Oodnadatta Belt[]
Tags: Lonely military patrol base staff (see: Military Base Farlight), War between rival rocks
The Oodnadatta Belt is part of the Amedere Orbere system in Hex #0303. From space far off the asteroid belt looks no different than any other. Upon closer inspection, there are a number of ships, stations and bases in the area, and a large amount of movement.
A Small Excerpt from the "Life in the Belt"
"As you fly your small ship into the Oodnadatta Belt, your ship starts to dodge, and weave through the asteroids in the area. Suddenly an asteroid changes course, moving across the ships path. The ship takes evasive manoeuvres, and you hear the sound of a crash somewhere along the side of the ship.
You look back and now spot the asteroid moving towards a second, much larger asteroid. As you look down at the destination of the smaller asteroid, you see a large, strange large device pointing, being handled by tiny specs of men, on the larger surface, a strange glow coming from the end of the device, pointing out. You start to make out additional infrastructure on this larger asteroid, windows, doors, vents, hangers, all with the tiny figures of people moving around.
You suddenly see a shower of debris rain down upon this this strange device from space. It appears to be small chunks of rock, flying at high speed, seemingly aimed at the device. You follow the rocks to their source, another group of men on a different large asteroid, more rocks being propelled from their weapons. Next to the men another similar large device is being wheeled by men into position, it starts to glow.
The asteroid stops, stalling in mid-flight. Two opposing forces holding it centered. You hear over open-comms “F@#$ OFF! THAT’S OUR ROID”. The response comes through, “Not likely, its Tarma’s now.” You notice the 1st asteroid start to shoot rocks back at the new enemy.
You notice, as you fly away, the asteroid itself continues to stay steady between the two large asteroids. Instead both asteroids start to creep towards each other, starting to gain speed on what is seemingly a collision course with each other."
Mining[]
The asteroids themselves are made of highly magnetic materials, however are of little worth to most companies. Often referred to as slag, or waste, the bulk of the asteroids are discarded.
Within the asteroids is Teuthemite, a unique variation on an expensive material used in the construction of force-fields, both for personal use, and for those used to protect ships.
Mining has been conducted within this area for around 200 years.
Mining is conducted on large asteroids, mining deep into the core, or by collecting smaller asteroids through modified large mag-tech attraction-beams. Asteroids are cut with conventional cutters, or laser cutters, depending on the wealth of the operator. Once extracted, Teuthemite is sold on through various brokers to interested corporations.
More details on the mag-tech is discussed further below.
Infrastructure[]
Semi-temporary bases are typically set up by groups on major asteroids. These bases allow for internal mining of the asteroid, along with a base of operation for the group. These contain living quarters, storage, life support, equipment, energy production and all other required facilities for the mining operation.
Most facilities, while once starting out in good condition, have had decades of relocated to new asteroids, rained down on by rocks, patched, repaired and just generally abused. There is not a single panel that likely doesn’t have a dent on it somewhere.
Mag-tech[]
The main piece of mag technology utilised for mining are custom-made magnetic attraction beams for capturing nearby smaller asteroids. These look like strange towers on magnetic wheels. These are man-handled into position by men, powered by long extension leads back to power sources on the asteroid. When powered up, these glow with a strange hue.
When powered, these can be used to attract other asteroids, or by reversing the operation of the devices, repel asteroids. The strength of these devices decreases with distance.
The other weaponry utilised in Oodnadatta is smaller, personal custom mag-weaponry. These slag-throwers are used to shoot asteroid waste towards the opponent.
All magtech equipment would be unrecognisable within the Imperium, who are used to seeing ACRE or Trilliant, brand gear. The weaponry has easily interchangeable components so they can be adapted or repaired easily.
Transportation[]
Larger asteroids can be steered very slowly and imprecisely though use of their mag-towers. These towers push or pull on other asteroids to move themselves around. Some also have some sort of propulsion systems to allow a level of movement. However fuel is in high demand here and moving an asteroid is quite costly, and clumsy.
Modified ships called Roid-Hoppers are used to effectively jump from asteroid to asteroid. These small ships contain the ability to relocate a small group of people, or up to 4 people and an amount of Teuthemite to another asteroid. These ships contain mag-feet on four outwardly extended legs. They contain a large thrusting-capacity from underneath, and a limited amount of propulsion to flip and steer the ship. Roid-Hoppers have no on-land movement capabilities and do not contain life-support.
