Bu and Embla’s Guide to the Starports of the Marches
INTRODUCTION
Follow Bu and Embla, Droyne and Hlanssai, as they carve a path through the Spinward Marches, visiting notable starports along the way. This collection of diary entries, drawings, items, ships and people allows you to follow in their footsteps.
Glisten, Spinward Marches
EXCERPT FROM EMBLA’S PERSONAL DIARY
Bu found an advert today written by the Glisten Institute of Planetological Studies that invites future scholars to tour the institute prior to joining the facility. This opens a few possibilities for us, least of which being the fact that we could soon become scholars in our own right. Nothing would please me more, as I would finally have a primary research paper published under my name. I have spent hours today convincing Bu we should attend one of these tours but, so far, she seems unconvinced. It may be the new comforts afforded to her by the designers of Edenelt; since outfitting her stateroom she has left it for nothing other than base needs.
THE STARPORT
Banfi starport at Glisten (A000986-F) is immense, rivalling Mora’s Marchkeep Station in size. It is a completely artificial structure, composed of numerous attached pods, all of which share a central axis. Most of the pods sport extensions, spires, tubes and other protuberances, which lends the structure a decidedly asymmetrical look. The aesthetically pleasing original design has been beset by add-ons, modifications and in-progress construction, making it look perpetually unfinished. Despite this, there is method to the madness, although it takes an asteroid belt civil engineer to recognise it. All of Banfi’s additions are strictly managed in such a way that traffic to and from the starport is not impeded. Zoning laws, enforced by the starport authority, ensure that added structures do nothing to prevent the ease with which visitors dock and do business at the station. Banfi’s administrators care about the reputation of their starport and while they do not stand in the way of progress, they do not allow it to occur haphazardly. Unlike most habitats in the system, Banfi is not a hollowed out asteroid; however, most of the material used to build it was derived from materials extracted from the system’s two asteroid belts. While they are not technically part of its structure, there are always one or two small, metal-rich planetoids attached to the outer structure of Banfi, being stripped of their resources for new construction projects.
Banfi contains all of the necessary facilities one would expect to find at a starport of its stature, including administrative offices, repair facilities and trading stations. The latter are among the most expansive in the Domain of Deneb, with a throughput of thousands of ships per week, ranging from tramp traders to enormous megafreighters. An urban subdivision called the Nexus is the focal point, serving as the administrative brain of this immense and complex starport.
Due to the dispersed structure of Banfi, there are multiple docking stations intended for intra-structure travel. Most substructures have basic amenities – their analogues on terrestrial cities would be ‘boroughs’ or districts – but for specific purchases or facilities travel to the specialised sites might be necessary.
Banfi was named for the leader of Ammeed Mining, the first company to stake claims in the Glisten system. While the company was eventually eclipsed by megacorporations, the contributions of the company and its founder were never fully forgotten and the starport was named in her honour.
GLISTEN
Glisten, which was once called Gliss 10, the tenth numbered asteroid of the inner belt of the star Gliss, is the seat of government and home to the system’s largest population centre, called Glisten City. Four other major asteroids were eventually co-located with Gliss 10 to form modern Glisten. The five asteroids are not interconnected but their positions relative to each other are assiduously maintained by gravitic technology. Banfi Starport is co-located with this cluster of asteroids, making it easily accessible to Glisten City via shuttle.
The government of Glisten is called the Glisten Coordinating Authority (GCA). The GCA was formed centuries ago by the altruistic chief executive of a relatively minor corporate player in the system. After Glisten was originally colonised in 298, belters soon discovered that the two asteroid belts in the system were rich in lanthanum and rare earth minerals, both highly coveted by industries throughout Charted Space. The Gliss system was soon set upon by megacorporations, Sternmetal Horizons and Ling Standard Products, both of whom vied for supremacy. As the system became more populated, its citizens, spread throughout thousands of asteroids, found that megacorporate conflict made for an unstable and unseemly environment in which to operate. The GCA was formed to remedy the situation and over the centuries was adopted by all of its inhabitants. For the sake of stability, the megacorporations and disparate mining unions all came to recognize the GCA as the system’s governing body.
