Torrent
Just outside of Frontier space is a world known as Torrent. It is a world untouched by any civilization. It is timing with life both above and beneath its surface. Torrent a planet revealing the mysteries of the ancient past of every world. A planet dominated by dinosaurs.
Sixty-four percent of Torrent's surface is covered by water. The air has a high concentration of carbon dioxide, making breathing difficult. Areas closer to the equator are near impossible to survive without proper breathing apparatuses. The air can be filtered, and with properly formulated pills, a person's lungs can be made to breath the air normally. Because of the humidity in those regions, an environmental suit is needed as well or else the person will collapse in moments from heat exhaustion.
In far southern and northern regions, near to the ice caps, most races can live and breath normally without assistance, though they have a -5 penalty (-1 CS) to all actions requiring any kind of exertion (Referee's discretion) on account of the humidity. When traveling long distances, character's distance traveled is affected by a .05 penalty per kilometer traveled.
An outstanding feature of Torrent is its wildlife. Torrent is home to an estimated 35,000 variations of dinosaur and an estimated 200 million species of plant and animal life, not counting the untold number of insects. It is a planet in its early stages of life. Soil samples reveal that the planet is barely 1.5 billion years old and life has only been on the planet for barely a fifth of that time. It has been suggested that the Tetrarchs likely respected the early stages of life development as otherwise they would have likely conquered the planet and transformed its life long ago. Others suggest that it is likely that the Tetrarchs created Torrent.
Dinosaurs of all kinds are the trademark of Torrent. You can see them herding along the planes, skirted by predators. Deep in the forests insects and small animals dash about, seeking food and scrounging for scraps. The Council of Worlds has identified Torrent as special and set it aside as a nature preserve.
The Southern Veil
The accompanying map is a landing zone on Torrent, a massive peninsula known as the Southern Veil. Each square on the map is 10 km. The map is an image taken by the Promenant in low orbit. You will note the rather large underwater coastline. Along the southern-most tip the water is only 3 meters deep at its lowest point. In other places around the peninsula, the water only goes as far as 10 meters deep. In some places this underwater coastline stretches as far as 30 kilometers out into the ocean. Beyond the underwater coastline is a steep dropoff.
The waters of the western coastline are known only as the Torrent, from which the planet gets its name. The name results from the fact that the waters cannot be traversed under or over its surface due to a massive and violent current caused by the warm current of the north end of the sea meeting the cold wastes of the southern cap. Attempts to pass through those waters will result in certain death. On the eastern coastline you will notice the calm waters of the Blue Ocean and its many underwater capes, islands, and barriers. Throughout this area is a massive system of unexplored underwater caves running for many kilometers under the land mass.
At the very southern-most tip of the peninsula you will notice a yellowish area in the water. This is an area with a high concentration of an algae known as cleat, which releases large amounts of sulfates, iodide, and urea. It has a distinct pleasant odor like clean soap. Bathing in the waters can rid characters of many pollutants, including radiation. Despite being in a cold region, the algae causes the waters in this area to be a moderately cold, but comfortable temperature around 4° C.
Herbs of Note
Siproot
Large Photosynthetic Plant; Tree. Drinking from this tree's roots or branches daily provides natural short-lived vaccination against most Torrent diseases and viruses. The plant apparently develops medicines by acquiring samples of saliva and blood from animals that sip its roots or branches to develop a drinkable panacea that defends against various biological infestations. This is a pansymbiotic relationship with all animals that ensures that the plant is able to reproduce by attaching its tiny seeds to the fur of animals drinking from its roots and limbs. Chewing the root or limbs also cleans teeth.
Tree Mold
Tree mold is a fungus that grows as tiny, plate-like leaves in tall trees and is a bright green in color. It produces a sweet pungent scent that is unavoidable to taller dinosaurs. They track down the trees with the most tree mold in it. The tree mold is high in nutritious elements and natural sickness fighters (colds, flu, etc.).
Adventure Ideas
An adventure consisting entirely of survival amongst a planet of dinosaurs is different than the usual fare of intrigue and chasing villains. In this environment a Referee must throw creature after creature at his players to keep them on their toes until they adapt, are rescured, or die. This, of course, does not prevent a Referee from carrying on intrigue amongst the planet of dinosaurs. There are lots of ways to fit Torrent and its dinosaur inhabitants into your campaign:
- Expedition. Your party has been sent to explore the planet, observe its life, and most importantly find herbs that can be used for medicines, as well as identifying new genetic types for product research. Unfortunately, your shuttle crashes in transit far from destinatiion, destroying most of the equipment you had for keeping the wildlife at bay. Now you must fend for yourself until your ship can rescue you.
- Lost in Transit. Your group of soldiers were en route to a military facility to bolster the ranks, when the ship is attacked by Sathar and left for dead. Your ship crash lands on a nearby planet where you must survive until saved by explorers or someone from the UPF looking for you.
- Misjump. Your intrepid group of adventurers were attempting to go to Starmist, but a misjump landed you in a different part of space, putting you over Torrent. You land to find out if there is any culture that can help you, but what you find is an entirely unexplored world with endless potential only just starting its trek through the developmental battlefield.
- Hunters and the Hunted. Your group has been hired by a rich gamer to track down and hunt a large dinosaur when all goes wrong. Little did you realize the cunning intelligence of the enormous Retributosaur.
- Pirate Treasure. Your adventurers have stumbled upon a treasure map on a ship's computer that leads them to Torrent. On their way to the treasure, they stumble across pirates, perhaps having been in hunt of the treasure themselves, or maybe to recover the booty they burried.
- Saboteur. The ship has clearly been sabotaged and your players are in the midst of the investigation when the ship is forced to crash land on Torrent. Now, not only must they survive against a deadly planet, they must find out who the saboteur (or saboteurs) is before they kill off the entire crew or the crew succumbs to the inhabitants of torrent.
Creature Manifest
There are many, many more creatures on Torrent, but these are the ones to watch out for at the Southern Veil, or which your players may be able to do something with. he truth is, this is only a small cross-section of the creatures you'll find on Torrent. There are many other landing zones on Torrent, and each one has its own dangers and things of interest.
Torrent has many, many more creatures on it, many of which are just variants of the ones presented in this article. Feel free to make your own dinosaurs and dangerous plants to add to the list of creatures inhabiting this lost world.
See links below
Other Sources
There are great sources for adventure ideas with dinosaurs that can be found in classic literature.
Anne McCaffrey's Dinosaur Planet/Planet Pirates series' with Elizabeth Moon, and Jody Lynn Nye, where a team of geological investigators look for ways to exploit the planet's resources, only to find a planet of few resources and many dangers.
Xenozoic Tales (a.k.a, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs), an underground comic by Mark Schultz that has been made into a TV series and an RPG published by GDW, where men went underground after environmentally devastating the planet and come up four centuries later to discover that the world has reclaimed itself.
Editor’s Note: This article has a lot of stuff for use in your games. Even if you don’t locate these creatures on the planet described in the article – it’s fourteen fully-detailed creatures! Dinosaurs can scare the heck out of an adventurer. They’re big, sometimes fast, and you don’t really know just how smart they are. Will they work as a pack like wolves? Will they chase you beyond their established territory? Is there a way adventurers can learn to identify the markings of that territory? Are they just as curious about you as you are about them? What if one can actually befriend a dinosaur, like domestication of some household pets where the animal will consider the character a part of its family? These questions and more all await you on planet Torrent – or wherever you use these great resources.
Thanks Corjay!
