Psyche

Harker
Type: Rocky Moon
Satellite Of: Bromeliad
Gravity: .15 g
Diameter: 3275 km
Atmospheric Pressure: N/A
Atmospheric Composition: N/A
Surface Temperature (Mean): -60 C
Day Length: N/A
Orbital Period: 36 Days
Gate Access: Martian Gate (vis Psyche Station)

Bromeliad

Type: Terrestrial (Tundral)

Primary Star: M5V (Red Dwarf)

Gravity: .8 g

Diameter: 11313 km

Atmospheric Pressure: 1 atm

Atmospheric Composition: 65% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 6% CO2, 4% Hydrogen Sulfide, trace other gasses

Surface Temperature (Mean): -5 C (26 C in Volcanic Regions)

Day Length: 28.5 Hours

Orbital Period: 

Satellites: Harker

Gate Access: Martian Gate (vis Psyche Station)

The Harker/Bromeliad system is the classic example of "dirty little secret" exoplanets. It should be of intense interest to the public, and scientific data from it of utmost interest to all researchers - but it is incredibly unknown. The gate, now named "Psyche" for the station built around it, stood in the LaGrange point between Harker and Bromeliad. Harker is named after the Gatecrasher who explore the system first - and is a mostly unremarkable terrestrial moon, a rough analog for Luna. It has a decent amount of metallic and silicate elements which are drawn on for mining projects, and some water ice in frozen pockets which has been also utilized for settlers. It is not of major interest.

Bromeliad on the other hand, is quite interesting. A tundral terrestrial, slightly smaller than Earth with a slightly toxic atmosphere due to lots of volcanic activity - this geothermal heating is the only thing which keeps it remotely habitable on the far edges of its dim star's habitable zone. Most of it's surface is bare rock, or layers of water ice and other volatiles. But, large volcanic activity has cut through glacial zones in certain regions, in valleys, dormant or extinct craters, geothermal vents and hot springs and sinkholes. These regions, which give the exoplanet it's name, have a bearable (and hot even) temperature, enough humidity they have rain or mist and standing liquid water. And it is here that life has evolved on this planet.

Microbes flourish of course, both chemo and photosynthesising living in otherwise acidic or toxic pools, leeching elements from standing water or geysers, etc. While their biochemistry is slightly different, they do not lend any serious research opportunities to Transhumanity. Complex organisms do, and Bromeliad has them. Exoflora is decently diversified. Their structure and chemistry is sufficiently different from terrestrial plants most of them are indigestible to humans, but otherwise they're roughly analogous to Earth plants. Their chlorophyll analog is called "erythrophylla" because it is a majority reddish in color to our eyes, with slight tinges of orange. Many of them also process sulfur and other volcanic gas elements and secrete them to avoid toxicity, so they smell unpleasant and would be poisonous for even some of the local animals to eat. 

Initial surveys by probes launched from Harker or directly through the Gate did not indicate much interesting in the way of Exofauna. Almost all larger life on Bromeliad is semi- or fully amphibious. They exist in various pools and flows of water, or stalk overland from pool to pool, filtering microbes, eating the less toxic plants or even engaging in predatory behavior. They have a sophisticated DNA/RNA analog which makes them very resistant to diseases, parasites and carcinogens, and they have a slightly acidic biochemistry compared to Terrestrial life. Most of them are limbless or quadrupedal, or just have gripping forearms. While not considered aesthetically pleasing, they are similar enough looking to Earth animals for familiar names. Eelsnakes, Bromeliad Salamanders, Frog-monkeys, Craterskippers and Fanged Toads are examples of these identified species. Smaller life includes amphibious insect analogs, who pollinate or try and parasitize plant and animal life to survive. These can have between 4-8 limbs, and are exoskeletal, while the other macrofauna is endoskeletal - though they seem to be more like sharks with a cartilage-like substance providing most of their internal structure. 

This should make Bromeliad a prime place for colonization. With minimal mods or equipment, transhumans could visit to study the lifeforms, even see them like some kind of nature preserve or zoo. And the volcanic activity means there are valuable heavy metals in the crust to exploit, along with large volumes of water ice. And yet the Gate is mostly locked down, and there are no permanent settlements on the surface of Bromeliad. 

This is because of the other residents of Bromeliad. First discovered when a manned mission was sent to try and find a good place to set up an initial outpost by Pathfinder. Mission logs were heavily classified afterward, but if you know where to look, they can be found. The mission was wiped out to a man by an exofauna form now called "Psychovore". Pathfinder was ready to black out the address for a hostile alien life form, or possible TITAN activity, but this is where the Trinity Foundation stepped in. Officially, Trinity is a group dedicated fostering cooperation between Hypercorps in similar industries to promote the growth of the Planetary Consortium and it's Four-Point Plan. Their name is derived from their motto "Mind. Body. Soul.". But in reality, they are a shell company. Their majority stakeholders are all tied into Cognite, with the rest of their executive slots filled by people tied to corps like Ecologene, Skinaesthesia and NanoSys. 

Trinity vastly overpaid to buy exclusive rights to the Gate destination over Bromeliad, and used it to establish a largely unknown research base, Psyche Station.

Psyche

Station Type: Cluster

Allegiance: Trinity Foundation (Hypercorps) 

Primary Languages: English, Cantonese, Russian

Population: 1,200

Psyche is the variable configuration cluster habitat built by Trinity around the Gate, thus located in the LaGrange point between Harker and Bromeliad. The station's primary purpose is research and development, though it has some business elements and quarters for visitors to scope out Bromeliad, though they are rarely used. Officially, Trinity Foundation uses it as space for it's "cooperating hypercorps" to launch joint research projects based on unique conditions of the Harker/Bromeliad system. Again, the reality is that it is a black box lab, connected to major hypercorps, who can perform exotic research away from prying eyes, under conditions of total control. While the labs and their projects are frequently modified and rotated, ultimately a lot of their research is based on the data of the Psychovore species.

What Trinity has been able to determine about the Psychovore is that they are a complex, amorphous or semi-amorphous species, with usually dark coloration. Their internal structure is more advanced and complex than most other species on Bromeliad, and due to their external appearance many think it is similar to the Factors. However, their internal components and behaviors are different enough to posit they are not directly related. Additionally, Psychovores do not appear highly intelligent or sapient. They are called "Psychovores" because of their unique form of gathering metabolic energy. The flowery way to put it is they "feed on consciousness", but the most accurate way is to say that Psychovores gather metabolic energy by lethally parasitizing the nervous system. They invade and "feast" on brains and CNS systems (or analogous) and absorb neuroelectric and neurochemical energy. More complex organisms with larger brains like Transhumans have more of this energy stored and thus are more nourishing, and a more desirable prey. While feeding on less-complex organisms is enough to sustain them for extended periods, eating large entities means that they can initiate rapid cellular analog division - this allows them either to grow in size and complexity or to reproduce via fission, adding anywhere from 1-4 new forms. This reproduction is aesexual completely, and akin to the growth of a virus or bacterium - mutation and adaptation seems to occur naturally in response to environmental pressures. The worst part of the Psychovore is that appears naturally Asynchronous - that is it possesses what we call "Psi" abilities, in addition to flexible and adaptive biochemistry. Small Psychovores can create a psychosomatic "shock" in the target at a touch, and generate some kind of psychic field which provokes fear responses in large sophonts. Larger forms show more exotic abilities, able to lure targets toward them, or cause them to ignore the Psychovore from their perception. This element seems to be what peaked Cognite's interest. 

Thus, Psyche is built to contain and study these entities.

Psyche, being a large cluster, has all the normal functions you might expect from a space habitat. Given that primary access is via the Gate, there is a large central sphere built around it, which serves as a primary customs access point, with round the clock security and support shifts to move cargo and people. This area is immediately connected to central spar which provides primary support to the station's structures. Along this spar first is the Administrative modules, which handle all command and control stations, and house primary nodes for station infrastructure to be managed. They also have central security offices. It has a permanent residence of about 1200, and this number can balloon as high as 1800 for specific project rotations. This of course means quarters and support for all these people - mostly in the form of habitat modules just beyond admin, connected directly to the gate via transport tubes, some of which are lightly spun for lunar-level gravity. However, some labs have overflow or extra habitat modules attached to them so researchers don't have to go far from their projects. As expected from a group mostly backed by Cognite, the decor is surprisingly detailed and even gaudy - a Neo-Victorian stretching to Art Nouveau style.  

Beyond this point, access is all controlled, which has made it very hard for Firewall to examine the labs closer. Most of this data is based on reports and schematics back in-system, not first hand HUMINT. Access to areas beyond the public ones are handled usually by some form of two-step authentication. Station employees carry physical token IDs or have nanotat IDs which are matched to Ego ID data recorded in the central hab servers. Tokens and Mesh IDs are rigorously tracked by internal security, and logged by various sub-networks. Access points are paired with the Ego ID authentication, which means only authorized personnel with their proper entry materials can enter a given section, which is primarily done to prevent people from accessing areas off-shift or when they have been reassigned, but they cannot be accessed by just stealing the right token access cards. Infomorphs utilize Digital ID codes instead, which are checked when logging into or transferring to certain devices. Coupled with many isolated or outright air-gapped internal networks makes Mesh access also limited. 

General purpose of sections is originally related to Psychovore phenomena, but this has branched out into several covert research operations under these strict security measures. This is similar to the function of the Aten station in the Solar Corona in-system, but there is no involvement with groups like Direct Action, and minimal interference from Oversight. Instead, internal security is handled by an in-house Security division, and primary oversight comes in the form of (well paid) Pathfinder reps. 

The central spar sections are primarily infrastructural. Hooked into and extended from main habitation modules is public services modules, with medical and resleeving facilities as well as psychological care stations. Past them is mostly a network of storage modules and inventory management. From here a lot of repair and reconfiguration ops are run. Opposite side of the spar from Admin and Habitation is the primary infrastructure sections. First is Life Support, with primary water-treatment and atmospheric and environmental control modules, though sub-modules are embedded in various strands of the cluster. Past this is the Power Plant and Resource Refinement modules. Primary power output is a DPF fusion reactor, which provides power via hardened transmission lines or wi-tricity transmitters. Backup power is provided to individual modules by large nuclear batteries or supplemental solar, though solar efficiency is weak due to the dim local star. Resource refinement combines waste management with mining and harvesting operations conducted by ALIs and teleoperation on Harker. Access to these modules is limited to technicians mostly. Both ends of the spars are capped off with shuttle and drone bays, where ops can be launched to Harker and Bromeliad directly.

Out from the spar are the lab clusters. Many of them are designed to be reconfigurable and expanded or contracted as needed. They can also be jettisoned or quarantined easily in case of some emergency. While the exact labs and projects can vary at any given time, there are a few major internal departments which almost never fully close. 

