchased passage, all of whom represent a diverse range of ethnicities, ages, and genders.
❀ The Adamant's original purpose was a colonizing mission. Ethyraia was not their destination.
BASECAMP LEVIATHAN
The Basecamp is situated inside the body of the dragon. Said dragon, were it alive, would be approximately almost two
kilometers from nose to tailtip, and would have had an impressive wingspan of almost twice that! No one is sure when the dragon came to rest, but it was long enough now for its bones, made of no material known to man, to petrify. Blue-white crystals grow along the exposed parts of the bone, where the desiccated flesh has pulled back. The dragon seems to have passed away peacefully — there is no indication of damage or trauma to its skeleton, it simply seems to have curled up as if sleeping. Its massive wings are folded almost protectively overhead, and cover a significant portion of the surrounding land, protecting it from acid rainfall and providing shelter to the humans that live there.
QUICK FACTS: ❀ Survivors, both passengers and crew members, live at the basecamp. It is the size of a small town.
❀ The settlement is made up of salvage from the Adamant. For example, the basecamp pulls its water from a nearby ocean via a desalination pipeline built by the crew and laborers and powered using the Adamant's reactor.
❀ Communal, rotational sleeping is mainly for single crew members (and hatchlings).
❀ The basecamp is now riddled with sinkholes in the SHOWERS, MEMORIAL WALL, and GYMNASIUM locations.
LIFE & CULTURE
LAWS & JUSTICE
Because these people have had to rely on each other in times of great stress and fear, a foundation of trust and respect has been established among the Adamant's survivors — they self-govern through neighborhood watches and civilian committees for most matters that we would generally see as requiring policing. Most matters are settled between affected individuals because We Live In A Society, dangit! If two people get into a fist-fight, there's a sort of 'just let them get it out' mentality, and generally others will only intervene if it looks like one or the other might get seriously hurt!
There are rules, of course, as with any society — theft and violent crimes are especially heinous in a population that is already struggling to survive. To avoid wasting resources or lives, crimes are primarily settled in a restorative justice framework. Theft, for instance, is socially discouraged because everyone is in the same desperate situation. And while it wouldn't earn someone jail time, anyone caught stealing (these people generally try to share what they have in terms of food, clothing, resources, etc) would need to return the items in question and be subject to the collective disappointment of the others. They may also end up doing the less desirable jobs, etc, but once they have made their amends, there would be no further communal shaming. They would simply be welcomed back into society. (However, because the cultural norm is to share, there is little incentive for people to steal to begin with.)
In addition, in any case where there is a wronged party, that party engages with a civilian council (think a jury of peers) to determine the penalty. The above is an example of theft, but for murder, rape, and other violent crime, exile is not uncommon. Of course, on a planet like Ethyraia, exile from under the dragon's wings is practically a death sentence. No one can say for sure if anyone who has been exiled survived — they're not welcome at the basecamp anymore. (Anyone inquiring directly about these crimes might get an odd look — they are quite rare.)
One of the things that is somewhat rigidly enforced is the safety of the basecamp. If someone through direct action (deliberate sabotage) or passive inaction (falling asleep on a perimeter shift) causes harm to the Basecamp's citizenry, there are different ways of dealing with these individuals. For the former, a jury will often resort to exile. To the latter, the individual will spend time in the very cells that the hatchlings were in. The wronged party determines the length of time they are to serve, with the imprisoned is only fed if people choose to bring them food. An example of this might be: if someone falls asleep on perimeter, and this allows a creature to sneak into the camp and kill a member of someone's family, the surviving member would engage with a civilian council to determine the length of their sentence. These sentences are generally not long — they really cannot afford to lock an able-bodied person up indefinitely unless their crimes are especially egregious. Another sentence for this manner of crime may be: having to take on the work or duties of the deceased person for a certain period of time, which is done so that they may understand the full scope of what the community has lost with their error.
Crime is also deterred in other ways. Security confiscates communal weapons found among the general NPC population, as they are not permitted to be carried within the basecamp. Even security officers surrender any communal weapons at the end of their shift, as there are no exceptions to this rule. But speaking generally, they would not call themselves a police force, nor are they treated as one by the basecamp citizens. (As the security force determines that characters found weapons in those eggs, they will be deciding what to do about weapons that are clearly not communal, settling eventually on the decision that they won't be seizing anyone's personal property, especially those who have so little to begin with.)
