Liminal Void Phipps 23 Worldbuilding, Part 2d

December 8, 2022

Origin, 1+2a, 2b, 2c

Part 2d: Icons for “The wildly disruptive nature of independent ship ownership”

• Event: In the early days of the Jovian colonies declaring independence from Mars, Mars had shut off all wormhole beacons in an attempt to starve them out. One lone sympathetic freighter, however, brought enough supplies via off-network beacons to keep them supplied so they could maintain their resistance. That ship is long since gone, but is celebrated yearly on the Jovian Independence Day on June 1st.
• Landmark: The Deimos Travel Consortium’s logo which still emblazons that tiny moon. The Consortium collapsed after independent investigators with their own ship used it to uncover evidence that a mass transit disaster due to improper maintenance was covered up. Rumor has it they were paid handsomely by a competitor to look into it.
• Person: Josiah Flake, the current CEO of Translunar Water, was once declared legally dead. It turned out that he had faked his death and, with the help of a ship’s crew, used the opportunity to turn the tables on a would-be assassin - and the only other person in line for the executive position once his boss retired.
• Peril: If you’re supplying workers with the means to secure a better deal with themselves, watch your back. Businesses watch closely for pro-labor ship captains and find ways to make them disappear.
• Treasure: It’s said that there are still the husks of ill-fated stations in orbit around Venus, but no company in their right mind would take the chance to salvage them. Which means they’re ripe for the picking if you’ve got enough thermal shielding.
• Secret: A Terran shipyard has made a prototype of a nearly self-sustainable ship: it has a new kind of engine that requires no fuel and its air and water recyclers run at an absurdly efficient rate. It could change the limits of the galaxy forever if made at scale.

Icons done! Time to move onto phase 3.

(Read the original on cohost here!)

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