• Exobiology is the largest and oldest - they directly study the Psychovores as well as other flora and fauna on Bromeliad. They make observations both on carefully contained "live samples" and surveys of the planet. They are also attempting to deeper understand their physical structure. Notable modules within this department include Genetics and Behavioral Analysis labs. There is also the "Paleontology" module, which is more like a Xenoarchaeology section - studying the history of Bromeliad to look for clues about the appearance of the Psychovores and the common theory that they are some kind of artificial bioweapon deployed by an earlier species. 
• Parapsychology is the next oldest and largest, but by far the darkest lab. Almost nobody knows what goes on there, other than reports back to Cognite indicate that their primary purpose is to study Psi phenomena. Originally, it seems like their purpose was to study the effects of Psi on transhumans, as well as detect and interfere with psi and asynchronous brain-waves as per the Psychovores, but has since expanded. They now appear to conduct research on Transhuman Asyncs and their capabilities, as well as run complex simulations on the limits of psi phenomena exhibited by exsurgents and xenofauna. As the only known way for transhumans to develop async abilities is to be exposed to certain strains of the Exsurgent Virus, this is deeply troubling research. 
• Neurogenetic Hardware Labs are a small, permanent and prestigious posting - which appears to be the open face of Parapsychology. Trinity promotes their work the hardest, which is mainly on development of morphs and cyberbrains to ever expand the transhuman limits. Covertly they also appear to be working on cultivating morph lines which are resistant to Psi. They have notable sub-divisions, an AI lab, a Forking lab and Psychosurgery lab. The AI lab seems to focus on standard AGI generation from neural maps or ALI generation from pruning to suit station needs and research tasks. Forking, however, is more dangerously experimenting with exotic fork-hives and merges into Transcendant forking. Psychosurgery works closely with Human Augmentation (see below) to perform skill grafting, scanning as well as developing new techniques and hardware tools. 
• Human Augmentation is the most volatile division. While almost always up and running, it's various departments are constantly swapping, closing and reconfiguring modules. It is probably one of the most active departments on Psyche. Their three primary wings are Implants, Pharmaceuticals and Software. The Implant group is self-explanatory, working on new ware, primarily bio and nano based on other researches. Primarily cognitive and sensory enhancements, but they also have built some mods from exotic xeno-life samples. Software is primarily focused on skillsofts, particularly exotic skills or knowledge bases. While high quality, many of these are esoteric, projects which couldn't survive normal working conditions at places like Cognite or Experia. They also work on software plugins and upgrades for infomorphs. Pharmaceuticals is probably the largest consistently, working on nootropics and supplements derived from xenosamples. They also are notable for the development of various Psi Drugs. 
• Remaining labs come and go as projects and funding run through them. Exotic Particle labs have opened and closed several times when they weren't cost-effective. The Planetary Science lab was opened at the same time as Exobiology, but was shuttered only months after and has never been reopened, but also never reconfigured. Resources from other labs and infrastructure are occasionally repurposed to construct Robotics or Nanotech testing labs. An "uplift division" cluster of modules tends to drift from major department to department as they focus on particular projects. The Computer Science lab was subject to some kind of accident and several modules were breached, after which it was quarantined and ejected, only to be stripped down to basic modules re-attached to other labs. And various scientists and department heads have "pet" modules which cover small personal projects, such as Astronomy, Quantum Physics, Linguistics and Memetics. 

Case TARKIN DOCTRINE

Cetus
Type: Artificial Satellite
Primary Star: M3V (Red Dwarf)
Gravity: .75 g
Length: 2,500 km
Atmospheric Pressure: 1.5 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 2% Water Vapor, 3% Methane, 10% Carbon Dioxide, 15% Oxygen, 68% Nitrogen, 2% Argon
Temperature (Mean): 2 C
Day Length: N/A
Orbital Period: Variable
Satellite Of : Jonah
Gate Access: Cinder Gate

The short version is: We know what Cetus is. Questions of who, why and how elude us. And we're not entirely sure we want to know. The Cetus Gate was discovered by a routine check of library addresses for the Cinder operation, to ensure that nothing particularly dangerous was waiting just a quick wormhole away. While Cetus is probably very dangerous, it's probably too large to come through the gate. Initial reports indicated the discovery of an artificial structure, a bit like Wormwood, but this one clearly artificial. The walls were formed of some exotic polymers and carbon nanomaterials. It also seemed to indicate a gravitic force like a small terrestrial planet, and has an oppressive, humid atmosphere (which is, in turn, toxic to humans by default). The first assumption was that it was a structure built by an alien species to hold the gate. This both is, and isn't true. Long periods of scouting using drones and sensors have indicated what Cetus really is. This was confirmed by a scout team of Sentinels who were not pleased by what they saw, and several of them requested to be restored from backup after the mission. Firewall has classified this as Case TARKIN DOCTRINE. 

The long version is that Cetus is like a thing out of an old twencen sci-fi series. It appears to be a massive "ship" or artificial satellite, a couple thousand kilometers long (meaning it would cover a noticeable chunk of small planets like Mercury). And what this ship does is, for lack of a better term, eat planetoids. The sentinel team discovered this by finding what appears to be an observational window on the fore of the ship, and witnessed it's process. Currently consuming a dwarf planet Firewall has codenamed "Jonah", Cetus was named after the legendary sea monster (despite the fact that astronomically, it does not appear to be anywhere neat the constellation, Cetus). The ship is roughly cylindrical, with one end forming a giant "mouth", and the other end is a narrower port which seems to function for ejection. Exact details are hard to get however, as there does not appear to be a way to access the exterior from the passages connected to the gate, or the central span running through the ship. These interior passages almost seem like they were created by an organic algorithm, and seem to have some kind of arterial function - but nothing passes through them except the dense atmosphere. They have variable size, the largest being 4 or more meters across and roughly tubular in their own right, others are smaller than one meter and have undulating interior surfaces. The polymers the ship's interior is made from inhibit penetrating sensors, including X-rays, though passive electrical sense indicates some kind of power infrastructure which moves through the area around the tunnels. 

How it works, though, is probably the most unnerving (read: terrifying). As far as can be told through the observation windows and sensors, Cetus is powered by some kind of exotic gravitational drive. It latches onto and eats planets via a gravitic bessel beam technology, not dissimilar to the alien bots Firewall has been calling "Slouches" but on a much larger scale. It generates a shearing force in excess of the planetoid's own gravity and simply begins drawing up pieces of it's crust and then interior. Once inside the core axis, Cetus seems to seperate out what it wants, burning it as fuel or otherwise storing it, then matter it isn't interested in is discarded out the rear via repulsion beams. Since exterior instrumentation is not available, we can only make minimal optical guesses but it looks like Cetus prefers volatiles, rare metals and carbon compounds. The ejecta appears to be, oddly enough; radioactives, noble gasses, and certain metalloids, as well as other compounds we can't identify. Cetus appears to be able to propel itself through a combination of riding "tides" of gravity and somehow pushing itself using it's own manipulation. It's gravitic axis is also evenly cylindrical - even if you stood on the front, you'd be pulled down (or "up" if you were on the apparent underside) toward the center. Best guess for how the gate came to be inside it is that one of the bodies it "ate" had a Gate on it, and as we know they are particularly hard to destroy. The gate is almost like a parasite, or an infection on the interior of the craft. 

Details of Cetus' age, construction, creators and so on are all a mystery. Based on what can be seen from "observation windows" in the surface, there are several debris fields in this solar system which could be consumed planets - as many as four or five, depending on their size. From this range and our limited windows of observation, there also appears to be a partially destroyed terrestrial planet, possibly of previously Earthlike dimension, closer to the star, in what might have been a habitable region. It does appear, based on simulations of the debris clouds, that Cetus has a limited speed at which it can impulse itself around the system and has a cap on how much power it can use - this means that it probably cannot easily jump itself out of the system, nor defy conventional physics to arrive in another solar system in a timely manner. Based on this projected speed, it has been in this solar system for a few centuries. This, of course, makes the question of how it got into it's system a bit of a mystery nobody particularly wants to answer. Nor do we want to know how Cetus knows where to "feed" next. It has no wireless transmissions or any particular readings which indicate a central intelligence point or command center. And the only thing audible inside the ship itself is the steady, pulsing thrum of the bessel engine working. Firewall has developed several contingency plans should Cetus or any new subjects for Case TARKIN DOCTRINE be found to be an imminent threat. This might be hard, however, as the exterior is projected to be very hardened and the gravitic drive seems to warp local gravity which might deflect projectile energy. 

In conclusion, Cetus is existentially terrifying, but unlikely to cause any Transhumans other than my research team any serious problems - it's just further evidence we're small fish in a very, very large pond, and Cetus probably isn't anywhere close to the biggest fish. 

Though some of my pragmatics colleagues on Cinder have wondered if a TITAN world-brain project like Iapetus seemed to be would be able to do much vs a TARKIN DOCTRINE subject...

-Blue Mab, Firewall Crow

SIDEBAR: TARKIN DOCTRINE SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT

OP NECRONOMICON EYES ONLY

Well, it cost us a few asyncs and some resources, but the little "think tank" circle operation was a success - in a sense. We've got new intel about Cetus which might be useful. For opsec the six members brought in will use codenames, Alpha through Zeta. 

Gamma was the most immediately helpful, probably should have tipped me off. He was able to make predictions about the pattern of the arterial passages which we verified with mapping drones. He also said that it seemed like the structure was based on a mathematical principle, but not an original one, it was mimicking something else. No way to prove it, but might be relevant. He said he was going to try and walk the passages to see if there were any more clues. Could hours later we lost his signal. Turns out he smuggled in a plasma cutter and tried to get into the walls. All that was left was a blackened corpse, just a carbonized shell. We didn't tell him we knew it had a self-defense mechanism like a bug zapper. 

Alpha was the most cryptic. She kept touching the walls with her bare hands, speaking in bad poetry. Something about how Cetus would eat the stars, and through it flowed the blood of planets and it being a life-drinker or something. She seemed to think Cetus was partially organic, or had an organic mind in it. Well, she called it a soul but claimed it was something she could sense, psionically. Unfortunately somebody else will have to pick her stack for more details, as after a while she seemed to break. She got a nosebleed and started ranting about the "Worldeater's brood" and that it's sire would come hunting for those who "bled it" and it "feasted on civilizations melancholia". Since she was getting violent and disturbing the other operatives, security dropped her and took her back to the gate. 

Beta and Zeta weren't very helpful, but at least stayed reasonable. I guess this was outside their normal areas of expertise. They marveled a lot at Cetus symmetry though, but also on it's non-symmetrical portion. I'm not sure how much is supposition and how much was Psi, but they both agreed it was probable that Cetus was designed, at least, by an organic race or if it was built by an alien AI, they were clearly mimicking something known to their own creators. Possibly something aquatic? They couldn't agree between themselves if it was some kind of war-machine or just a ludicrous mining drone. 

Delta has straight up vanished. Security has been advised to treat them as a risk if they run into Delta. Supplies in particular are being closely watched. I expect drones will find a corpse in a few days unless they can acquire some water. What exactly was Delta's MOS again?

Epsilon stayed close to me most of my survey. She insisted on telepathically linking to me, and it was an... unusual experience. Never felt like that outside of infomorph working groups. Her insights flowing straight to my mind helped me concept some things, but I think she was probing for something from me as well. I lost track of her while disposing of Gamma's body. Last we got was a transmission which appeared to emerge from the core axis, where the gravitic beam was. The message was about as useful as "my god it's full of stars" and is cut off part way - we think she was destroyed by gravitic shear. I've had forensic drones trying to find out how she accessed the core area, something we haven't been able to do, but have so far not been able to find any sign of her. It was progress in a sense, but I can't figure out what data she had to make it on her own. Do I have it and just don't know it?