Captain Childe doesn't tolerate abuse of power, and she's set the tone for the rest of them to follow. She digs latrines with the best of them, takes the same rations and works the same shifts — and she expects every single person from the Adamant's remaining Naval crew to do the same. The civilians respect the crew and do not feel afraid or nervous around them as a result.
DAILY LIFE
The daily grind in Ethyraia seems to be fairly... well, grind-y. There are three shifts: A, B, and C. Most departments follow the A shift, where folks get up in the morning and follow the schedule laid out below. B shifters start in the afternoon and take their midday breaks overnight. C shifters are the nightshifters who work through the break times laid out here, and have A shift's times off.
People wake early to manage their chores in the early hours. Everyone breaks during the hot hours of the afternoon to nap or lounge around, sometimes they take in the daily movie at the Theatre. Then, it's back to work for the afternoon shift. People generally work from 7 AM to 11 AM, and then have between 11 AM and 3 PM 'off', then work again until 11 PM.
Ideally, the Adamant's survivors will work 4 days and has 3 off in a week, but oftentimes this is cancelled due to need. No one is expected to work through injuries.
It's not mandatory that the Hatchlings work, but those that don't pull their weight will find themselves shunned by the community. The quality of their rations, and their overall care will decrease. There isn't enough to go around on the best days, much less when someone isn't contributing at all!
If you think your character wouldn't be interested in helping or pitching in, that's fine! However, please be aware of the consequences that will follow — a decrease in NPC esteem, support, etc. The NPCs understand that the Hatchlings didn't ask to be here, but they simply do not have the resources or manpower to accommodate for anyone who doesn't want to work or assist in engaging with local infrastructure. Your character will not be ICly ousted from the basecamp, but they will experience a poorer quality of food and little social engagement from the NPCs. Even Captain Childe picks up a trenching tool with the best of them!
Additionally, no one forces characters to remain at the Basecamp! If they would like to leave and go exploring on their own, that is perfectly welcome. Errands outside of the basecamp should follow the guidance laid out on our PLOT ENGAGEMENT page; be sure to submit a request if your mission demands it. If your character leaves the basecamp and wanders outside the Leviathan, they may begin to notice that what they perhaps took as a giant cave is actually an enormous dragon. Everything they see that seems 'human made' will look varying levels of worn down, patched, repaired and patched again. This is not a place of prosperity and happiness. Many people are recently injured, or have new scars or missing limbs.
What kind of missions can my character go on without a plot request?
❀ Small groups of fewer than 5 characters can repeat missions that have already been completed.
❀ These missions may be to harvest supplies from the surrounding area, chart land nearby, or retrieve medical supplies or rations from the Adamant.
❀ These groups will not find anything new, and these missions take several days and yield small rewards.
AID STATION
Near the entrance between the ribs is the aid station, positioned in such a way that anyone returning from beyond the basecamp will have assistance as quickly as possible. It's somewhat well-stocked with medicine, antibiotics, ultrasonics for broken bones, dressings and sutures, as well as a 3-D printing set-up for casts, braces, etc. There are devices that can do x-rays, diagnose various maladies and diseases, et al.
However, it should be noted: the supplies aren't limitless. Many people will forego pain medication for minor to moderate injury to stretch their supplies. 'Dressings' are, at this point, generally the rags of clothing too worn to be functional. Some people have turned to the local flora in attempts to isolate useful compounds that can then be refined into medicines.
Presently, the aid station is three heavy tents that have been cobbled together. There are 'bunks' that were pulled from the wreckage of the Adamant. Old mattresses that have been stitched and repaired. Everything is clean, but worn and close to breaking down. The 3-D printer routinely has to be fixed. Characters with knowledge of advanced machinery (remember, it's the year 2801 by the Earth calendar, a mechanic from the 1970s might be a little out of their depth!) may be able to offer assistance in fixing it up or improving its design.
The Aid Station is being run by a very harried woman named Sunya Hyacinth, who fits the description of 'overworked and underpaid' to a T. She doesn't have time to reach out to any recruits, but if you wander into the Aid Station you might find yourself being put to work. Just be careful — if she decides you have higher accreditation than she does, she might just decide to dump her practice on your lap for a week so she can go take a vacation!
Standard injuries you may see include acid burns, broken bones, and bad cuts and gashes out of the engineering department who's hard at work repairing the sink holes around the base. Some of the 'ill' being treated will also have psychological effects. PTSD is common, and there are no officially 'trained' counsellors, just people who try to listen and help.ARMORY
The armory is where the weapons salvaged from the Adamant and anything made locally are stored when not in use. Local ordinance prohibits carrying the communal weapons on one's person in the Basecamp Leviathan — but how strictly that's enforced sort of depends on how much Security likes you. That being said: weapons that belong to a character, were brought from their canon or that they made, are exempt from this.