Standard small space-ships are found here, but often stay outside of the Belt, fearing damage.
Locations[]
The majority of bases and action is clumped into one area of the belt. This area of the belt has a higher concentration of Teuthemite than the other areas and so has much more mining activity. The ability for asteroids to be steered as allowed them to group up within this area. A number of current locations of interest are present. These are described below:
Military Base Farlight (a.k.a. Nolan's Last Respite)[]
Owner: Shield of Light
Nolan's Last Respite was a military outpost built prior to Nier 6. It was designed to refuel the Shield of Light's patrol vessels and observe system traffic. After the PSI's regulations were in place, the installation was used to screen planet-bound ships for individuals with MES. However, with the construction of Nier 6, the transfer of PSI inspectors to Nier 6, and the agreements made between PRISM, Avant G.R., and themselves, Nolan's Last Respite is now primarily limited to observational status. It was later renamed in a bill supported by The PRISM Network to Farlight.
Tags: Lonely military patrol base staff, War between rival rocks
Bremerhaven[]
Type: Asteroid Base Owner: Workers with UPC connections
Tags: Failed rebels from another world, Base needs a new asteroid
Originally this mining station was owned the company Bremerson' 'Roids and Droids, which was based on Teuthem. Since then, the extra workers hired from Echo who were associated with the MDV, have taken over the station, only to realize that it has been mostly mined out, and possessed little to no resources left to mine. The rebels have been since peeling their eyes onto Tarma 1, a large and Teuthemite rich
Tarma 1[]
Type: Asteroid Base Owner: Independent - associated with Vagrant
Tags: Independent asteroid prospectors, Fighting another asteroid
The largest, and most well-equipped of the small 'roid kingdoms of the Belt, and thus at constant war with almost everybody else. They have been able to hire, and pay off Vagrant pirates to keep themselves safe for now, but it is only a matter of time when the Vagrants decide that it is maybe better, if they just take over operation themselves.
It is made up of many other 'roids collected into one, by mag-tech attractors, and small mining hatches connecting them. It's not safe to say the least.
Crater 1[]
Type: Crashed Space Station Owner: Independent - associated with Vagrant
Tags: Deranged but brilliant scientist, Foreign sabotage attempt
Crater-1 is generally avoided by most people, even Vagrants other than those who belong to the Unborn, a sub-faction mostly made up of synths, who visit for one specific reason. Marquis Cygnus de Magaule Pierre-Maurice, more popularly known as "Makesynth". A deranged man who has made it his home after the Bombing of Gats. He and the Unborn are trying to create new synth vats in the seemingly abandoned station. Most people know to avoid this area of the belts, or run into the mines laid by the man. Or worse, an Unborn ship.
Same say Makesynth is himself a synth clone of the old Cygnus noble and has gone mad when he found this out, some say all Cygnus were insane to begin with, and some, even whisper that he already made clones of many of the nobles of the sector and replaced them with his own synthetic agents.
Cayon 2[]
Type: Space Station Owner: Independent - associated with Vagrant
Tags: Dangerously odd humans, Supply base for pirates
The Cayon-2 Space Station is an old mining station within the Amedere Orbere system. After it was almost mined out, it´s occupants retooled it as an ship repair shop and cybertech clinic that serves anyone with enough money to procure it´s services. Thanks to their indiscriminatory nature they are often visited by pirates that want to upgrade their ships or themselves. Due to logistic problems the grav-generator for this station was never delivered and the occupants had to live in Zero-G. Nowadays they prefer it that way.
Inhabitants[]
Cayon-2 is still inhabited by it´s first occupants. Long years of living in space have warped the people on the station. They suffer from severe loss of muscle-mass and most are now unable to survive anywhere planet-side. On the flip-side, they have heavily altered their bodies with cyberware to adapt to an life in space. This means that many of the long-term Cayons can survive extended periods of time (sometimes up to hours) without oxygen or in the harsh environment of outer space. Due to that some parts of the station are hostile to all unaltered humans and can only be visited in space-suits. Lack of oxygen and shielding from the harsh radiation of space make parts of the station deadly for visitors and help the people there to defend what is theirs from outsiders.