The Spacefarers of the Expanse
Tony Baker

(An info bundle for new spacefarers by Moil, New Spacetrader Coordinator, STCC)¹

Ok, so you really want to be a spacefarer. It’s not a good time for it, it’s not totally horrible, but it’s not the best either. The Gib-Nowan wars have abated, for the time being, who knows how long that’ll last. Long enough for them to rebuild and then find another reason to fight, no doubt, like, “I don’t like the look of you” or “get off my world, world hog, no it’s my world, no actually its mine” or “find your own Green” and so on. And since the wars lasted over a hundred years, there’s sweet little Green, Grey, food, devices – you name it, we don’t have it. And actually that’s a good reason to be a spacefarer, cause everybody needs everything, if you have scrounged together the means to bring it to them, then you’re gonna do well.

Your crew is so important, without a good crew that works well together you’re crammed. You have to have a good seer, one who can work the mirrors while blindfolded, and they have to know the flags, reading and sending. There’s a lot of complicated flaggin to be done, in all of the different languages, if they don’t know them, you’re likely to bring down all kinds of terror on yourself. Your loadmaster, or taskmaster, or taskloader, whatever you kids are calling it these days – so very important! They set up your trades, they move the goods, they stow the goods, but not only this, and people overlook this, your loadmaster and your loaders ultimately protect your barge. When you’re being boarded by Maclogs or when you’re planetside. The more loaders you can hire, the better. You need an info-doc, but you won’t find one. And if you can get a good co-pilot, one who you can really confide in, well, you’re luckier than most. And you’ve obviously got yourself a tamed Atom to take you through the stars, and I don’t wanna know how you got that, cause I only know of a few on Triple-G, and they’re all taken or grounded.

Remember, you still have to watch out for Gibs and planet-hoppers!² A lot of spacefarers are thinking now their teeth are dull, but they’re hungry for supplies and will find ways to justify a boarding, or maybe they have gone war-crazy and attack – your seer has to watch for the signs. And these new Gordions, they’re meaner than the G-PH’s,³ somehow, and some crazy-brave info collectors have gleaned that they think they have come “home” to Triple-G, and are looking to wipe it clean of us. Yes, I know this could be an exaggeration, but they’ve been real active in the Interior, and they aren’t friendly, so again, watch for the signs.

Space-piracy is going to be on the rise real soon, mark my words, those crammers will be back up to speed now without the G-PH’s tearing everyone up. I’ve heard word from down in the Exterior that the Molvins have already been at the Hameronians and the Lizardos and the Iman. One group of garbage replaces another hey? If you’ve got any bomb-hurlers or rock-chuckers on board, please don’t use them on pirates, you’ll become a “marked ship” which they lovingly pass on to almost all spacefarers, and all of our lives will be made the harder.

Now in terms of the space creatures, the Expandor is inactive, thank the Gods, somewhere in between Meteora and Buck Tasso, but watch the flag sites for info. There aren’t that many flag sites out there right now, we’re going to try and get some rebuilders out there – by the way – if you want to be part of a rebuilding team we could really use you… think about it? For the good of neutral people everywhere? The Consumer is some ways up from Triple-G and hasn’t proven to be a threat, but watch out anyway. Dreven the Gas Giant has been spotted a ways off Dorgas. And – I shouldn’t even need to say it – watch for Scavengers! A good seer can spot them before it’s too late. They’re bigger and more frequent, feeding off the dead hulks of more than a hundred years of war, and if they get close enough you are totally crammed. Remember their whips flash that purpley color if they’re hungry, and are dull if they aren’t. They have a dark-black trail behind them that your seer should be able to spot from way off.

If you, by some kind of crazy-luck, find a lost world or get any other info you think will be useful to the info-collectors, please mark it down in your Info-Log with the official Info-Marker. All barges should have an Info-Log, and you can get an Info-Marker from the NNTIS.⁴ Give yourself a day to get the marker, there’s lots of paperwork, justifying, and walking involved. There are rewards for logging worlds and useful info, and penalties for useless info, so be careful with your logs. The rewards are nothing to flag home about, but they are going to get better in the coming years I hope.

There’s more, but I don’t want to scare you off completely, just be safe, listen to your seer, don’t do anything stupid, keep your head inside the gates, and don’t go bad on us out there, there’s already enough bad, OK?

Good trading, safe journey

¹Space Trader Coordination Center
²slang term for Nowans
³slang for Gibs and Nowans
⁴New New Towne Info Station

Exhibition date: January 10 to February 16, 2008
Artist talk: Saturday, January 12, 1pm

Link to a game website incorporating pictures from this exhibition

gallery    The New Alchemists    Jude Norris

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