The 'guns' are essentially mini-railguns that use a magnetic track instead of a gunpowder propulsion system. The rounds from these railguns are capable of punching through a foot of solid steel. They are used sparingly, because rounds are difficult to recover and build with the limited resources on Ethyraia, so many NPCs will carry a gun for back-up and a spear of some sort for defense or hunting.
Discharging a firearm from the armory requires a written report on why. PCs will not be able to take guns from the armory at first, until they are 'trusted' by Security Officer Leon Rémi, whose security office operates out of the armory, so please feel free to work ICly at facilitating positive relationships with NPCs until such time as your character would be given a freer rein. BATHS
Water is brought in via a series of pipes from the ocean several miles away. This was one of the very first projects that the survivors of the Adamant launched — these pipes are buried several meters underground to avoid the acid rain and interference from local animals. The water is desalinated and circulated for drinking, and water recycling is very important. Every form of wastewater is reclaimed and utilized in some respect, but one luxury that the people afford themselves here is a public bath. Heated by thermal units from the Adamant sunk into the ground, the baths are quite nicely heated and the water circulated on a cycle. The baths can comfortably fit 15-20 people at once, and the water is about 1.6 meters deep. In times of water scarcity or when there has been damage to the pipes, this luxury is the first to be shut down. Still, like the theatre's entertainment system, it's one of the little luxuries that keep people feeling sane and somewhat normal.
BUNKS
Most characters sleep in shifts and don't really have rooms of their own unless they are higher ranking military (i.e., officers) or civilian family units, who generally build little sheds or lean-tos where they can have privacy. Teenagers and anyone elderly or injured are permitted to sleep in the theatre.
Those that are single or otherwise unattached are generally in the hammock rack — a series of hammocks slung between the dragon's ribs in the far-back of the Basecamp. In addition to hammocks there are a few floor-level bunks. Some of these hammocks and bunks are shielded by makeshift tents to afford a bit of privacy for those who are co-sleeping.
PCs will be expected to either sleep in the hammocks in similar shifts (i.e., giving their spot up when they leave it) or they are free to build their own dwelling. If characters are hoarding resources to build themselves houses or similar, however, it will reflect badly on them, and the NPCs may grow mistrustful and hostile.
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
The Engineering Corps is always looking for new members who can contribute to some of its long term infrastructure solutions. The head of this department, Thorkil, is a large man with a booming voice who brews moonshine on the side and is the sort of bright, cheerful soul that can light up a room when he enters it. He is friendly with all the Hatchlings unless given a reason to be otherwise, and he is also very patient, gentle and understanding. If your character has demonstrated engineering skills of any coat or color (mechanical? electrical? outdated by hundreds of years? more advanced by a millennium?) please expect that Thorkil will ask if they'd be willing to help out!
Thorkil has welded a sign to a post out front, cheerfully painted by a gaggle of children to say "WELCOME!" Children crowd around the area for stories of Thorkil's tattoos.
The Engineering division has salvaged its tools and scrap from the Adamant’s wreckage, so it has all of the essentials from metal mills to CNC routers to circuitry tools. A holo projector throws schematics on the wall — a drill, a few potential shelter ideas for long-term settlement, and a new communications tower.
The Communications Department, headed up by the AI Cartagena, works out of the engineering labs. This department helps with disseminating useful information to the population, as well as managing the intranet and its infrastructure. Cartagena will be quick to point out (cheerfully) that they don't get days off and would love for someone else to make announcements once in a while! A small group of the communications department is also hard at work on a distress signal, persevering in the belief that someone will come looking for the wayward Adamant.
GYMNASIUM
A training ground staged within the southern fifth of Basecamp Leviathan, the gymnasium is a series of obstacle courses and weight-lifting equipment. Much of it is scavenged — weight bars were repurposed from the Adamant, plates welded on, that sort of thing. Many of the obstacles in the course are built from pieces of dragon bone, pieces of oddly floating rock make for great platforming races! There are climbing walls, slack lines (some dangerously high!), and netting woven together from one of the rare local plants that doesn't cause averse side effects. The gymnasium is roughly thirty thousand square feet — lots of room to run, play and train your heart out. It's an important feature in the crew's life as it's one of the only places to have any sort of recreational activity at all, so it's quite active.
THE GYMNASIUM IS CURRENTLY CLOSED DUE TO SINKHOLE.
