Bacchanalia

Bacchanalia
Type: Terrestrial (Earthlike)
Primary Star: M9V (Red Dwarf)
Secondary Star: M7V (Red Dwarf)
Tertiary Star: M3V (Red Dwarf)
Gravity: 1.02 g
Diameter: 13,296 km
Atmospheric Pressure: 1.13 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 59% Nitrogen, 22.1% oxygen, 18.6% sulfur dioxide, trace other gases
Surface Temperature (Mean): 18 C
Day Length: 44.6 Hours
Orbital Period: 392 Days
Satellites: 1 (Maenad)
Gate Access: Martian Gate
Notes: Resources Available, Dangerous Natural Phenomena (Volcanic Activity)
Bacchanalia is a bit of an unusual planet. While in an Earthlike class, the planet is highly geologically active, agitated by tidal forces from it's large moon and trinary stars - which are bright enough to actually give it a decent amount of light and heat despite being small red stars. The main downside of the planet, aside from the volcanic activity, is the high volume of sulfur dioxide and other volcanic trace gasses, which when combined with a slight thickness to the atmosphere means Transhumans cannot breathe its air unassisted. However, this geologic activity makes Bacchanalia rife with natural resources which can be exploited, much to the chagrin of Preservationists more interested in the simple microbes still developing on the world. But, Pathfinder has not jumped to building a full blown mining colony yet. Instead, an outside investor has poured money into the world for a different project - hence the Exoplanet's name. Inspired by the autonomist colony of Carnivale, and similar projects on Krypton, the plan is to turn Bacchanalia into a tourist spot headed by York Aston. Aston was an eccentric hospitality mogul who was left with lots of cash and few holdings after the Fall, and made even more money selling his brand and other assets to various hypercorps thereafter, and he was the one to propose the resort idea to Pathfinder. He claimed to have gotten the idea reading the initial environmental report, and was reminded of an obscure fact about the making of Roman wine - using sulfur candles. Of course, Aston's "creative vision" may have gotten out of hand, with the money he's shelling out to Pathfinder making them ignore any shortcomings of his plans.
After a couple of years, the resort is functioning about as originally intended. The complex around the Gate is in a lowland valley, and is a roughly circular building of neoclassical design which resembles a shopping mall, and serves administrative duties and services short-term visitors. Here guests can purchase handmade jewelry of local gemstones, the local vintage of wine or pottery and other ceramics (Aston managed to involve many artisans by offering them room and board in addition to commissions) and many standard services such as a body bank and medical center, eateries, etc. This is also Pathfinder center of operations, home to their administrative offices, security force, and a small team of scientists who work study the planet and keep an eye on it's geologic activity, and the activity of its stars (Dubbed Moerae collectively). Rumors back in the solar system abound that Pathfinder's VP in charge, Rajni Mullur, has a large number of conflicts with Mr Aston, and as a result has basically exiled herself to the gate complex. Up a sealed tram way into the upper valley leads to the resort proper, known as Aston Bacchanalia Resort. This structure is contained in a small cluster of environment domes, with buildings once again showcasing a classical or neoclassical design. The primary function of the resort is a large hotel, which offers fine dining, fine wines, massages, saunas and natural hot springs. Aston has subverted the norm of indentures for large portions of the staff, taking an old-fashioned tactic to specifically select and competitively hire middle and upper positions, and selects mostly ex-indentures for entry-level jobs. This tactic builds political capital and employee loyalty, while only slightly affecting overall profits. This is said to be one of the areas of tension between Aston and Pathfinder. The resort also has some more traditional pastimes and amusements, simulspace areas, a swimming pool, scenic lookouts for the composition of art pieces, etc. This in general attracts a wealthy, upper crust clientele who are interested in relaxation, luxury and fine arts. The relatively small number of guests is offset by the amount of money they bring in.
Of course, Aston isn't content to stop there. He wants to expand the place into a small resort city - wide open vineyards, grounds for "olympic" style games and outdoor sports, breed Smart Horses to go riding in the hills - build proper amphitheaters for plays and other productions, and quarter all of them in the resort. His expansive ideas have given Pathfinder pause, but the extensive use of his own funds prevents them from completely blocking his priorities to expand, and foundations are being laid for these expansions, despite concerns of area stability - especially as geothermal power stations are added. Of course, the elite level of the clients and relative exclusivity of the resort has cause many rumors to start back in the Solar System, some of which may be true: that Aston's employees engage in official or unofficial prostitution, that he hand picks morphs and Egos to suit his aesthetic ideals, that exotic narcotics and drugs are produced and consumed in the resort, parties of orgiastic excess and violence abound every night and are fixed with healing vats in the morning, etc. The deliberate harkening to Roman style and fashion by Aston and the resort has done nothing to quell these rumors. Nor has subtle comparisons to the Scum enclave on Carnivale.

[Sidebar] Ecstatic Cults
Aristippus, Firewall Scanner
Rumor mill might not have this one wrong. While shitty gossip rag news loves Aston and his money, lately they've had a hard-on for his daughter, Tokyo Aston. She's been in and out of rehab and reality XP since the Fall, and was relocated to "The Resort" when it was done. Aston's nepotism is pretty well known though - and not long after she was placed in charge of managing a private villa for an "Patrician" clientele on the end of the expanded site. Privacy is guaranteed in this executive package, so actual intel is pretty scarce, but HUMINT on the ground is painting an unusual picture. Growth of experimental petals, mandatory-mind altering drugs in the enviro systems (though a group of transhumans high as a kite on Orbital Hash, Hither and Risk are probably pretty fun to be around), psychosurgical edits on employees, illicit forking and the like are the lowball of the spectrum. What is most interesting here is not her selection of entertainment, but that she seems to be interested in developing new ones - she's managed to bribe a number of leaders in the fields of psychosurgery, narcoalgorithms and XP production to the club and given them quite a bit of cash to throw around on their "budgets" - not all of which says at the villa. We aren't sure if York knows what she's up to, he signs off on her expenses but we can't tell if he's complicit, or just ignores it. What's worse is that Tokyo's wishlist gets more exotic and out there each time she sends an invoice back through the Gate. Latest reports have her trying to hunt down samples of stuff from Exoplanets, Factors, bleeding edge tech from companies like Cognite - even some rumors she might be looking into some scary advanced computing systems. And then intel on the ground at the resort is pretty weird too. Pathfinder security responding to guest calls for assistance at the Villa, only to be turned away at the door and the client shows up find the next day "nothing was wrong", Tokyo practically shanghai-ing staff she likes to the Villa where they either don't return, or seem "off" to their coworkers when they return, the weird ass "prop" blueprint orders she puts through the fabbers. We're past cheap masquerade masks and sex toys here. Ceremonial robes, art pieces of Tokyo which resemble religious iconography, chemicals and drugs which have no place in an orgy, even some stuff which resembles torture devices. Obviously, if it's just people it's no real skin off our stacks, but we might actually want to get eyes on what the fuck she thinks she's doing out there, this is the kind of shit which blows up in our faces in like two years when she decides the ultimate ecstasy is to plug everyone in to her "godhead" and see what happens when they all experience it at once, or something.