Issue 12

So, Ive outlined the situation, the player characters and their connections for my Serenity/FireflyDeadland Reloaded game. Ive given them the sketchiest of bases, people to interact with and a general goal. Now Ill outline some more of the environment they find themselves in.

ita, the s & h are silent

Ive mentioned before that Ita is a arid planet. Heres some more info on it. Ita is about the size of Mars, with an equatorial radius of 3400 km (approx. 2040 miles). The surface area is 145 million km2 (equivalent to about 0.29 Earth That Was). The volume and mass are 1.6 x 1011 cubic km (0.15 Earth That Was) and 6.4 x 1023 kg (0.1 Earth That Was). Gravity is Earth That Was equivalent and the day is 19.1 standard hours. Albedo is 0.85 (bright enough to blind unprotected eyes so wear your sunglasses!). Ita does not have any tilt, resulting in no discernible seasons. The arid region extends from the equator to about the 60th parallel. The surface is sandy and bare rock with some desert plant life. While there are few large bodies of water in the arid region, the polar regions have plentiful ice packs allowing the Alliance base to have accessible water. None of this is remotely interesting to the players (with the exception of becoming blinded by the white sand and the hours in a day) but is included for those GMs who want to be able to spout this info off in the event someone actually has a questionOtherwise, its just filler.

ship wreck'd

A majority of the Independent and Alliance spacecraft hulks are littered around the equator to the 30th parallel, with a few here and there to about the 45th, where the Alliance base is located (as the weather there is less extreme than at the equator). The planet is protected by a ring of 12 armed satellites in geosync orbit, capable of taking on several Alliance frigates and more than able to shoot down small stock freighters stupid enough to attempt to break atmo on a thieving run. With the data provided to ground control, the Alliance base is aware of every ship that gets within 30,000 km or so of Ita. The satellites are serviced by the ground base on a regular

issue 12
basis and resupplied every two years (or sooner if weapon levels reach below a certain level). The 479th usually has 2 fighters in the air on most days, checking the satellites and doing a surface scan to detect if any of the hulks have been disturbed. Most fly time is limited, but a ordering snafu recently provided them with a surplus of ship fuel (seems to be a recent overbuy on the part of Alliance Command).

ground control to major tom

The 479th Mule, Gravedigger and Support Unit is based somewhat comfortably in the Independent Battle Cruiser Hera Ascendant. While the engines have been mothballed (at least by appearances, they are actually fully functioning), the weapon systems are operational and control the airspace to within 1200 km distance (ground and orbit) of the base. In the event of an emergency, the Hera is able to liftoff the planet but no one in Alliance Command is aware of this as of yet (General Zook made it a priority to be able to escape or defend the planet if need be and so ordered the crew to requisition parts from equivalentclass capital hulks on planet). General Zook has forbidden cutting into the frame or changing the plumbing of the ship (desiring to be able to gain vacuum if necessary) but few would want to open a window to view the surrounding sands or let in more heat from outside. At night, they vent the hot air from the day out. A small fusion reactor in a cargo bay provides all the energy for the base, including an overtaxed atmospheric system that breaks down nearly every day, usually at the hottest point (otherwise, it keeps the base slightly cool when the sun is up, but not by much). Several of the flight bays are still used for the wing of Alliance fighters and another cargo bay contains the rest of the 479th ground vehicles and armor. Ice is collected in the polar regions and stored in an auxiliary water tank. The size of the ship means that community living quarters are plentiful and most families have expanded the usually cramped quarters into larger units. Everyone has a personal growing station in their quarters and larger pea-patches are set up throughout the ship, which increases the humidity but provides necessary vegetables and foodstuffs. It is rumored that General Zook has several beautiful rosebushes in his quarters.