HYDROPONICS
Hundreds of hydroponic units are set up in a small farming warehouse at the far edge of the basecamp, nearest the desalination pipeline. These gardens farm fresh produce to supplement the rations that survivors eat, but it's clearly not outfitted to support upwards of ten thousand people. These units were salvaged from the Adamant — the colonization mission never intended to work on hydroponics, but always intended to farm the land of the planet they settled. Many members of the agricultural department work on side projects here, such accommodating new crops to the Ethyraian soil and trying to figure out how to help crops survive the acid rains. Some of the agricultural folks seem convinced that building a long-term settlement on Ethyraia is the answer, not a distress call.
MESS HALL
The mess hall is where one would go to find food. They are still living off the flash-dried contents of the Adamant's stores — but they are beginning to run dangerously low, as the food was meant to only serve the members of the crew and not the civilians in cryostasis. It was always expected that once they found a suitable planet, the Adamant's AI and considerable robot servitor fleet (mostly destroyed in the crash) would be able to use the seed bank to create a sustainable food source. However, the land in Ethyraia is unsuitable to Earth-based crops (the soil is far too acidic for almost every type of Earth plant) and with the majority of the servitor robots destroyed, they have only the salvaged hydroponic gardening kits from the Adamant to account for fresh food, and the production yield is not high enough for everyone.
Rationing is strictly enforced — everyone gets a side of fresh vegetables twice monthly, and otherwise they are pretty much stuck with flash-dried food and the occasional non-toxic/poisonous local animal and plant life.
SCHOOLYARD
Anyone under eighteen is expected to attend school, which is a small, open-walled tent up north near the dragon's shoulders. Though both NPCs and PCs alike are welcome to blow the schooling off, there may be consequences for the PCs doing so — the NPC population would not look kindly on a group that doesn't protect and care for their children. It is recommended that school-aged PCs attend at least one class a day.
There are also optional specialized classes for those between the ages of 18-22, and being enrolled will defer them from mandatory patrols and resource runs. These classes teach medicine and engineering and other essential skills. PCs are welcome to take part in these courses or, if they are skilled enough in their field, to teach them. Please CONTACT THE MODS if you'd like to have your character teach a class, as there needs to be both a need and a valid reason why their particular skillset would be valuable to the survivors of the Adamant. Probably, no one is going to care very much about what the Romans were up to in 121 BCE — but a character that could teach basketweaving, or wilderness survival, or tracking would be very welcome. The NPCS come from a time when many things were automated, so although they've had a few years on Ethyraia to hone some skills, they would welcome anyone well-versed in these topics. SHOWERS
A semi-public row of cubicles with drawn curtains near the gymnasium where people can shower. The water is heated, but its flow is on a timer and will only allot 3 minutes per person.
SOME OF THE SHOWERS ARE CURRENTLY NON-OPERATIONAL DUE TO SINKHOLES. THERE MAY BE A LONG LINE.
THEATRE
The other form of entertainment in the Basecamp is a little theatre house. It's an enclosed building of sorts, again built from heavily scavenged parts and supplies. The summer production is a classic, She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen. However, after performing this for the thessyx at the talent show, the theater department is moving onto their next show — Procyonate, for which there are many props to build. This show will be ready around Halloween.
There is floor space for 500-600 people to sit comfortably on the ground and watch movies and performances. It's the only solid building structure built within Basecamp Leviathan, and it's been very heavily fortified and soundproofed. In times of danger, it also serves as a place to put vulnerable members of the population, and there are currently plans to build a bunker of sorts beneath it. Any PC may help or take the lead on this project, as it's currently stalled out due to lack of skilled manpower.
In addition to housing the arts, the theatre has a variety of Earth media — movies from the dawn of the digital age onward. Many of the movies have the capacity to be shown in true 3-D, but unfortunately they don't have the equipment or the means. (Enterprising characters may be able to help with that!) Presently, their 'entertainment' center is a projector on a flat piece of the Adamant's heat shield, which gives the images a bit of a 'curve'. The theatre can also host dances, galas, and the occasional political forum.
As the only truly fortified building in the Basecamp, the theatre doubles as a place to care for children (most of the 'young' survivors are between 13-19 now, but babies have been born to the survivors since their crash-landing!), they are seeking not only folks who can sing, write music, play instruments, paint, draw, and perform, but also anyone who excels with toddler care. Such people will be hastily recruited and put to work!