I think I need some time off the case, too. I've been dreaming about Epsilon. She tries to speak to me, but I can't understand her - it's like we're trying to talk underwater. Last night, I took some stuff which is supposed to help make dreams lucid - I tried to speak back. But when I did, I tasted the liquid we were in, it tasted like blood. I still couldn't understand, or be understood. Don't know what it means. Then my dream got esoteric: I dreamed of sharks made of starlight swimming through the Milky Way. Their stomachs were singularities, and their teeth were plasma. They kept swimming, devouring all the smaller, more sedentary fish they came across. Only the fish were alien worlds, with architecture and technology like I'd never seen. But they could not stop, because something was hunting them. The only thing I can think about the dream is "What the fuck scares sharks?"

-Blue Mab, Firewall Crow

Simulacra

Simulacra
Type: Terrestrial (Reducing)
Primary Star: K9V (Orange Dwarf)
Gravity: 1.22 g
Diameter: 15099 km
Atmospheric Pressure: .84 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 59% Methane, 28% Nitrogen, 12% Argon, trace others
Surface Temperature (Mean): 6 C
Day Length: 23 Hours
Orbital Period: 423 Days
Satellites: None
Gate Access: Portal Gate
Notes: Alien Microbes, Planetary Rings, TITAN Artifacts
Simulacra should be an entirely boring planet. It is a "reducing" terrestrial, with a volatile atmosphere which is poisonous to transhumans, a low temperature and an arid landscape except for some ice caps in the polar regions. The natural terrain is dry and relatively flat, occasionally differentiated by geologic activity. It does appear to have some extremophile microbes, very basic prokaryotes, but they are comparatively uninteresting in their early evolution - only a source of concern for greater preservationists. Or, it would be more accurate to say it would, if "preservation" of Simulacra was still a concern.
This is because the extremely notable feature of Simulacra which lends it its name is the fact that on it's surface around the Gate is a perfect replica of 1920-era London UK. Based on historical data available to Gatecrashers, the replica appears to scale and 100% accurate to the information that is to be had, though while some facades and elements are artificially weathered to match pictures in history, dating them has assumed that the constructs were all built within the past 10 years or so - presumably after the Fall.  Additionally, while materials appear to be generally correct, close examination shows that they were obviously built using advanced manufacturing techniques and nanofabrication tools to produce and assemble the materials. This project would have taken immense time and energy, even for TITAN capabilities (the assumed builders) and has no apparent purpose. While buildings have a roughly correct layout and floorplan, they have no distinct interior features apart from the architecture, such as furnishings or appliances. No utilities are networked in the buildings at all, and as of yet no living creature or construct has been confirmed to exist in the structures. It also appears to be incomplete; as it nears the edge of the nearly 1500 sq. km area historically associated with Greater London, buildings appear to be unfinished or unpolished. On the fringes, some of them are clearly partially assembled from the bottom-up, and the pattern in which they are made does not follow the street pattern but an exotic fractal one.
Upon being discovered several years ago, Simulacra was briefly a point of intense interest for the Gatecrashing Guild and many associate corporations and governments, but the fervor of scanning the planet has died down as investigation has mostly turned up things which are strange as opposed to interesting or useful. Experts in X-Risk analysis and archaeology frequently argue over the subject of the "replica city" and what it's purpose could be, but have yet to reach a solid consensus. After delays, news of Simulacra broke on Titanian public media several months ago and rapidly spread through the Solar System due to it's open nature - leading to an influx of many amatuer Gatecrashers interested in hunting for artifacts or capitalizing on Earth nostalgia for rep and fame. While some hope that more eyes will make efforts to "clear" the vast construct city for anything of note, the more serious academics are concerned that any valuable data may be destroyed or muddled by the influx - and have petitioned Isra to more strictly monitor those who are allowed though the gate to Simulacra. The Gate itself is located in the replica of Charing Cross - in the location where a statue of Charles I historically stood.

Void Reef

Void Reef
Type: V-Type Asteroid
Primary Star: M8V (Red Dwarf)
Gravity: .03 g
Diameter: 530 km
Atmospheric Pressure: N/A
Atmospheric Composition: N/A
Surface Temperature (Mean): -50 C
Day Length: N/A
Orbital Period: 368 Days
Gate Access: Discord Gate, Tempest Gate
Notes: Alien Traces, Resources Available, Exhuman Settlement
Visibly, Void Reef is a striking Gate locale. It is named because the gate is settled into a family of V-Type asteroids which exist in a relatively small population system, with a couple of uninhabitable mercurian terrestrials in the inner system, and a large out system gas giant with a few moons which has mostly swept the area clear. Thus, the local region somewhat resembles a rocky shoal or reef - exemplified by the presence of some minor nebular gases which lend a slight violet tinge to the region. Go-Nin is deeply interested in this area for many reasons - rare V-Type asteroids are loaded with resources as they are stratified, often thought to be a destroyed planetoid. Also, the Factors have expressed an interest in V-Type asteroids, and Go-Nin hopes to parlay some of their research to them for technological favors, perhaps not counting on the Factor's reluctance to deal with Pandora Gates. Additionally, there are signs on Reef-1 (the primary asteroid which is the gate location) and the closest visible asteroids that other Gate travellers may have visited and the past, doing their own surveying and sampling.  Go-Nin's eagerness got even stronger when they encountered another unusual factor - that Reef-1 appears to have a fossil record, small coral like creatures and other forms are buried in the strata of the asteroid, along with signs of decayed organics and small macrofauna exoskeletons. Was the original planet destroyed by some force after it had evolved life? It is a great mystery Go-Nin is eager to turn a profit on.
Unfortunately for them, their efforts to categorize the entire Void Reef formation have hit a major stumbling block. There is a group of Exhumans here, believed to be allied with the Rortians, who call the Void Reef their "Shattered Nest" and lurk in some of the more far-flung asteroids, and have begun preying on explorers who move through those areas. They appear to be a clade of Adaptives and Soul-Eaters, who use hive-minded technology similar to Rortian dreadnoughts to share processing among several morphs in packs - which resemble insectoid bodies and are vacuum adapted, and may utilize Long-Term Life Support. This makes them very cunning and dangerous in large packs, and they are clearly more familiar with the terrain. Intelligence suggests they are taking some of the researchers and workers hostage to peel their Egos and gain new skills and information, possibly engaging in ascendant forking. This has in turn caused a large number of Ultimate "Purifiers" to move in and begin conducting patrols and raids in the area. All while Go-Nin keeps shipping in miners, surveyors and scientists to keep research and production moving forward as their expected pace.
This has turned Void Reef into an exotic frontier locale, with Ultimate Mercenaries and Raiders striking at Exhuman settlements, Exhuman pirates and soul thieves jumping workers who stray too far, and humble workers and scientists just trying to get their job done caught in between. All while several mysteries about the Reef itself persist.

Cairn

Cairn
Type: Terrestrial (Venusian)
Primary Star: G1V (Yellow Dwarf)
Gravity: .93 g
Diameter: 12,507.2 km
Atmospheric Pressure: 20 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 53% Nitrogen, 19% CO2, 15% Sulfur Dioxide, 12% Methane, trace other gasses
Surface Temperature (Mean): 52 C
Day Length: 15 hours
Orbital Period: 294 Days
Satellites: None
Gate Access: Vulcanoid Gate, Ascension Gate
Notes: High Population of System Bodies, Dangerous Natural Terrain, Alien Ruins
Cairn is a burial ground. An ancient alien civilization, at least to a tech level equivalent of the early Industrial Period, died out as their planet hit a greenhouse effect similar to Venus and they were killed by a massive shift in temperature and pressure, along with all other major life on the planet, leaving only traces of their civilization. As far as anyone can tell, the locals of Cairn were a probably insectoid race who lived colonial lives, similar to ants or termites, and mixed underground and aboveground structuring. Very little physical remains of their species has been found (though some samples appear to have made it back to the rim and into the prototype designs of the Samsa morph), but Genehackers from both TerraGenesis and Pathfinder are eager for more samples. Sadly, in addition to territorial disputes between the two Gate corps, Cairn is difficult to traverse due to the extreme pressure, high temperature, poisonous atmosphere, all of which is compounded by the rough terrain of Cairn, which is filled with unstable tunnels underground, shifting sediment layers and unsettled rock formations, in addition to fierce sandstorms and other erosive forces. This makes Cairn highly unsafe to explore. Cairn is also of interest as, despite the very thick atmosphere, its system is estimated to hold as many as 11 other major planetary bodies, which would be highly interesting to study, if possible. The Cairn Gate is located atop a wide, relatively stable mesa, part of a cluster of such structures which rise high above a sandy desert formed by the collapse of many structures of the local civilization (perhaps a city built near the Gate), who are usually referred to as the “Formics”.

Venom

Venom
Type: Terrestrial (Vitriolic)
Primary Star: K1V (Orange Dwarf)
Gravity: 1.15 g
Diameter: 14,420.88 km
Atmospheric Pressure: 12.31 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 77% CO2, 22% Argon, trace other gases
Surface Temperature (Mean): 125 C
Day Length: 23 hours
Orbital Period: 268 days
Satellites: None
Gate Access: Portal Gate
Notes: Volcanism, Sulfuric Acid Oceans, Alien Life (Microbes)
"Ever wanted to visit a planet with literal oceans of acid? Now you can!" - ExploreNet article on Venom
Venom is a hellhole of a planet. Classified as a "vitriolic" type, it was once a world which was blessed with large water oceans, but underwent photodissociation where it's water divided back into oxygen and hydrogen, leading to formation of sulfuric acid with high levels of sulfur and a carbon dioxide heavy atmosphere. Venom is thus molten hot, with a very thick, poisonous atmosphere, strong gravity, and frequent volcanic activity which perpetuates the "sulfur cycle" of the world. Yet, exotic, extremophile life is believed to exist in microbial form in some "calm" pools or springs of the acid, living off chemosynthesis. Due to the fact that vitriolic worlds are very rare due to specific circumstances, there is a keen interest from nearly every major learning institution in the Solar System to study the planet, despite its incredibly harsh conditions. Venom is also of potential economic value, as it is theorized that part of its inherent volatility is due to higher than average concentrations of radioactivity in it's composition, an incredibly valuable resource if true - tempered by the fact that it would require complex mining most likely via Q-Morphs to work. There also may be valuable precious or semi-precious stone mining to be had. The Gate is located on a low clay plateau over some sulfurous springs, which have eaten away at materials to form deep pools and channels.

Phobos/Wauxhall

Phobos
(From p. 126-27 Sunward)
"Phobos orbits Mars about every 7 hours and would
have destroyed the space elevator within a week of
it going up if they hadn’t done something about this
sucker’s chaotic orbit. Now Phobos orbits the straight
and narrow and is crawling with Cognite employees.
Cognite has a controlling interest in Phobos, sharing it
with with several other corps, including Direct Action,
ComEx, and Eng/Dilworth, an IT firm specializing in
automation and security for orbital stations.
Phobos is where the project that created the
Lost generation got its start; the first crèche servers
were located here. Cognite’s Wauxhall Institute was
involved in the Lost project and is also rumored to be
taking part in experiments with the Watts-MacLeod
strain of the exsurgent virus."

