Luna

Summary

Humanity's first home away from home, it began as a science experiment and became a new hope for an overcrowded and polluted Earth. Mining and solar industries paved the way for the first space laboratories and zero-g manufacturing, accelerating man ever onward in search of more and better.

Luna has been built layer upon layer for the past millennium. The resulting network of new and old tunnels make Luna feel like old London. Its unique combination of old and new gives a degree of comfort with technology, being the first hotbed of space-based development. Only one major disaster has ever occurred on the sphere, and no lives were lost even then.

Its surface is blanketed with Edens, enclosed terrariums used for farming food and oxygen. A couple LANCE systems lie in more popular locations, and occasionally an exhaust tube can be seen emitting gaseous waste and excess heat from massive underground machines.

Underneath lie Rifts, colossal tunnels descending many kilometers underground. These Rifts link underground cities together, acting as a common starport and center of all underground civilization.

Cities

Topside

Image of Moon?

Accessing Cities

Cities are entirely underground, with a massive central shaft descending tens of kilometers beneath the surface. These massive underground docks are known as Rifts, from what the miners termed the massive shafts as they dug them out. Appearing as gaping holes from the outside, Rifts branch out in a generally downward direction.

Every Rift and Eden uses the established name of the sea or crater in closest proximity. The first Rift was drilled near Peary crater near the North pole; dozens of others now exist, including several each for Shackleton, Tycho, Crisium, Spumans, and Aitken, among others.

Edens

Huge farming domes called Edens formed first around Rifts, then expanded to cover the surface, making the world appear green. Extra food is still imported from other planets (mainly Earth), but in the early days food hauled from offworld was hundreds of times more expensive than today.

Subsurface

Rifts & Fingers

Down, down, into the Rifts is the only way to approach the underground networks. These holes, lined with concrete sprays, are very smooth and extremely wide, large enough for virtually any space behemoth to fit comfortably. This part is the hand of the Rift; splitting off in many directions, the Rift begins to show signs of life; an occasional viewing port dots the concrete tube, and a lookout tower at the center of the junction catches the eye with blinking red lights.

Once in a finger of the Rift (and several kilometers below the surface already), docking platforms begin to appear, mostly sunk into the bedrock. A little deeper, and docks and windows fill the finger completely. Along one side, a pair of vertical lift trains traverses the various elevations with passengers and cargo.

Depending on the chosen dock, one can enter any of hundreds cities, each with a surname of the home Rift. For example, a city in a branch of the Tycho Rift might be called Marisif Tycho.

Cities

Most Lunar cities consist of three distinct levels. The central level adjoins to docking facilities, and branches out into a personal transportation network, much like a freeway grid. Large round trains often run straight through the middle of this lower level, providing maximum access to goods producers above.

The bottom level consists of residential and small commercial buildings, government/police buildings, and other basic public facilities. Adjoining the upper and lower levels to the center are steeply curved ramps for vehicles to come and go as they please.

Green rooms play a pivotal role in any underground city. Spread throughout, these buildings are open and airy, with above average air circulation and simulated sunlight. Like a terrestrial park, Green rooms are filled with grasses, shrubs and trees, and edible plants to keep its population supplied with healthy snacks. The natural feel given by the rooms have been proven to comfort those unaccustomed to living underground or in an artificial station, and found enjoyable by anyone tired of staring at panels and consoles day in and day out.

The upper level is reserved for production and mass storage. Corporations and organizations like to make this area their home as well, and several high class establishments designed to cater to them sprung up consequentially.

A vast network of underground cargo trains connects the fingers to each other, from Rift to Rift. High-speed trains are for sturdy cargo only, while others carry a variety of goods and people at a less destructive acceleration level. Branches of the train network do run the surface, running by Edens, easily allowing crops to be exchanged for growing supplies.

There are three Rifts that do not follow this pattern: Peary, Vaporum, and Shackleton.

History

The First Colony

Despite leaps and bounds in the realm of space technology, man's first venture at living on another world was not an entirely successful one. A struggling Earth economy demanded funds be diverted back home. The isolated Lunar Outpost I at Shackleton Crater was nearly scrapped by NASA.

Thanks to a lowball offer by power corporation L-Solar to maintain the outpost, space agencies could afford to keep the project alive. This and other private corporations worked together to establish their own presence, seeing Earth's only celestial satellite as a new land of opportunity.

2058 - It soon became apparent to economists that it was far cheaper to produce and install orbital satellites directly from Luna than to fight Earth's gravity and atmosphere every time. Plans were undertaken to provide building materials, solar panels, oxygen, and water right from space.

The first mining venture, later to be known as Peary Rift, began development. The crew of the corporate workforce consisted of five hundred remote controlled work machines from Kinkaid Robotics. Top corporate scientists rented rooms in the NASA-controlled Shackleton Outpost until the completion of their own habitat, Peary Outpost on the other side of the planet. Population of Luna: 20.

Rapid Expansion

2084 - Space-made solar technology collects enough power to meet 25% of the world's demand. Huge mining tunnels are made into cheap and roomy living spaces, replacing the cramped old Outposts on the surface. The abandoned Outposts are demolished and rebuilt as experimental farming facilities.

More vehicles now take payloads from Luna to Earth than the other way around. As bases become more self-sufficient, populations increase in work sites. Pilot recruits for corporations and NASA alike train at a new space-based flight school in Lunar orbit.

2118 - An unseen meteorite crashes into Shackleton Eden. An entire harvest is lost to vacuum, but no lives are lost. Prompted by the potential for damage, orbital defense platforms are erected by Solaris Corporation. These weapon systems would replace the natural protection of an atmosphere, destroying incoming objects before impact.