MEMORIAL WALL
A wall where people have posted tributes to those that died — either in the crash, or in the ensuing struggle over the years. There are names, pictures, dates, sometimes little figures or carvings made. Sometimes candles are lit as well — made here on Ethyraia with tallow from the local animals. This is a somber, quiet place, and seeing PCs engage with this wall in a respectful way will raise the local opinion of them. The memorial wall can be overwhelming at first. With over 50,000 dead, there is a lot to remember.
BE CAREFUL AROUND THE SINKHOLE AS YOU NAVIGATE THE MEMORIAL WALL.
SANITATION
The sanitation department operates out of a cramped closet and works mostly through electrical tunnels and alleys. They upkeep the desalination pipeline and basic structures of the basecamp, but also attend to cleaning it. They handle a lot of the day-to-day cleaning that involves sewage, garbage, et al. After all, it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it! Not only will they take just about anyone, but if they warm up to you they'll let you in on a little secret... they've totally started an underground green house where they're growing some interesting plants...
(pot, it's pot).
THE UCSS ADAMANT
The Adamant is a class M Generation Ship. Commissioned in 2781 by Eldaya Rao, it was considered almost the 'Titanic' of its day — unsinkable, unbreachable, with luxuries that the destitute on Earth could barely imagine. With the premiere technology in cryogenics, capacity for nearly seventy thousand people, its seed vault and superluminal drive, it was expected to be able to sustain its crew for hundreds of years without so much as having to change a (proverbial) light-bulb.
The Adamant smashed into Ethyraia roughly five kilometers south-west from the body of the Leviathan. Due to scavenging, acid rain and a few tangles with hostile aliens, the Adamant has been largely abandoned. Although it has only been crash-landed for three years, it seems significantly more damaged than one would expect. Enterprising characters can (rightfully) assume there is still much left to find onboard, and could easily enter the Adamant through one of the many rifts in its hull. Due to the violence of the impact (no, really, there's an impact crater) roughly a third of the passengers in stasis died. Their bodies have never been recovered, and the Adamant serves as both a warning and a tomb.
SUB-LOCATION WITHIN UCSS ADAMANT
To be added.
THE GRAVEYARDSince crashlanding on Ethyraia, the twelve-thousand survivors have faced perilous odds. Many have succumbed to illness, injury, and in very rare cases natural causes. They are buried south of Basecamp Leviathan. The grave markers are pieces of eroded metal torn off the Adamant. It looks as if several thousand people are buried here, and the graveyard itself is well-kept. It is tucked against the protective lee of a large cliff face, and has been fenced off. The graves are roughly 4 meters down to prevent scavenging animals.
SHENKSHYATKAThe above is the official Thessyxian name for what the humans have decided to colloquially call 'Jellyfish Forest'. Rather than trees, it has long, tall tendrils of some sort of quivering... red...
plant? These tendrils will reach out and grasp at anyone within reach, their touch is lightly stinging. Be careful — coming in contact with this plant can cause some rather strange symptoms in humans, such as: nausea, headaches, hallucinations, paranoia... oh, and arousal. You might get only one symptom, you might get them all! If your character ventures to the east of Basecamp Leviathan, they will find this strange forest seems to extend from a sheer dropoff towards the ocean all the way to a jagged cliff face. The only way forward is through!
The Adamant's crew will warn PCs of the forest's effects... if asked. They will also warn characters to wear full length sleeves, pants and some sort of facial covering to avoid the forest's effects. There's no antidote to the symptoms, those affected just have to tough it out. Most of its effects should be out of your system within 48 hours...
XAIQALAThe name of the Thessyxian underground city-state. Due north of Basecamp Leviathan, about thirty kilometers away. The Thessyx have been... tolerant of the humans. Amused by them, perhaps. A subterranean amphibious race, they live on the shores of a beautiful underground lake. The city-state
cannot be reached by conventional means — it requires either teleportation or a 'key' given to a character by a Thessyx NPC. These keys, if acquired, can disrupt the hardlight generators that shroud the city. However, the Thessyx do not trust easily and will be hard-pressed to give these out.
The city-state is massive, and its technology seems almost akin to magic — simple, elegant and completely lacking in external 'controls'. The Thessyx are a telepathic race, and their technological development reflects that in every facet of its integration.
More will be revealed about this race should the PCs venture to it.
DEJGAOIf one ventures east towards Jellyfish Forest, and opts to climb down the cliff-face to the ocean, they will find a small abandoned village. Parts of it look... almost human in design? But that couldn't possibly be. There is a sign nailed to a post that sports its name, DEJGAO.
No one in Basecamp Leviathan will talk about it or acknowledge its existence.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