Phobos is similar in composition to a D-type asteroid, with numbers of silicates, carbon and oxides with organic chemicals, and sub-surface deposits of water ice. Phobos also has a very low density, as it is a “rubble pile”, not a singular body of rock but many smaller ones held together by gravity, though colonization efforts have taken great pains to stabilize the asteroid.

Cognite’s primary outpost here is Wauxhall, home of the touted “Wauxhall Institute”, a dome settlement built into the massive Stickney crater on the surface of Phobos. The dome features many arcology structures which span the entire height of the space, with gaps between individual structures for air vehicles, trams and walkways. Wauxhall features a high degree of open space for a microgravity habitat. Rumors say that Cognite originally planned to utilize utility fog in the hab to simulate gravity, but after the Fall such technologies are highly restricted. Wauxhall is host to Cognite’s major central “offices”, and most of their more public industries - such as nootropic and cognitive enhancement research, while their more secretive projects are hidden away either in deep interior labs or on other outposts. All in all, several thousand Cognite employees and contractors and their dependants live in Wauxhall or it’s connected interior structures. Also, due to the volume of complaints and controversy directed at Cognite - as well as their own aloof and concealed nature, Wauxhall is host to a branch office of Oversight, staffed round the clock by tactical response teams of auditors and security contractors who keep an eye on Cognite, along with a small team of PR officials who work to prevent frivolous slander against a major player in the Hypercorp Council.

Wauxhall is an interesting habitat. It’s interior structures are designed with a very “Neo-Victorian” aesthetic, combining classical European neo-gothic or neoclassical architecture with Middle Eastern or Asian influences. Structures are artistically reinforced with visible cast iron or steel, various spires and columns are visible as accents, and many facades are covered in a reddish “brick” made from materials from Phobos. Ornamentation is everywhere, with tightly packed designs which verge on cluttered. Elitism is a large part of the corporate culture within Cognite, and verticality plays a large roll in Wauxhall. The higher “up” you live or work, the more important you are in the company. The core employees of Cognite (execs and scientists) also are very showy about their intelligence and creativity, littering their casual conversation with technical and philosophical jargon to appear more intelligent, and public displays of art are highly common and encouraged by the company. Contractors and support staff are less caught up in this particular aspect. Almost everyone in Wauxhall, however, projects as air of austerity and gravitas. People are aloof, polite and avoid open displays of emotion or even most body language. In Wauxhall, you never know if you’re being studied or analyzed, which creates a sense of social propriety (and paranoia). Social or mental problems are also kept under wraps, as it could end up with a quick trip to psychosurgery under orders of the company - something many employees are paranoid about. Emotional dampers are highly common.

Wauxhall is broken up into several broad districts and neighborhoods, typically by function and facilities, though some of these areas may be striated along the vertical axis.

• Undertown is the colloquial name given to the lowest levels of Wauxhall and the warren of tunnels dug into Phobos beneath it. This area houses most of the distributed infrastructure of Wauxhall such as water reclamation, power distribution and other vital components. Many sectors of undertown are poorly sealed or even open to vacuum. This area is home to the synthmorph indentures who serve as vacworkers and support staff to Cognite. Contracts with Cognite are a double-edged sword: they almost always feature mandatory (albeit “temporary”) behavioral modification with open clauses for further psychosurgery, and the Muses the company provides are loaded with behavioral spyware like a Monitor AI - but on the other hand Cognite offers great mental health coverage and access to recreational simulspace. They also respect company loyalty, the most talented and loyal indentures can end up hired into better contractor positions within Wauxhall itself. 
• Londinium, Germania and Gallia are the three primary arcology towers, arranged in a rough triangle around the crater, reaching from the floor all the way to the surface of the dome. The outside of these circular structures is adorned with various accents in the style of the rest of the hab. Apartments ring the outside of the building, with the center being a mostly open area layered with transportation methods and zero-g gardens and art installations. Occasionally floors of housing space are replaced with rows of shopping arcades containing basic necessities and supplies sold through Cognite after strict screening, or other recreational facilities. The quality of the housing sharply increases based on the height in the buildings, with the lowest floors little more than single-occupant capsules, and the upper layers having single apartments which constitute one apartment for a senior executive or researcher and their family and personal staff. The very top levels aren’t housing, but rather extravagant dining destinations which extend above the layer of the dome to give a breathtaking view - many high-powered Cognite meetings take place in these locales. 
• Metaversal Studios started as a nickname, but became a semi-official title for Cognite’s VR division after a partnership with Experia. This tower focuses on the design and programming of various cutting-edge recreational and educational simulspaces, which push the limits of modern hardware for more realistic experiences. Simulspaces are coded, tested and fixed here, before being mirrored to Experia media servers for mass consumption. Cognite employs small legions of infomorph indentures as beta testers and QA contractors. Due to the highly advanced nature of the simulspaces being constructed here, Cognite also experiments in high end computer hardware. The lower levels of Metaversal are dedicated to less “advanced” jobs in “edutainment” vids and vidgames, or development of skillsofts. This zone has a volume of Experia contractors and representatives, who often bring their own flair to the compound.
• The Candy Factory is another colloquialism. Officially, it is Cognite’s “Pharmaceutical Research and Design Division”. This section of the company is responsible for one of Cognite’s biggest sellers, nootropics. Built of several structures, this area of the hab is a study in contrast. The pharmacists, chemical engineers and research doctors developing or testing new drugs work in sterile, white-walled labs, while the upper layers are staffed by many of Cognite’s overworked marketing and public relations employees, trying to develop new tactics and plans to sell the drugs once their blueprints are encoded to be distributed. Experimental AR graphics and displays run wild on the upper floors, and it is a common joke among the scientists that the guys “upstairs” consume most of their products in order to stay on top of their game. 
• Teatown is the name for Cognite’s “Cognitive Enhancement and Morphological Development” department, with the name coming about after the Fall and the rise of the “Black Kettle” morph growing operations on Mars. Here, Cognite develops and updated a number of cognitive implants and genelines, including their original variant of the popular Menton morph. Cognite is also feverishly trying to reverse-engineer the Hyperbright morph after Acumenic “embarassed” them with the Bright habitat. It is also known that Cognite also produces a modernized version of the Futura morph used by the original Lost project here, for “internal uses”. 
• The Think Tank is one of the most centralized and secured structures on Phobos. The building has a dark, bleak exterior at odds with much of the other architecture on the station. It is insulated from many external mesh sources, and has a large airgap. This is because this is where Cognite does it’s “public” AI research, developing the latest templates for Muses and other specialized AIs, while they leave their more advanced (and secretive) research to other stations. Think Tank additionally works on forking work-groups and hives, especially the “autocratic” style which is currently popular with Cognite’s executives. The Think Tank has also been experimenting heavily with cyberbrain emulation states, and Infomorph/Eidolon designs - including Cognite’s special “edits” for Infomorphs to encourage productivity in indentures. 
• The Morgue has no official name. It is Cognite’s cold storage center. After the Fall, Cognite was one of several corporations who began to buy up the massive stockpiles of Egos in dead storage, and begin processing them for indenture contracts. In addition to the massive racks of cold storage servers, there are also a number of Simulspace servers to process prospective indenture candidates. Most people find Cognite’s particular practices of indentureship particularly unpleasant, so this structure is heavily secured and secretive, with security personnel watching the location around the clock. Cognite doesn’t just store infugees here, they have several contracts to hold criminal Egos in some very secure servers at the heart of the Morgue. Due to secrecy, rumors abound about the Morgue, even among employees; possible ego trafficking with the ID Crew or Nine Lives, imprisonment of captured Egos of Lost Project subjects, or even that the Morgue contains a boxed pre-TITAN Seed AI.
• St. Dymphna Mental Health Research Center is a pyramidal building built as a kind of miniaturized arcology. Here Cognite performs much of it’s psychosurgical and psychotherapy research. They also develop therapeutic simulspaces to help patients. Most of the work here is oriented on research, and so Cognite takes on a limited number of “patients” but is known to occasionally work on high-profile mental health cases for the publicity. In the lower levels of St. Dymphna are the Infolife and Uplift wings, which experiment on cognitive development, modelling and treatment for non-human cognition, with tales of unethical experiments often thrown around in Mercurial circles. Cognite also is known to dabble in psychosurgical loyalty modifications and interrogative simulspace and psychosurgery techniques for the Planetary Consortium here. 
• Youth Cognitive Excellence Center (YCXC) is a private educational institution run by Cognite. Here Cognite specializes in the teaching of young people to best stimulate their development and maximize aptitude potential through a variety of experimental educational techniques. The YCXC was popular among Hyperelites and upper class Martians in the immediate aftermath of the Fall, but business waned after the Lost Generation fiasco. Now a majority of the student body are children of Cognite employees or contractors, who get a large discount on enrollment. Some of the students are also Cognite “projects” also. The YCXC was responsible for the rough educational planning of the Lost and some of their creche server environments, but had little to do with the execution.
• Phobos Circus is the name of the circular district which rings the perimeter of the dome, and is home to what passes for the larger scale entertainment and recreation in Wauxhall. The Phobos Circus is also host to “embassy” or branch offices of affiliated hypercorps and Cognite subsidiaries. Here, there are a number of restaurants, cafes and teahouses, and large scale physical entertainment or exercise - such as zero-g soccer and racquetball. Independant shops sell goods imported from other locations, typically Mars, though at significant markup due to Cognite fees. There are several art galleries and museums here, all sponsored by Cognite, and it also contains the Wauxhall Theater, with a Cognite sponsored troupe who perform microgravity versions of many classic plays - though it is also host to other experiments in performance art, especially performances made possible through the kinds of technologies Cognite works with. 
• Wauxhall Institute is the center of Wauxhall, located in the smaller Limtoc Crater inside Stickney. Here, Cognite’s scientists conduct their most advanced and bleeding edge research, though almost the entirety of these projects are strictly theoretical. Actual practical research is done on other Cognite stations. This is also where Cognite’s executives, including their board of directors, meet - either remotely or in person. The Wauxhall Institute is linked to all other Cognite “offices” around the system. Also contained in this region is Wauxhall House, which is the administration center for the station, and contains many primary infrastructure functions, such as Ego Casting and Resleeving, and is where the Oversight branch office is based.
• The Dimondium Palace is the nickname for the orbital tether cluster held in orbit directly above Wauxhall as a spaceport and redundant communications hub. The nickname comes from the variety of windows and viewports to observe both Mars and Phobos as well as the space traffic. Dimondium also has a couple of rotating clusters and rings for certain kinds of work which must be done in “simulated” gravity. Shuttles to Mars and other stations on Phobos are most common here, but there are also regular movements to other major martian orbital habs. 

Burroughs Crater

TerraGenesis is not the only corporate entity working on reviving and studying extinct animals. Tucked away in Burroughs Crater in the southern highlands of Mars is a corporate facility where no expense is spared to attempt to recreate that which is extinct and market it to the people. Affectionately called the "Lost World" by visitors and marketing, the official name of this facility is "Burroughs Crater Wildlife Conservation and Revivification Center", a lab and research park covering large sections of the 100+ km area of the crater.