THE BELTS
Glisten has two asteroid belts, the Glisten Belt, located more or less in the ‘habitable’ zone of the system and the Pluvis belt, located far in the outer system. Asteroid belts, such as they are, do not conform to strict orbital belts, so while the two belts are multiple AU distant from one another, thousands of their asteroids cross paths into each nominal orbit. Collisions are a natural event that have been curtailed by artificial means in the intervening centuries. Despite this celestial intermixing of belt resources, the compositions of the belts are quite different, lending credence to the theory that the asteroids of each belt once comprised two or more distinct planets that were shattered in multiple impacts.
The Glisten Belt is home to the seat of government, including Glisten itself, five co-located asteroids which serve as the capital of the system. The Glisten Belt is the richer and more populous of the two belts, containing approximately 60 percent of the system’s inhabitants. The scout base and renowned Glisten Institute of Planetary Studies (GLIPS) is located on the asteroid Was-hin, in the Glisten belt. In addition to the study of the Glisten system’s unique composition, GLIPS scholars may also be found throughout the subsector, performing studies of other planets, using Glisten’s impressive TL15 research equipment.
The Pluvis belt is home to most of the system’s shipyards, including the famous Bilstein Yards. Bilstein is famous for manufacturing nonstreamlined spacecraft, yachts and other luxury starships and, perhaps most notably of all, the Leviathan merchant cruiser, used to expand Imperial trade beyond its borders into the dangerous unknown. Pluvis is also home to Glisten’s Imperial Naval Base.
GLIPS
GLIPS is a research institute but it is also a university with a faculty of researchers and scholars who lecture on their respective fields and produce media that is distributed throughout the sector, providing the public with the wealth of their discoveries. Traditional Socratic-style courses have class sizes that vary widely depending on the subject matter, with the most popular electives being stratigraphy and seismology. Those who join the institute as undergraduates study for one four-year term, split into year-long blocks. Each successive year allows a greater degree of autonomy and specialisation within a field. GLIPS offers the majority of i ts courses in asynchronous format, consumable by students on their own schedule and presented with top-notch multimedia, including interactive holography and immersive virtual-reality. In-person lectures are held mostly for social purposes and to enhance the relationships and networks of students and faculty alike.
GLIPS is funded primarily by interstellar governments and megacorporations, so research often has a financial incentive. This is quite common since universities depend upon funding to conduct their work, and governments and megacorporations have the resources to contribute significant sums of Credits to promising programmes. However, both are motivated by a desire to acquire financial benefits. Scholars seeking to conduct research purely for the sake of research tend to gravitate towards privately funded institutions or Imperial Research Stations, where oversight and profit motives are reduced or not present at all.
INSTITUTE HIERARCHY
The chancellor is a peer-chosen representative of GLIPS. They are responsible for touring the Spinward Marches to gain funding for a variety of research projects, new buildings and staff salaries. The position is currently held by Chancellor Aiiyyaao Steasiyaouiya Eaoayaye, a published planetologist specialising in planetary modelling.
There are three major departments within GLIPS: geology, physics and biology, each of which is led by a dean. These departments encompass the entirety of the institution and the deans are responsible for a large number of staff in each department. Despite attempts to treat the departments equally, geology receives the majority of funding, consuming over half of all available resources. The remaining portion is divided almost equally between the other two with the physics department maintaining a slight edge. Collaborating with support staff, researchers and undergraduates, the triumvirate of deans are commonly viewed as the backbone of GLIPS. Each week a faculty meeting is held wherein researchers can propose new fields of study, apply for grants and raise any issues that they might have. The deans rule on each proposal after a period of review and consultation with advisory committees.
