Lore/Setting

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Setting / Lore

This section aims to provide a brief overview of the setting that Beestation takes place in – it is not a comprehensive lore document and serves as a high-level requirement that the game and future lore must adhere to.

The Beestation Universe

Beestation takes place on-board Space Station 13, one of many corporate stations in orbit around the colloquially named Lavaland, a highly volcanic and almost habitable planet which orbits Auri. Auri is an axillary system which orbits the core Geminae star system, the home of humanity, with a wide elliptical orbit. These two interlocked systems form a bubble of space that offers an expandable buffer zone to an advanced civilisation unable to cross the stars.

Humanity is highly developed technologically, and has overcome much of the challenges of space travel, however faster-than-light travel over long distances is impossible with the current understanding of technology. As such, despite being relatively close, the Auri star system is a developing region of space showing a lot of potential for long-term profit, if a company can withstand the lack of returns over the roughly 23-year gap between transfer windows – the period between times when the Auri system is at its periapsis.

Space Station 13 is owned and managed by Nanotrasen, a power-house in technology related industries with several subsidiaries providing anything from defence related technologies, gene-operations, and unproven high-risk industries. It is the third station owned by Nanotrasen to orbit Lavaland, with the first being a small (now unmanned) monitoring station, and the second being Space Station 11, operated by Nanotrasen’s defence company which provided security during the construction of Space Station 13.

Not everyone is friendly in this region of space – due to the distance from government oversight, shady activity is common, ranging from corporate-mafia organisations to adventurers who risked it all and were forced to make money the only way they could.

Space Station 13

Space station 13 is a station created to research and utilize plasma, a poorly understood material with exceptionally useful qualities. In its base form, it is a highly flammable and efficient fuel source; it’s chemical composition make it useful in the manufacturing of high-energy electronics and superconductors; and it is believed to break the physical boundaries of materials that were previously thought possible, which could lead to it unlocking currently impossible technologies.

The station consists of several departments:

• Executive: The Captain of the station is a Nanotrasen appointed executive. They have an executive officer serving as their right-hand man, as well as a team of lawyers to keep the rest of the station in check.

• Security: Operated by Nanotrasen’s subsidiary company, Stronghold Security. The company was originally formed to separate Nanotrasen’s riskier endeavours after a fatal accident. Its board consists of previous Nanotrasen managers and executives ‘promoted’ to C-suite positions to move them out of Nanotrasen’s more important projects. Despite high-levels of performance, this method of political promotion harbours animosity between Nanotrasen and Stronghold executives to this day.

• Science: A highly trusted and experienced department operated by Nanotrasen themselves. They deal with classified research, the experimentation of plasma, and provide advanced technology to the rest of the station – the types of machines that can’t be ordered from another station through cargo. The research documents they produce are extremely valuable to other companies, and even those working closely with Nanotrasen wouldn’t be against getting their hands on a few of them for inspiration.

• Engineering: Engineering work is provided by a small contracting company, one of the few companies that can maintain the highly advanced reactors and thrusters on board Space Station 13 – they didn’t create the reactors, but they are trained in its bespoke maintenance. It is rumoured to be in talks with Nanotrasen regarding a buyout.

• Supply: Supply is managed by a shipping company operating multiple supply stations in orbit of Lavaland. Due to the still developing nature of space around Lavaland, they possess what is essentially a monopoly over station supplies and operate the cargo imports/exports for virtually all stations in the region. This company is headquartered in the Auri system itself, a somewhat impulsive decision which attempts to bring in continual returns without needing to wait twenty-three years for a transfer window. They aren’t a huge company outside of Auri space, they just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

• Medical: Run by a private medical company that provides medical services for a large number of other companies and individuals. This company typically operates with a policy of working with anyone to increase profits. They offer a variety of health packages, from basic treatment to full monitoring and recovering. Their flexible payment plan lets you pay in instalments, making healthcare more affordable for everyone!

• Service: A group of low-ranking civilian personnel renting out space on the station to provide necessary services such as catering. They are far too low ranking for company politics to be of importance to them, and are typically more worried about making enough money to pay their bills on time.

While relatively independent, each department is still very much pro-station and needs the station to function and survive.

Groups of Interest

The Syndicate

The Syndicate is a collection of groups classified by both an adversity towards Nanotrasen and the will to perform extremist actions against them. The Syndicate are a decentralised collection of groups with common goals and beliefs – there is no over-arching command group that decide what actions the Syndicate collectively take, and every group has differing beliefs which often leads to conflicts within the group. Despite this, the groups within regularly trade intelligence, resources and have been known to cooperate in some operations.

While not being a single organised group, the Syndicate is associated with a recognisable identity; their iconic blood-red hard-suits as an example. Many groups within the Syndicate belong to legitimate companies who want to put distance between themselves and their anti-competitive terrorism campaigns, and as such have formulated a highly recognisable public-facing appearance for Syndicate actions.

While not being a key-point in the Syndicate manifesto, the Syndicate ideology is typically considered to be pro-space. They consider the Tellune Purity Force to be a terrorist organisation whose existence causes disruption to society as a whole, by preventing the necessary development of humanity. Nanotrasen and the larger corporations within the Syndicate have been known to collaborate on countering TPF operations.

Tellune Purity Force

A paramilitary group against both the construction of the constellation, and space expansion as a whole. They believe that the lack of resources available on Tellune is a sign that the consumption of humanity has gone too far, and that it needs to be scaled back rather than expanding into space. Many members come from unstable or developing countries that are being exploited by the first-world corporations. They fund themselves by siphoning goods supplied by beneficiary countries during civil war, and through back-hand deals with a major nation sanctioned by the Tellune Council.

The TPF and the Syndicate are distinct groups with different motives. The TPF does not specifically have an issue with Nanotrasen, but with all space expansion. Their primary targets tend to be governments and civilians, as they intend to spread their message and get policy change that benefits them. They are an organised group, unlike the Syndicate, and have several executive command cells which are responsible for planning the group's actions.