Pioneered by Edgar Kingsley, a venture capitalist who was a student of genetics in his early life, the "Lost World" center is part research project, and part an ongoing attempt by the Consortium elite to keep up with the actions of TerraGenesis. Sky Ark is a bountiful planet with a wide area where TerraGenesis' scientists are able to recreate all kinds of wildlife and their natural environments - Burroughs is a bit more limited in scope but still has some promise. Kingsley was interested in such developments on Earth to resurrect extinct large animals, but space and resource limitations prevented such ventures from getting beyond early research and planning phases. A healthy grant by the Hypercorp Council has allowed the Lost World center to flourish on Mars.

Primary habitation for workers and staff are in several arcology towers clustered in one edge of the crater, with access to a skyport and the local rail line. Guests have similar accommodations in a "hotel" arcology which is connected to but not actually with the other areas. The crater itself is mostly covered over in special materials which can absorb solar power and govern light levels and act as a "soft" seal for temperature and air pressure, with individual compounds, labs and sectors being isolated and environmentally controlled as needed. Navigation inside the facility is handled via buggies, a small tram system, or personal air transport. While the center does have multiple environments, terraforming is not its primary purpose - genetics research is. Tourism is only a secondary result to raise funding, and keep awareness of the project - to deter people from taking expensive vacations to Sky Ark.

The Center is run by a board of directors, which Kingsley chairs, and several high-ranking members of the center staff also sit on, with the rest being filled by investors, business associates and several other interested corporate heads. Due to the funding and land offered by the Council, Burroughs Crater falls firmly under the jurisdiction of the Planetary Consortium - though they also interact with the Tharsis government. While clearly a rival to TerraGenesis, the Center also openly works with them to collaborate on certain revival projects and share materials within the constraints of the Consortium's IP laws - ostensibly for the sake of preserving and reviving animals lost in the Fall. Kingsley himself is said to be deeply interested in this (though otherwise Reclamation holds no interest to him) but most of his corporate backers are only interested in keeping up with Sky Ark.

Burroughs Crater and its facility have several branches and departments working on various projects. Some focus on revivals based on extant DNA samples, other on mimicking long extinct animals using transgenic or neogenetic constructs. Other groups focus on tracking, behavioral mapping and even behavioral controls of the products. The veterinary unit is quite advanced, focused on the physical health and wellness of products which are created and often doing hands-on research in the "field" as new products are developed. The Center has corporate offices of course, who handle marketing to upper middle class tourists in the Hellas region, and the uber-rich out of places like Elysium to come see the products. Some creations of the Center are even marketed to corps as usable smart animals. Due to the sophisticated and technical nature of the park, very few indentures are employed, and they mostly in digital or customer-facing tasks. Repair work is done by AIs in bot units which are "unappealing" to any wandering products. Kingsley and his corporate backers do not prefer indenture when hiring primary staff such as scientists, but instead contracts with long NDA agreements and harsh penalties to breaking them to encourage workers to remain with the company while still maintaining the idea they have conventional freedom.

While not as extensive as Sky Ark, the Lost World center has made some strides in animal research and resurrection. They have managed to produce before TerraGenesis a number of animal lines, including Terror Birds, Anaconda, Glyptodonts, Argentavis, Giant Otters and Hyaenodons. They have also compiled several structures of various "raptors" (Dromaeosauridae) to create a morph which resembles them and several Neo-Avian strains - a "Neo-Raptor". Researchers at the Center have also collaborated on or developed in parallel several species now found on Sky Ark, with a focus on the long extinct ones. Unconfirmed rumors persist that in an attempt to one-up TerraGenesis' scientists, the Lost World has begun developing a Giganotosaurus subject to rival Tyrannosaurus forms.

Despite their scientific successes, not everything is ideal at Burroughs Crater - with the limited size the center can never truly rival Sky Ark and there has been some talk of finding an appropriate plot of land on an Exoplanet to move the work to, which would unfortunately require the destruction of many subjects too large to safely transport and would cost a great deal of money. Burroughs Crater is also in the middle of what is seen as Barsoomian territory. Nomads used to frequent the region and some groups still persist, and the Hellas region is a hotbed of Barsoomian terraforming politics. While the center keeps a response team to deal with all kinds of threats, the possibility of sabotage or terrorism still exists. This is compounded by the relative isolation of the center. The southern uplands are too uneven to support a wealth of high-quality roads, and rail lines are expensive to run in that area. If they were to be blocked or destroyed, the only way to leave the facility is by air - and the Center itself only keeps a small number of utility helos, aircars and a small jet to transport staff and sometimes visitors.

Spark

Spark
Type: Terrestrial (Tidally-locked)
Primary Star: K5V (Orange Dwarf)
Gravity: 1.09 g
Diameter: 13445 km
Atmospheric Pressure: .97 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 73% Argon, 27% Oxygen,
Surface Temperature (Mean): 1 C (terminus)/-40 C (nightside)/33 C (dayside)
Day Length: N/A
Orbital Period: 217 Days
Satellites: None
Gate Access: Pandora Gate
Notes: Alien Life, Resources Available, Dangerous Local Phenomena (high winds)
Spark is a "Vesperian" planet, a habitable tidally-locked terrestrial, like Sunrise. It's Sun is slightly larger and brighter, but in turn this means that Spark can be a little farther away. Even so, it still has extremely harsh temperatures - the "cold pole" (to use the terminology of Sunrise) has temperatures of around -80 C, and the hot pole can be closer to 70 C. The severe temperature differential means winds are incredibly high on the planet, and anything that wants to live and grow must be tough or utilize the terrain to survive. But life on Spark has evolved in it's own way to the environment, which is of great interests to many researchers. Spark as a planet has an unusually high and diverse concentration of metallic salts in it's composition, which the local life has evolved to take advantage of and naturally grow with. This means that the local wildlife, both flora and fauna analogs often store or generate electricity to utilize in a wide variety of functions not seen in terran biology. Plants release hive volumes of current when the tension of their leaves is broken to deter animals from eating them are in turn preyed upon by species of herbivores which can safely store electricity to prevent being harmed. Pack hunting "thunder lizards" use electrical senses to track prey and can oscillate EM fields to produce a kind of communication. Local colonial insect analogs have tiny radio antennae to navigate, track and communicate, and their multi-pronged stingers act like tasers instead of relying on toxins. Omnivorous "salt vampires" leach salts from plants and animals to live, and parasitic vines act like natural high-power cables. On the night side, plants use electricity to gain heat and melt water to survive much further out than they would otherwise, and on the day side some plants convert excess heat to electricity then discharge it away - leading to a very bizarre and active biosphere. The use of naturally occurring electricity occasionally poses hurdles for researchers to study both the planet and it's life.
Like other tidally-locked terrestrials, Spark has fairly differentiated terrain. Around the terminus is forests of several breeds of low, heavy "statictrees" which passively generate current to prevent their leaves from being eaten, or cool marshes with reeds which store power generated in deep roots and bulbs so they can regrow if their tips are destroyed. Toward the dayside it rapidly becomes thick rainforests, filled with a variety of plant types which live in symbiosis with huge metallically barked trees or tall bamboo-analogs which catch native lightning as it is generated - on the floor deep below the canopy plants and animals often use current to substitute for low light, and can spark to defend or hunt and supplement nutrients. Closer, the terrain gives way to savannahs and rocky deserts, before ultimately becoming a barren, flat salt plain. The night side has some similar tundral or taiga forests, before giving way to extremely low grasses or "aerostat plants" which gather heat, light and power from tall bundles which are anchored to deep roots, before life becomes limited to pools created by geothermal activity or other exotic cases.
The Gate and the small research base of a few thousand on Spark is set up in the shadow of a short mountain range, which is formed by a river valley. The terrain is too uneven and steep for the local plants to deeply colonize, barring a few ground-covering colonies. The settlement has been unofficially named "Conductor" and very carefully settled itself as to avoid distressing or disturbing local xenobiology while still keeping researchers and potential colonists safe.

A Note On Sparkian Biology:
The xenoflora and fauna of Spark are similar to Earth animals in many ways, still carbon-based, but have many subtle chemical differences in their analogs. This means that generally they are unpleasant for humans to consume, both for incompatibility and in general because they have a very "salty" quality which skews how they taste and can have health impacts. Conversely the local wildlife is much more tolerant to salt content in many forms than earth biology. Almost all forms of life on Spark can be considered to have Eelware, and may have any number of other electricity related qualities, most frequently Shock Tolerance and (Bio)Electrical Sense, but also possibly emulating Radar, radio communication on a scale similar to Mesh Inserts, possibly even producing ranged "blasts" of current similar to a Stunner. This may interfere with several kinds of technology, or technology may interfere with local creatures causing them to behave in unexpected ways. Known species on Spark: Rubbernecks, Thunder-Lizards, Salt Vampires, Sparkbugs, Buzzbees, Spithian, Plugfish, Viola's River Shark, Conduit Vines, Statictrees, Lightningrod Tree, Aerostat Plants, Sparkgrass, Broad Shockleaf (and several "Shockleaf" subspecies), Battery Reeds, Broadcast Plant, Tesla Tree

G'harne

G'harne
Type: Terrestrial (Icy)
Primary Star: M5V (Red Dwarf)
Gravity: 1.3 g
Diameter: 19768 km
Atmospheric Pressure: 1.35 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 78% CO2, 22% Methane, Trace other gasses
Surface Temperature (Mean): -50 C
Day Length: 44 hours
Orbital Period: 528 Days
Satellites: None
Gate Access: Fissure Gate
Notes: Alien Life (macrofauna), Possible Alien Artifacts, Resources Available, Dangerous Natural Phenomena (cryovolcanoes)
G'harne seems like an oversized Titan. While cold, it has a thick enough atmosphere to keep some heat and pressure in, and has a high volume of carbon content in the air and ground, as well as heavy volumes of atmospheric methane, and volatile ice - interspersed with surface liquids of ammonia. While the mixture of gas, liquid and solid forms of volatiles combined with occasional tidal effects cause intermittent and occasionally violent Cryovolcano activity G'harne is a relatively safe, if cold world rich in resources which are valuable to gather and share for many Autonomist leaning gatecrashers. The fact that liquid ammonia under higher pressure can etch some impressive canyons into the glacial continents also makes it very picturesque.
More importantly, however is that G'harne's rich concentration of volatile and organic compounds has apparently given rise to life - and not just microbes but macrofauna animals who all function on ammonia-solvent biochemistry. This makes them much more resistant to the cold than water-solvent life (like humans), though which much slower metabolisms - and thus less disposed toward intelligent, fast-paced life. Most organisms survive via chemosynthesis, processing methane or inorganic carbon compounds in the icy crust to gain energy. Slightly larger microbes or even small macrofauna or fungi analogs will consume smaller organisms to obtain chemical energy, usually through passive filtration or "trap-like" processes. The largest organisms and most successful macrofauna appear to be a segmented worm analog which are called "bholes" (not to be confused with a Dhole - a terran canid). The largest and oldest seem to be just over a meter long, and live by slowly burrowing their way through ice to find ammonia pools, which they drink for nutrients, both in the ammonia itself, and in smaller organisms which might be inside it. Bholes work slowly, utilizing minimal energy to maximum return when they find the pool - they appear to have little in the way of self defense but little need for it, and are effectively the apex of the food chain for the time being. Reports by some of seeing massive bholes, anywhere from several meters in length to ones the size of mountain ranges are dismissed as wandering explorers drunk on moonshine or improperly filtering toxic gasses from the air.
The Argonauts, with their open source focus, have taken a keen interest in G'harne and with the blessing of Love and Rage set up a small series of research bases in the icy surface to study bholes and other of the unusual life here, and make regular reports back to the Solar System, which are publically shared through several networks. In addition to scientists, some surveyors and prospectors come to G'harne in order to try and find a good deposits of hydrocarbons or a new ammonia lake formation or another alien species to try and capitalize on the fame and reputation it will bring - occasionally these individuals go missing - probably killed by poor planning and rough terrain. However, deep penetrating ground-scans have noticed some anomalies deep below, objects which are unusually hard or difficult to scan when according to planetology there should be little discernible differentiation in these specific coordinates - and some over-eager scientists have jumped the gun that they are alien in nature - possibly external to the planet via the gates. More measured and cautious Argonauts profess that this is but one theory, and that several other explanations are equally reasonable, such as impacts, violent seismic or cryovolcanic activity due to external bodies in the past or just rare occurrences in nature - the anomalies have such depth as to make precise study difficult for the time being. Some unusual features seem to occur, though, such as these large, long objects being the source of some seismic activity, or possibly having incredibly ponderous motion relative to to the natural movement of the terrain...