Since the deans are responsible for a number of inter-related departments, smaller research teams can often flounder in favour of their larger counterparts. This can sometimes be due to the partisan level of care afforded to them but is more often a matter of financial inequality. Research programmes such as those exploring the depth of ice caps on a backwater planet are usually viewed as less important than, say, mapping a planet believed to be rich in resources.
Research team leaders are experts in their respective fields and often have numerous research papers attributed to them. Placement within the higher funded research teams is highly competitive and hundreds of applicants have been known to apply for just one spot. Team leaders are aware of the financial injustices they face and dissuade their post-doctorate students from performing ‘useless’ research. This has hindered the advancement of minor branches of planetology in recent years but the true extent of the knowledge that has been borne and subsequently died within GLIPS is unknown.
Senior researchers are those who have obtained a high degree of respect due to their specific knowledge. One becomes a senior researcher when a primary study is completed or when a secondary publication is deemed of ‘great scientific value’. This is where tenured posts start to become available, granting a greater degree of academic freedom. Senior researchers often work with graduate students, the intent being for them to share the knowledge they have gained.
Researchers form the basis of the institute; they range from newly fledged planetologists to those who have decades in the field. Some have no desire for advancement but others strive to climb the academic ladder with great fervour. Any author of a secondary publication, or those marked as contributors to a secondary publication, are classed as researchers. Each researcher is either granted their own office or a shared office, depending on the current importance of their research.
Post-graduates and undergraduates fall at the bottom of the GLIPS hierarchy and while most applied to study, some were sought out for their reputations and intellect. They often live within the confines of the GLIPS and post-graduate students are sometimes employed to teach basic lessons. In addition, Glisten is very much an Imperial star system, which means that one’s social standing factors heavily in the acceptance of proposals, theses and advancement. While GLIPS professes to be an unfettered meritocracy, its history is littered with examples in which status has advanced projects that would otherwise have been cast aside in favour of those with more merit.
STUDYING AT THE GLIPS
As a Pre-career option, Travellers may wish to study at GLIPS. Many graduates go on to careers within the IISS or as researchers within GLIPS. The most common applicants are undergraduates. Postgraduate applications are also accepted but these applications are more rigorously scrutinised before being accepted or denied.
Undergraduate Entry: EDU 7+
DM+1 if SOC 9 or higher
Post-Graduate Entry: EDU 8+, Honours Degree
DM+1 if SOC 9 or higher
Undergraduate Skills: Choose a level 0 and a level 1 skill from the list below. Increase EDU by +1
Post-Graduate Skills: Choose 2 level 0, a level 1, and a level 2 skill from the list below. Increase EDU by +1
Astrogation, Electronics (any), Engineer (any), Language (any), Mechanic, Navigation, Profession (any), Science (any)
Undergraduate Graduation: INT 6+. If 10+ is rolled, graduate with honours, eligible for post-graduate.
Post-Graduate Graduation: INT 8+. If 10+ is rolled, graduate with honours.
Graduation Benefits
• Graduation grants DM+2 (DM+3 if graduation was with honours) to qualify for the following careers: Citizen (corporate, colonist), Scholar, Scout (surveyor, explorer).
• Increase both of the skills chosen before by one level.
• Increase EDU by an additional +1.
PROSPECTUS
This prospectus can be used as a module selection tool for Travellers pursuing a degree. Electives can either be chosen by the Traveller or decided on a D3 roll. For each year of study, Travellers take three required modules and one elective module. Players can opt to choose modules related to the skills they picked during the Pre-career option.
EXCERPT FROM EMBLA’S PERSONAL DIARY
I wonder how much people would pay to visit planets with us? It seems like GLIPS has monetised these things pretty well. They charge students a Cr2500 fee to go on research trips! The university was incredibly interesting, though. We sat at the back of a class on magnetospheric physics and Bu seemed to enjoy it. I had no idea what they were saying but she claimed it was interesting.