A military presence is called for on the moon to maintain the installations; the action is eventually granted. Thus began the formation of the modern-day Inner Sol Alliance headquarters in Tycho Crater.

2247 - Luna has become a bustling hub of space activity. Any trip from Earth to Mars would make a stop here. Most space-based companies have moved their facilities into the open expanses of Rifts where property is cheaper. The resulting influx of workers and goods causes a rapid expansion of Luna.

LANCE systems become widespread in use on both worlds. Cheap goods transportation opens trade routes to Luna all over the Earth. The orbital ISA base Concomitant is erected to oversee manned craft traversing space. Population of Luna: 200,000

Exodus

2350 and Beyond - Mars and other colonies are constructed primarily using Lunar materials. Quickly, the terraformed red planet becomes more populous than all the Rifts combined. During this period, when people from Earth flocked to a farther and emptier world, the population leveled off on Luna. Infrastructure was allowed to catch up with the people and firmly take root.

When Gateway Stations became the norm, Luna fell further from its role as a hub of space traffic. It may have been considered from then on as an industrial and science-based planet, producing new technology and machines in impressive numbers.

Government & Culture

The ISA and You

Being the oldest Earth colony in the universe, Luna has had a lot time to develop. Luna has long been in the minds of humans. Since the dawn of the species they wondered upon it in the night sky, and now thousands of years later they walk and sleep upon it in mass.

This long-standing history has given the Lunar people a sense of pride, of history that ties them to Earth and everything that brought men to the stars. Some get the feeling anything is possible. As if it might still be the giant stepping stone to other planets it once was.

Being the birthplace of the Inner Sol Alliance, the presence of the government is strongest here. The majority of the Rifts are today massive industrial complexes, with supporting residential and commercial zones. Shackleton and Vaporum Rifts are full of nooks and crannies, home to the less legitimate of citizenry.

Public events are not usually held in Green rooms; however large, these facilities can become overcrowded and shrubbery destroyed.

ISA Base: Concomitant

Housing a good portion of ISA reserves, this base is larger than any single orbital platform over Earth, Luna or Mars. Several support platforms blanket the skies with scanners and tracking arrays.

The main base is responsible for dispatching and resupplying fleets, sending reinforcements, and responding to distress calls in the area. Aside from the stockpile of weapons and ships, thousands of reserves are stationed on Luna, just minutes away. Patrols are frequently run with these reserves, during which surprise drills may be forced upon them.

Daily Life

It can take from two to five minutes to reach a city from the Rift entrance. This process is automated; there are several sensor gates near the opening to detect explosives or other things in the government's interest.

A safe distance inside the entrance, several one-stop docks are set up to take in emergencies and offer quick parks and exits. Medical and repair crews are on standby, as well as fast, efficient auto loaders for payloads and weapons. A short train ride can take the riders to any quarter of any city.

With the massive ISA home station in orbit, tens of thousands of regulars stop on Luna in transition or on shore leave. Bars and clubs see these men and women regularly, and many of the bars have ISA-themed names. As such, outlaws and tend to avoid these places, preferring the hidden depths of Shackleton and Vaporum Rifts.

Points of Interest

Peary

Peary, the prototype used for all atmospheric domes, still remains near the North Pole after a millennium. In recent times, the surface dome has been converted from a farm to an ancient technology museum. Here, not only can one get a spectacular view of Earth (it appears 60 times the size of the moon on Earth), but also see much of mankind's past and present in centuries-old machines. Prototypes, failed or otherwise, have been meticulously gathered from every corner of the system for all to ponder upon.

Peary Rift, the first mining effort on Luna, was developed before modern Rift technology. Workers made expansive caverns under the soil, and cities were built on a single tier. Most other Rifts utilize three-tier city construction for efficiency. Consequently, Peary cities more resemble Earth cities than true Rifts.

The venerable L-Solar corporation makes its home in Peary Rift; all ten cities inside the Rift are specialty districts of this sizable enterprise. One processes raw materials, one produces spacecraft parts, and another makes ground-based transportation.

Legacy Landers

Some of the oldest existing sites of early Human ventures in space remain on the surface of the moon. Held as priceless heritage sites the first manned missions to touch down on the moon are housed within special null-atmospheric domes. Winding pathways nearby enable viewers a glimpse of the landers, flags, and immortal footprints left by the early lunar pioneers.

Several other sites of less ancient age have been converted or moved to Luna, with retired early-Earth satellites turned into monuments and corner-pieces for museums about the moon colonies. Some of these exhibits of ancient technology and human exploration travel throughout known space. What they were unable to accomplish in their days of service they have made up for with rounds to far-off worlds of aspiring minds who gaze at new skies and dream of the past that's lead them to a new home.

Shackleton and Vaporum Rifts

Shackleton and Vaporum Rifts were started simultaneously after Peary's success. Unlike Peary, however, these two have layers and layers of tunnels and chambers built on top of each other, some being permanently blocked off, others being accessible through a series of side passages.

Astrum tries to check in on a few of the larger grottoes, but many areas are only accessible by sewers or mazes of tight maintenance tunnels. A few manufacturers of illegal or knockoff goods (weapons and drugs mostly) make these halls their workspaces.

These underground entrepreneurs usually hire teams of shady locals to cart raw materials into the factory and take finished goods to an arranged buyer. These items can change hands two or three times before leaving the planet in quantity. Sometimes the weapons are pawned off individually on the street.

Still, these are historic locations; tourists and travelers are common in these parts. The influx of trade from all over the system keeps them in good economic status.