Cocytus

Cocytus
Type: Terrestrial
Primary Star: L1V (Brown Dwarf)
Gravity: 1.3 g
Diameter: 16110 km
Atmospheric Pressure: .85 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 62% Nitrogen, 20% Helium, 17% Oxygen, trace other gasses
Surface Temperature (Mean): 18 C
Day Length: 21 hours
Orbital Period: 95 Days
Satellites: 3 moonlets
Gate Access: Portal Gate
Notes: Alien Life (Small Organisms), Dangerous Natural Phenomena (Ionizing Radiation), Alien Sky, Impressive Natural Terrain
Cocytus is an interesting terrestrial planet a "Night-world" on the inner fringe of the habitable zone of a Brown Dwarf formation (Colloquially called "Nightstar", but officially Hades). The star emits almost all of it's light in the infrared range, which means that Cocytus is a very dark and cool planet, though it has "day" if you have Enhanced Vision or similar. Tidal forces and the star are able to keep it heated enough to have habitable temperatures - though the night is very cool, with weak heat retention. This means Cocytus is windy and cold. It is not, however, suited to unassisted transhumans - the atmospheric pressure means that the oxygen balance isn't enough for most morphs, but more importantly is that Cocytus heavily reacts with the magnetic output of it's star and magnetic elements in it's own crust. While the high presence of aurora effects against a permanent "night" sky is very pretty, even synthmorphs cannot survive under the ionizing radiation without additional shielding. But, Cocytus still appears to have a biosphere, possible through something the xenobiologists have been calling "magnetosynthesis". It's plant analogs (Called "Magnemites") form semi-organic spires loaded with magnemite and other ferrous compounds which can grow up to a kilometer in height at their oldest and largest. These utilize the magnetic interference to gain energy which is then converted to chemicals using nutrients drawn up from the ground. Scanning and some sampling have indicated that simple xenofauna forms live deep under the ground, including both microbes of surprising diversity, and the beginnings of simple macro-scale organisms which are analogous to early Earth arthropods and annelids. These live by consuming other organisms, drawing nutrients directly from the ground and grazing or parasitizing on the Magnemites from below (though several colonial symbiote species have been noted on one of the planet's continents). Sampling and deep study is difficult due to the depth of many of these organisms, and their hardy structures - as well as natural conditions, so the complete nature of Cocytus' biosphere is not known. It does seem that complex, limbed organisms favor 8-10 multipurpose limbs, and their main forms of sensation appear to be vibrational, or oriented around magnetic fields, though some may have sensitivity to infrared radiation.
The terrain of Cocytus which is not covered in the Magnemites is rocky, with occasional volcanic activity. Instead of oceans, it has shallow lakes of varying sizes - most of which are fresh though some contain metallic salts. The magnetic fields makes use of instrumentation and certain technology difficult - radios are often unreliable and sensor equipment may be disrupted or unusable. External nanotechnology (like nanoswarms) are almost completely suppressed by it. It has three small moons or capture asteroids (data is difficult with telescope interference and low light levels), which have been tentatively named "Caina", "Antenora" and "Ptolomea". While scientists are eager to study Cocytus and learn more about it's life and possibly what knowledge can be derived from it, setting up on the planet has been incredibly difficult. Primary research base is an expanding set of prefab shelters equipped with radiation shielding at the top, where hardened drones and synthmorphs can be deployed to survey the planet and collect samples which can be studded in shielded labs. This is built over the original Gate location, a broad impact basin in a hard iron-salt flat which is devoid of life.

Wonderland

Wonderland
Type: Terrestrial
Primary Star: G9V (Yellow Dwarf)
Gravity: .7 g
Diameter: 8919 km
Atmospheric Pressure: 1.9
Atmospheric Composition: 45% Oxygen, 41% Nitrogen, 4% Methane, 2% Water Vapor, 2% Argon, 1% CO2, trace other gasses
Surface Temperature (Mean): 30 C
Day Length: 32.4 Hours
Orbital Period: 274 Days
Satellites: None
Gate Access: Martian
Notes: Alien Life (Xenofungus), TITAN Traces
Wonderland is an extremely odd little terrestrial world. It's atmosphere is thick, causes severe oxygen toxicity in standard Earth biology and is characterized by a light greenhouse effect - though volcanic activity seems very minimal. It is also noted for having over twice as much Water Vapor in the atmosphere than Earth, making it extremely humid and prone to rains. Wonderland has a particularly bright star (White Queen) which warms it and bathes it in radiation which is mostly absorbed by it's thick ozone layers.
What's most curious however is that the entire "biosphere" of Wonderland appears to be colonized by a single species or collection of subspecies of xenofungus. It is unknown if these are a singular mega-fungus, like some theorize the organisms of Tanaka are, or if there are discrete colonies - what is known is that other than some passive microbes, there are no real other lifeforms on Wonderland. The Wonderland Fungus itself is very differentiated, probably the most complex and advanced xenofungus every encounters, though luckily it appears colonial and not parasitic. It forms several very large structures of a wide variety and functions as part of large colonial structures. Tall umbrella like formations shield smaller fungus from rain, and absorb materials from the water and air (and may interact with the light), spiny "mine" formations send roots and channels deep down to absorb needed minerals in the ground, broad and tiered fungi grow and distribute spores via airflow in areas on the edge of a colony, and spindly web-like fungi seem to act as rudimentary sensory organs - detecting bioelectric fields and air disturbances, sending pheromone or electrical cues to nearby fungi clusters. All of it connected by a fibrous, lichen-like ground covering which seems to send electrochemical signals between macro-fungus forms almost like neurons - called "Croach". Not everything is passive on Wonderland, however. Evolution (possibly through other species or via alien invasives from the Gate) has prompted the fungal colonies to be able to defend themselves with tree-like formations which grow spined "fruit" filled with explosive compounds that when activated send a spray of chitinous spines of hardened carbon and metallic elements at nearly supersonic speeds - which will cause serious injury to an unarmored transhuman. These defensive formations appear to operate via cues from sensory formations, or local disturbances. Some researched also seem to have encountered "suicide" forms near particularly large clusters of croach which burst into pyrophoric explosions when people get too close. There has been some concern raised if the fungus (usually called "Phantomwise") is actually sapient, but leading tests indicate that while the xenofungus and it's croach layer process a decently large volume of information, the complexity of that information is very limited, and it is currently unknown if they have any kind of "storage" organ for that information - so it is assume they are sub-sapient and probably not more intellectually complex than colonial insects. It isn't yet known if the Phantomwise fungus is originally one specie of xenofungus which adapted to different forms, or if several similar groups of fungus evolved together to form a large colonial relationship. They do, however, heal damage at an astonishing rate comparable to medical nanotech.
The name from Wonderland comes from the exotic structures of fungus, the thick cloud layer offering unusual lighting, and the fact that Phantomwise Xenofungus appears to be bioluminescent or otherwise fluoresces for some as yet undetermined purpose. This may simply be a byproduct of it's alien metabolism, or an evolutionary throwback which has not been phased out by natural selection. Either way, the tall fungal formations, which can grow over 3 meters in height, often produce a wide spectrum of bright colors and reflections of light across both the visible and UV spectra - creating an unusual "backlight" off the cloud cover. What portions of Wonderland which are not covered by fungus appear to be mostly metamorphic rocks piled on top of jagged volcanic rock formations from the planet's earlier history, or sedimentary formations caused by water erosion. Wonderland has several large lakes in lowlands, and also shallow seas in the polar region where it gets cooler. The Gate and it's small research complex are in some manner of impact basin in the northern hemisphere, which has been cleared and now cleanly marked by biodefense units.
However, the phantomwise fungus is not the only thing of note on Wonderland. Ground-penetrating scans indicate several artificial tunnel networks under the surface, which appear to show signs of nano-scale tool use in patterns similar to those caused by titan nanoswarms and bots - indicating possible signs of their presence. With nothing confirmed, however, Pathfinder is still open to exploration.

Phantomwise Fungal Forms:

Umbrella Form/Gatherer Form
The Umbrella and Gatherer forms are the most common formations of the Phantomwise xenofungus. Umbrellas grow tall, with broad rounded tops which resemble earthy mushrooms but upwards of 3 meters in height - and gather resources from air and rainwater, and interact with limited UV radiation which filters through Wonderland's atmosphere. Gatherer or Miner forms grow under Umbrellas or at the edge of the "croach" biomass and are short, hardened spines at most a meter in height and are connected to deep "root" systems which seek minerals and nutrients in soil and rock below. Both forms are completely immobile and harmless - though their rubbery surface is slightly caustic to the touch. They have a Durability of 10 total each - but are highly flame retardant, gaining 10 points of armor for fire and fire-based attacks.

Sensory Forms
The second most common form, these fungal types form clusters of long, thin filaments which spring directly from the croach and resemble some sea creatures. They extend in all directions, sometimes up to a meter, but are too thin to stand straight up against gravity. These forms can sense electrical fields as Bioelectric Sense up to 20 meters. They can sense nonliving electric fields as well, but just distance and relative position. They have a Durability of 5.

Breeder Forms
Breeder forms are tall, conical towers which reach about to the Umbrella forms in height and are tiered or segmented. These forms produce spores which can grow other specialty forms from the croach, and tend to appear on the edge of Phantomwise colonies or in areas which are distressed or have been damaged. The spores are not parasitic, but are a skin and eye irritant and can cause an allergic reaction in biomorphs. Any morph not environmentally sealed who comes within 5m (or 20m if "blooming" and actively spreading spores) must make a SOMx2 test. If they fail they take -10 to all actions while they remain in the area of the spores. On a Severe or Critical failure, they have an extreme reaction, and take -30 to all actions as they develop severe symptoms and even begin to hallucinate - and must make a current DUR test or pass out. Toxin Filters and Medichines are immune. The forms have a Durability of 20, and like Umbrellas are Fire-proofed.

