Rethinking the Plague Worlds

OnceFarOff's picture
OnceFarOff
August 28, 2012 - 12:01pm
I really am not a fan of how Zeb's guide handled the plague worlds. I think the UPF would have worked to help those people once the Blue Plague was under control.

That said, I do like the idea of a place that's so dangerous, that it is placed off limits. It would open up some really cool adventure opportunities:

1. A Zombie Apocolypse? Perhaps a settled world with a highly infectious outbreak...

2. Riddick - Pitch Black - an alien so dangerous that it wiped out every attempt at colonization

3. ?
Comments:

rattraveller's picture
rattraveller
November 11, 2017 - 6:35am
The Family of One is interesting in the Blue Plague. While the medical sciences are credited with finding a cure the vast knowledge of microbiology the FoO has did not seem to be used. After all if you build planetary environments for a living you have to build the microscopic as well as the macroscopic. There are many legitimate reasons for this; FoO secrecy, megacorps not big on sharing, UPF beauracracy keeping things in house, the vast distances of the Frontier holding up cooperation, the knowledge to create viruses was not practical to apply to the cure for the Blue Plague and probably some more.
Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go?

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
November 12, 2017 - 8:37am
FoO, I think we bounced the idea around that the BP could have been an oopsy of Terraforming. I was also thinking just recently about the brown dwarf scenario and the Yazirian Home World. I happened to be just looking up some star system names of Binary Systems in RL (some need better names...lol) however I ran across an idea that our RL Solar System is Binary with the second star being a brown dwarf, which is responsible for the mass extinction cycle... I am not sure about this idea, however in considering the Yazirian HW system this would be the scenario for the brown dwarf idea I have seen floating around, the dwarf is not really wandering but they have a binary system with a star that triggers mass extinction and all sorts of havoc making the system dangerous right now & the FoO would want their system off limits. 

I agree planetary environment is something to consider... also I was thinking we are talking whole systems here... multiple worlds, space stations, mining operations and more are all quarantined? 

I just think that is a lot of places and opens up a lot of options.


 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

jedion357's picture
jedion357
November 13, 2017 - 8:13am
Well the Fo1 maiking the home system off limits does not make a lot of sense. I can see a lot of people wanting to go back and see whats happened. Fo1 says no you cant and the response is: A. Ok or B. Screw you, I'll do what I want.

Now these are very human reactions especially "B" so we have to consider the yazirian psychology and what we know about it: brash, pushy, with a side of grouchy. So I would guess they are in for mostly "B"
except the yazirian on Hentz.

The only way the Fo1 could stop anyone from going back is that they have the jump routs locked up tight. This will be a very un-popular move and a serious bone of contention between Hentz and the other yazirian colonies.

Now why would they want to lock down travel to the home system? The excuse will be that its holy ground due to the death and destruction of the ecosystem and those left behind. Holy ground not to be disturbed. This is an excuse not a real reason though some might buy into and agree that it would be sacriligous to disturb the destroyed planet.

So why lock down all travel? Lets go with the brown dwarf being a binary to the yazirian sun. and that it had a planet. and said planet didn't have much of an ecosystem but it did have a "virus"
and In my timeline Shadow shacks Clan Anglann were the astrophysist and explorers so it was a clan Anglan ship and crew that first scouted the brown dwarf and its planet and discovered this virus and brought samples back. Heck the planet doesn't even need an ecosystem it could have a crashed alien ship and the virus was discovered on board.

fast forward Clan Anglan taking over the control of the first colony in the Frontier Sector on Hentz and recreating themselves as the guardians of the faith. research goes on with these samples from planet X orbiting the brown dwarf and the blue plague is developed- either Fo1 thought they could control it and use it to gain control of the Frontier sector and subjugate the other 3 species or it got out accidently. Maybe they were cold blooded enough to let yazirians die in the BP ? But if they were responsible for the BP and the source material for it came from the Brown dwarf binary of the home system they may not want anyone poking around back there.

And unfortunately, there will be individuals and clan representatives that do want to go back and see whats happened to the home system.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

rattraveller's picture
rattraveller
November 13, 2017 - 7:36pm
B is not the standard Human reaction. You have made the often made mistake of confusing nature with culture. It is the standard American Hollywood ideal to be a rebel, be wild, defy the man and stand up for yourself. This is not the actual case otherwise we would have alot more anarchy in our society than we do.

This "wild side" flucuates in cultures. Quick trip we had the Victorian Era where conformity was everywhere. WWI and the roaring 20s did away with alot of that then the Great Depression, WWII and the 50s conformity was back until the the Groovy 60s and Disco 70s broke loose again. Reagan and the 90s back to conformity. Not sure where we are know.

Best way to check, put out a button and a "DO NOT PRESS"  sign. See how many press it.
Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go?

jedion357's picture
jedion357
November 13, 2017 - 7:49pm
B can also be representative of the classic RPG reaction: kill it. 

And I still don't see the Yazirians rolling over for the Fo1 except for those living on Hentz which goes back to your culture argument
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

rattraveller's picture
rattraveller
November 13, 2017 - 7:54pm
Yazirian reaction would vary by clan. Some clans are more tradition bound and conservative so would not disobey the rules while others, especially those who prefer to develop their battle rage ability would probable ignore the rules.
Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go?

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
November 14, 2017 - 7:56pm
Simply because it is assumed everyone left behind perished does not make it so... there could be some crazy desperate surviving pockets of culture on the YHW. These folks were not wanted by Fo1 for the future society they were planning, and anyone going back might get their spaceship hijacked. Fo1 might be motivated to keep people away or it could be a dead or nearly dead hulk of a world.

As to the BP worlds proper it seems like heavy populated worlds would be the ones the BP got out of control on... my logic is it would spread fast and hard in high population centers, what do you guys think?

Also in line with “Ghosts” Steven Kings “The Mist” now there is some freaky stuff that would make any colony off limits quick.

Half Terraformed world... Defience show had a Earth partially terraformed with alien life, plus junk falling from the sky, war damaged and more... so all messed up with warring factions... if something happened like that to Core 4 Colony would the feds bail and quarantine? An interesting thought terraforming as a weapon.
 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

jedion357's picture
jedion357
November 14, 2017 - 10:27pm
Tom S. 's computer projections showed, IIRC, that the world could be kicked out to a colder orbit or that it was ejected from the system by the wandering brown dwarf with greater certainty for one style of interloping. I cannot remember if it was perpendicular to the plain of the system or horizontal to it.

This is probably significant to whether we're talking about a binary or a wandering brown dwarf.

what if the planet was captured by the brown dwarf?
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!