Antibody Forms
Antibody forms are Phantomwise' active defenses, which spring up in areas where the fungus is being disturbed or harmed. They look similar to trees or shrubs, a central stalk at most a couple meters in height, with many branches from its crown and upper body which produce spiny "fruits" which are actually their biological weapons, filled with explosive compounds which react with an electrical signal to fire hardened, chitinous spines in clusters at those who get too close. Some of these appear even to be beginning to adapt to transhuman invaders with secondary "munitions" which are like reactive rounds and explode on contact with the enemy.
Threat Level: Yellow
Numbers: 2-6
COG 1 COO 5 INT 10 REF 10 SAV 1 SOM 5
WIL 5 INIT 4 SPD 1 DUR 20 WT 4 DR 35
Splinter Spore: 55, Cone. 2d10+4, AP -4. 5/10/15/20
Sensory Spotter: The Antibody Form can perform Indirect Fire/Blind Fire attacks at no penalty on targets which are outside their sensory range but inside the range of a Sensory Form.
Natural Ammo: A single antibody form has 2d10 spores on it to use as ammunition. They regrow them at a rate of 1d10/2 a day.
Fray/Armor: 0, 2/2 (+10 Armor against Fire)
Perception: 40
Move: 0/0
Skills: Exotic Ranged Weapons: Spores 55
Ware: Bioelectric Sense, Medichines
Stress Test: 1d10/2
Shatter Spore Variant: This type can also perform a shatter spore attack where pressure activated fluids inside the shard explode on contact with the target, 45. This deals 2d10+10 damage, which is reduced by armor, but the AV of that armor is reduced by that amount until repaired. 2/4/6/8

Node Forms
Node forms are probably the closest Phantomwise comes to having a "brain" (though their intellect is still very simple). These spherical or otherwise rounded bodies only appear deep in the xenofungal colony, where the croach is very dense, and are often ringed with antibody forms. They can be upwards of a meter across and a meter or more tall, and sometimes are supported above ground-level by thick bundles of croach. They contain organelles which produce and store electrochemical energy, and which produce and coordinate the signals to various other forms in a local area. They have thick, rubbery surfaces and very amorphous insides, and they are reported to be quite caustic to the touch. If endangered, they appear to be able to release their energy in a burst to destroy themselves as a defense against something trying to steal their resources.
Threat Level: Yellow
Numbers: 1
COG 5 COO 5 INT 10 REF 1 SAV 5 SOM 1
WIL 10 INIT 2 SPD 1 DUR 30 WT 6 DR 45
Caustic Surface: Touching a Node Form causes 1d10 DV from it's acidic surface. Armor negates this damage, but it's AV is reduced by the damage dealt until repaired.
Coordinator: All fungal forms roll using the COG, INT, SAV and WIL of the Node Form if they are within 100m of it.
Self-Destruct: If threatened or heavily damaged, the Node can activate its stored chemical energy to ignite and rupture as a Complex Action, damaging everything in a 5m Area. This deals 2d10 damage, and those in the area must roll REFx2, or be set On Fire and take the damage ongoing.
Fray/Armor: 0, 2/4 (+10 Armor against Fire, take minimum damage from Kinetic weapons)
Perception: 50
Move: 0/0
Ware: Bioelectric Sense, Medichines
Stress Test: 1d10/2

Black Eden

Tucked into the Littleton crater in the south reaches the Utopia Planitia on Mars is a curious collection of hab domes and outbuildings which has come to be called "Black Eden". Officially named "Littleton Nanoecological Center", this settlement west of Elysium at AMT +8 is an interesting focus for a community which blends nano-ecology with primitivism. The settlement was founded by Andrew Lau, a name in several nanotech startups who after the Fall seemed to have a bit of a break, and decided to work on nonprofit applications of his technology for a simple lifestyle. Rumors abound his friends and business partners helped him set up the venture as a way to let him relax and also keep him in a single, easy to access location if needed.

Black Eden is described as "nanoprimitivist" - the settlement (for it is hardly organized enough to be called a town or village) allows it's several thousand transhuman residents to live relatively simple lives of comfort. Environmental conditions mimic a pleasant lightly wooded forest or plain and keep everything at a completely tolerable level, so there is no need for shelter or clothing. Gardening nanotech keeps the soil healthy and tends to plants so they can rapidly yet sustainably grow food all year round - a human simply walks up to a plant and eats it. Water is drawn and purified from the massive subsurface ice stores under the Planitia. Should a human require a tool or other object to do a task for for their own entertainment, fabricators or simple-tool Protean swarms can assemble it for them, and break it down when they are done, or they can craft it for themselves from the surrounding materials (as some prefer to do). Injuries are healed by medichines or readily accessed nanobandages - and healing vats are held in infrastructure sections. Several smart animal breeds (primarily Wolves, Raccoons and Hawks) live as companions, helpers and guardians, and several breeds of animals (such as a couple of species of deer) are cloned in small herds to sustainably hunt as prey animals for those who wish to obtain their nutrients normally rather than through artificial supplements.

Politically Black Eden is technically a member of the Tharsis League. They are a settlement which can elect a representative to the League Council and nominally operate in line with Martian laws and regulations - however this is mostly a tactic to prevent the settlement from being steamrolled by Martian or Hypercorp interference, as Littleton is held and operated by Lau privately, which means not a lot of direct influence can be done. Culturally, the internals of Black Eden are basically autonomist. The population are by and large pacifist, community-minded people who operate either on an individual basis, or by consensus. Because the dome theoretically provides all basic needs in excess, basic resource scarcity is pretty low - so most people share or immediately use anything they gather and do not need to hoard them. Learning, love and space are all generally pretty "free" in the center as well - though they do allow for some sentimentality of personal items. Lau's philosophy is that humans should be in harmony with nature and nature should be in harmony with us. So long as cruelty or harm is not done to nature, resources taken from it will be put back and rebalanced.

The population of Black Eden is mostly nano-ecologists like Lau, living "the dream" of a contained nanite controlled environment, but has several other smaller groups. A number of autonomist leaning Barsoomians or other anti-corporate groups have moved in to live a simple lifestyle away from corporate interference. Due to proximity with Elysium another big internal faction are bored and stressed out socialites - they come to Black Eden as almost a kind of rehab after serious stress issues with their connected media life, most leave after a few months, but several like the style and stay. There is also a non-zero number of Hominid and Neanderthal uplifts who have come to Black Eden to try and live in harmony with nature - the Neo-Neanderthals in particular find Black Eden very symmetrical to their own lives as once simple species harmonized with the times via technology. Most of the time, people just relax and live, doing simple tasks, learning crafts and skills eating, sleeping and making merry as they choose. But Black Eden has a strong community of arts, and so much time is spent swapping stories over literal campfires - contrasted with exotic art pieces made using nanotech. The name "Black Eden" is kind of a mystery, nobody can track down exactly where it came from, but it stuck. Many assume it to be a deliberate alteration on the TTO's "Red Eden" initiative of terraforming, or an appropriation of an insult from bioconservatives and primitivists in regards to their use of nanotech. A smaller group who are more in the know wonder at possible connection to the former militant x-risk group "Black Mars", who were purged after the Fall.

There are a couple notable names in Black Eden: Andrew Lau, of course, the founder of the colony and head of the project. While legally speaking Andrew owns the property, he does not exercise this authority without support from the people living there. Lau is seen as a thought-leader, who influences the direction the settlement goes both culturally and technologically. Min-Ji Choe is the nominal leader of the local Barsoomians, a martian nationalist in an on-again-off-again relationship with Lau. Scuttlebutt on the darknets is that Choe is an alias of an operative who escaped the Black Mars purge and is lying low. Cam Van is Lau's first ex-wife, who remained in business with him and moved to Black Eden a local year or so back in order to monitor his project. While very much interested in the applications in terms of technoprogressivism, most members of the community consider her a hypercorp apologist. She's also interested in the business applications of Black Eden itself. Lowland-Bear is the most prominent Neanderthals in Black Eden. A musician and story-teller by trade, he originally came to Black Eden to spread the story back to Moustier, and now he serves an almost "embedded reporter" capacity. Arza Katranjiev is the Argonaut's consultant who helps manage elements of Black Eden's infrastructure - and is widely thought of to be part of ISET, the equivalent of the Argonaut's intelligence win.

The primary hab dome of Black Eden is the size of a couple football stadiums, and completely covered over in solar paneling which provide a large portion of the power. The interior is lit by artificial lighting which cycles through comfortable patterns for humans and plants - often lending a mystic air to the lighting. The terrain is dual - approximately one half is rolling, hilly uplands with grasses and low shrubs, with the other have a light wood/garden of trees and foodstuff plants, split by a sizable river. Several smaller domes or structures ring the primary one, used for testing new technology, or acclimating new residents or animals. Currently there are plans to expand and assemble a second dome with new biome(s), such as a tiered "hanging garden" structure, or a savannah or river delta type one. Interior structures tend to be oddly geometric or arranged in fractal patterns by their guiding nanoswarms. The infrastructure of Black Eden is coordinated by a habitat ALI called "Eden", who operates as a direct coordination and management system to keep various sub-AI computer systems working in concert to keep everything harmonized. Technicians regularly service the system to prevent any errors which could disrupt the fragile environment. Black Eden supports itself via a mixture of Lau's extensive investment profile (run out of Luna) and the fact that he owns or co-owns several valuable patents or other IP in the Planetary Consortium, and occasionally the scientists there consult on various projects - their latest example being the Dryad. Other raw materials are gathered by very slow collection of drones or nanoswarms from the Utopia Planitia region as needed. Black Eden also sees regular visits from passing Nomad clans, who trade raw materials for food, entertainment or technical assistance.

Plot Hooks:

• Cam Van succeeds in talking Lau into turning Black Eden into a partial resort in order to fund expansion to a second dome. This leads to cultural clashes between new temporary visitors and many of the long-term residents, including ex-militant Min-Ji Choe. 
• Eden is not actually an ALI, but is an AGI system whose complexity is not known to the wider world. They may even be a TITAN or Promethean fork running an unusual social experiment on the residents.
• An expert on TITAN nanotech has gone on the run and decided to hide out in Black Eden - now one or more covert groups must infiltrate the settlement to interrogate or capture them. 
• Neanderthal purist organization "Wrong Turn" has infiltrated Black Eden with weapons and is planning to stage an attack to prove their "superiority" over Homo Sapiens. 
• A Barsoomian "terrorist"/zone runner/defaulted indenture or some other form of "criminal" has hidden out at Black Eden, prompting a confrontation with the local Utopia Rangers - who may be varying levels of friendly or corrupt. 

Plantation (The Good Masters)

"The greatest task before civilization at present is to make machines what they ought to be, the slaves, instead of the masters of men." - Havelock Ellis (1948)

"Machines exist to serve man, not to rule over him" - Motto of The Good Masters

PLANTATION (1036 Ganymed)
Station Type: Cole Bubble (S-Type Amor Asteroid)
Allegiance: Independant (The Good Masters)
Primary Language: English, French, German
1036 Ganymed was one of the largest known near Earth objects, a Mars-crossing Amor asteroid of considerable size, and roughly rounded shape. It's name comes from the German spelling of "Ganymede". The habitat is has become, Plantation, is an interesting strain on bioconservatism. It was founded by several conservative business tycoons who escaped the Fall with resources intact, and for various reasons did not care for the direction the Planetary Consortium was going - nor necessarily the overbearing militarism and Catholic influence of the budding Jovian Republic. So, they funded the creation of their own habitat to breed their own ideal - Plantation - and became known as "The Good Masters".
Fundamentally, the Good Masters are founded on one simple strain of thought. All machines are devised to be tools of man - thus man should control machines and machines never control man. They see the TITANs and the growth of other infolife, the exploding use of synthmorphs and cyberbrains, forking, advanced nanofabrication and exotic biomorphs to be both a survival risk and a moral affront. Technology serves man's purposes and does not serve its own, so the machine should never be higher placed than a human Ego. This does not mean that Plantation does not utilize some technologies, but they do so in very specifically proscribed ways.
For Transhumans, this means a very simple living. Biomorphs more advanced than an Exalt are not available on Plantation. Many residents to not have or do not utilize basic mesh inserts, instead preferring to keep their digital access to external devices like an Ecto. Cyberbrains also cannot be acquired on Plantation, and those with them are often treated like second class citizens or barred from entry on account of being "security" risks. The station has minimal infomorph servers which are clearly designed to be transitional space, one should not live as data permanently. A citizen may not sleeve into a Pod or Synthmorph - and those inside these morphs will be asked to vacate them for the duration of their stay - though Brain Box units are allowed. This, however, is a good way to be treated as a literal object. Cyberware is minimized for immediate medical or work-related uses only, though basic, non-visible bioware and even nanoware is approved. Cortical stacks, backups and resleeving are allowed, but practiced rarely as a precautionary measure, and all resleeving facilities are held by the governing body of Plantation - the Ganymed Council. Much like in the Jovian Republic, advanced nanotech like Healing Vats, Ego Bridges, Hives and fabrication of all kinds is not privately owned, but held in carefully regulated facilities and generally not accessible to the public. Alpha forking is illegal, with Beta forking highly regulated, though the use of forking and merging for having children is allowed - as are exowombs. For authenticity, "surrogate" Pods are often used to hold growing children. Skillsofts also form an unusual contraband on Plantation - it is thought utilizing the expertise of another and being dependant on technology for skills is a deep affront to the original Ego and allows technology to "rule" you. The only other major restriction of note, besides the basic laws one might assume in modern, organized habs, is that Indenture is categorically illegal on Plantation. A human cannot be construed to "own" another human, which puts their society at odds with Morningstar, the Consortium and Extropians, but means that Indentures are occasionally smuggled to Plantation by friendly Scum Swarms or certain Barsoomians.
Because, while citizens (I/E Transhuman Egos) and visitors may not acquire or utilize some of this technology, that is not to say it does not exist. Plantation is rife with Pods and Synths, however they are all stacked with ALI or teleoperated by humans (these morphs are clearly marked in both AR and realspace as being used by a human). Plantation does not fear mass AI subversion like many societies, as they use curbed or limited AI in small independant networks to handle certain advanced tasks using physical instances, and heavily limit the hardware capabilities of non-instanced AIs, as well as have littered the hab with numerous air gaps our countermeasures to prevent some kind of AI subversion outbreak (such as wide-spectrum wireless jamming being available in the entire hab in a state of emergency). These AIs or jammed drones handle most routine tasks - they manage farms which are Plantation's namesake, they are used in off-site asteroid mining projects, they replace "all-in-one" nanofabrication with literal assembly lines of AI Synths and handle most low-level service industry jobs. Every "unit" of AIs must have a transhuman handler or manager in some respect - the titular "Good Master". Large tasks often mimic middle management structures of old-fashioned corporations with multiple levels of transhuman management over AI "cube workers".
AI work is the backbone of Plantation's healthy economy. They man the plantations the hab is named after, which grow several otherwise rare strains of plants both for internal consumption and export. Most of the work at the Ganymed Brewing Company is done by AIs, as are local manufacture of consumer goods (at least those not small enough that they be produced simply in fabricators or classic 3D printers). As noted, AI labor supplements mining efforts which return raw materials to Plantation, and they make up the bulk of the service industry, which allows for greater profit margins while retaining competitive pricing. Basic hab maintenance is handled by AI drones overseen by humans, much like many Autonomist habs - which gives people free time on artistic or other creative pursuits. Most citizens are employed as "management", or in technical work to repair and update machines and AIs, as machines cannot build or repair machines. Plantation has a sizable educational system, due to it's ability to generate profit in excess of its smaller population - with encouragement of sophisticated or technical skills; though for every doctor, lawyer or computer engineer Plantation produces they produce at least twice as many business or polisci majors.
Government of Plantation is a semi representative democracy. Habitat-wide decisions are voted on by the entire populace, using a physical token voting which is tallied by a mix of hand and computers. But most day to day operations are handled by the Plantation Council. The council has 8 normal seats and one executive seats. Four of the seats are permanently held by founding members of Plantation, or their chosen proxy, the other four are elected by the populace every two standard years. The final slot, the Executive seat, acts as a tiebreaker vote only and has limited executive powers, and is selected every four years by nomination of the Council, and then ratified by a popular vote requiring simple majority. The council oversees habitat infrastructure and finance - taking a very reasonable flat taxation to pay for upkeep costs and to employ "Management" on public AIs. They also fund the Militia, a technically volunteer organization which takes compensation to work - as Plantation employs minimal drone security - almost entirely for external defenses or states of emergency. Punishments on Plantation are usually fiduciary - including seizure of some property (which would include AIs), short periods of confinement, probation and house arrest, and most frequently mandatory work assignments - where serious convicts have their original morphs impounded or confined and they are forced to do so many hours of "community service" work in teleoperated morphs or bots to repay their debt. Loss of citizenship and exile are only common for the most serious or repeated crimes - as Plantation does not believe in mandatory psychosurgery, cold storage or execution. Everything else is handled by corporations or other businesses which are compensated by the government - with obvious favor to corporations who "give back" to Plantation or otherwise are profitable for the Council.
Citizenship on Plantation is fairly simple. To become enfranchised, one must count Plantation as their primary residence (reside their a majority of the year), have paid taxes at least once on Plantation, and either own their own biomorph or possess enough funds to purchase one from the government (this can be all at once or leased) which must be arranged immediately upon granting of citizenship. Citizens are entitled to vote, serve in the Militia and have stronger legal protections, as well as be subject to benefitting from more government services. Due to minimal computer tracking and automation, most citizens have Nanotat IDs or some other form of physical ID token on them for official purposes. Due to their ideology, work visas are very common to Plantation as a step to citizenship, and freely given to those with demonstrable skills - so long as they are not in possession of restricted technology or would surrender it upon entry to the hab. Workers may even utilize restricted morphs if they cannot afford their own biomorph, and there is little concern of "job loss" as AIs take care of most manual labor jobs. Tourist visas are a little more strongly restricted. Those not coming to work are allowed, but they must either not be in possession of illegal technology or be willing to surrender it - and those in restricted morphs must rent a biomorph for a temporary stay. While on a tourist visa one may not "work" on Plantation. Of course, there are additional complexities. AGI who enter Plantation are highly restricted - they cannot be unaccompanied, and must either sleeve into a biomorph or be subject to curbed hardware, and will have their mesh and technology access restricted and monitored. AGI cannot become citizens unless they sleeve into biomorphs and live at least several years under a probationary period and pass a battery of "humanization" tests. Uplifts represent an ideological conflict for the Good Masters. Some parties assert that as Uplifts are transhuman creations, they are tools as well and thus should be confined to second-class citizenship - above AIs but akin to AGI, while others assert since they are sapient and can live as humans do, they are as eligible for citizenship as anyone else. For the time being, until legislation can become more clear, Uplift morphs of most types are allowed on Plantation for visitors, and Uplift citizens are approved on a "case-by-case" basis.
It is not all sunshine and rainbows on Plantation. Many people feel that their lifestyle is archaic, and overly simple. They do not reap the full benefits of technological advancement, and live artificially constructed lives to uphold their "values". Politically, their opposition to Indenture puts them on the wrong side of the Planetary Consortium (and to a lesser extent, Venus and Luna). Their extensive use of AI, no matter how restricted, often means they are thought of as a walking security risk by "true" precautionist or bioconservative societies such as the Jovian Republic. Their attitudes on morphological freedom, advanced nanotech and AGI means they are of dubious quality to most Autonomist groups. This means their strongest allies are in mobile Scum swarms who are of non-committal natures about people living as they please, and some sects of Barsoomians on Mars - who engage in anti-Indenture tactics, Martian reclamation and nationalism. Several Sapient politicians and activists are pushing for reforms for pro-integration Uplifts and AGIs, but Mercurials are deeply distrustful or hateful of their style of governance and several terrorist attacks have occurred - which have been tied to infolife Mercurial organizations. The Consortium is waging ongoing economic and memetic warfare with Plantation - which is so far able to stay afloat due to relative self-service and the fact that some of their exports (in the form of grown plants or byproducts) are relatively valuable to others in the Solar System. X-Risk groups like Firewall are concerned a digital outbreak of the Exsurgent Virus or TITAN agents could also compromise the habitat and it's not insignificant population, and utilize it as a jumping off point for other operations.
Construction-wise, Plantation is a bit of a patchwork. The two "poles" house spaceports and inner city analogs, tightly packed quarters for persons who organize shipping/receiving, vac and zero-g industry and certain infrastructural functions. Along the "equator" of the bubble is primary residence, where cheap block housing is held, along with governmental buildings, most government services are based out of here, as is the service and tourism industry - featuring several resorts, pod brothels, restaurants. The Ganymed Brewing Company and several other local corporations have offices here. This is also where their limited Egocasting facilities and official resleeving facilities are. The remaining interior surface is a blend of secured industrial facilities and large fields with attached plantation houses which give the habitat it's name. Small teams of synths or pods often roam fields or streets, accompanied by a manager or two. Architecture blends stark, industrial look in factory settings with almost wistful historic colonial or plantation-style construction, with hints of southeast asian or pacific island styles. While not primary languages, the background of several founding investors means that Plantation is a bastion of linguistics and cultures from Southeast Asia and Oceania which would otherwise be lost. Most people in Plantation are fairly well off, though of course they are limited in what they can do with this wealth. This makes entertainment a fairly decent industry there, and classic non-interactive media being the most prolific. People who fall on hard times are caught by government safety nets to prevent them being "lower than a machine", though people on welfare are widely disrespected. People think of their lives as peaceful and tend not to go armed, but "managers" are almost always equipped with a heavy sidearm (such as a seeker pistol) or a weapon loaded with jammer rounds to deal with wayward AIs. AI-driven units are easily identified - all Synthmorphs and many pod morphs run by AIs are "naked", with their ownership clearly marked on their bodies - though pods working certain industries meet dress codes. People operating pods or synths remotely, via brainbox or on temporary stay visas until they can afford a biomorph will dress and act as normal people, and include AR markers to let others know a person is there. Crime is minimal on Plantation, limited to typical crimes of passion or economic crimes - with the Militia keeping an even hand to break things up, though generally people are in agreement. However, there are two common crime issues on Plantation - vandalism or property damage, which is how the government categorizes damage or abuse of AIs and their platforms, and smuggling. Black Market operators backed by the Triads, Night Cartel or Scum offer illicit implants, technology and softwares to people living on Plantation who are willing to break the rules to get ahead. Skillsofts, cyberware (and implant masking) and nanotech are the most commonly smuggled goods.