adventures
APOLLO Writeup Draft v0.0001
Reading preview
Source wording preserved. The original download is available separately.
Date: Mon, 22 May 1995 15:36:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Zaidfeld <cs911408@qrc.com>
Subject: APOLLO Writeup Draft v0.0001
Hello,
Here is a writeup draft copy for Apollo (0436/Aubaine), a boneyard world
in the Reformation Coalition. It is really unfinished and needs a lot of
more work, but I just wanted to post it here and maybe get
some feedback, while I'm in the process of brain storming for this
world. Has anyone here ever handle insidious atmospheres and their
adventure effects? Any comments, adventure seeds, suggestions are welcome..
Enjoy,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APOLLO WORLDGUIDE
by
Shalom Zaidfeld
At a backwater system near the outskirts of the Reformation
Coalition, lies a world where seas of hydrofluoric acid wash
against the smooth, livid continents. The yellowish-blue sky
is icy with hydrofluoric acid mist suspended high in the
fluorine based atmosphere. Where life, Alien life, has
developed totally differently from carbon based life as we
know it. Transitory Free Traders call it "Frozen Hades";
other, hardier souls call it home.
This is Apollo, an unforgiving and exotic boneyard world.
Repopulated by diverse characters from across the coalition
worlds, each with their unique intentions, motives & mystries.
Be it a retired CIN reporter looking for some fringe
"adventures" by establishing a renegade news service or Tech
Scavengers who roam between the death-filled dirtside
habitats, acting as grave diggers and auction suppliers, to
say nothing of the Hiver consul and his unexplained exertions
around the system.
So there it lays, filled with Delphian mysteries as of yet
unexplored regions, a blasted grave of humanity awaiting for
those who brave souls carry them out there, to this frozen &
exotic world, to Apollo.
THE APOLLO SYSTEM:
RCES GLOBAL DATA SURVEY
Objective System: Apollo/Aubaine
Objective Classification: VII
-----------------------------------------
Primary Star G2 V Latona
Orbit 0 YR00000-0 Hecatonchires Belt
Orbit 1 H350000-0 Hephaestus
Orbit 8: Y100000-0 Hecate
Orbit 53: YS00000-0 Erebus
Orbit 2 -Empty Orbit-
Orbit 3 M8 D Companion Star Lyra
Orbit 0: E8C5300-8 Apollo
Orbit 1: HS00112-7 Orpheus
Orbit 4 -Empty Orbit-
Orbit 5 Large Gas Giant Argus
Orbit 2: YR00000-0 Admetus Planetoid Belt
Orbit 8: YS00000-0 Lycius I
Orbit 9: YS00000-0 Lycius II
Orbit 11: Y100000-0 Lycius III
Orbit 39: Y200000-0 Lycius IV
Orbit 52: Y100000-0 Lycius V
Orbit 6 Small Gas Giant Aesculapius
Orbit 1: YS00000-0 Pythius I
Orbit 7: Y200000-0 Pythius II
Orbit 51: Y400000-0 Pythius III
Orbit 54: Y100000-0 Pythius IV
Orbit 7 Small Gas Giant Cynthius
Orbit 10: Y100000-0 Acantha I
Orbit 17: Y100000-0 Acantha II
Orbit 32: Y200000-0 Acantha III
Orbit 8 Small Gas Giant Aristaeus
Orbit 5: YS00000-0 Atropos I
Orbit 35: Y500000-0 Atropos II
Star System:
Primary: Latona
Spectral Class: G2 V (Main sequence)
Mass: 1.0 Std.
Diameter: 1.0 Std. (1,398,000 km)
Temperature: 5820 K.
Magnitude: 4.82
Luminosity: 0.994 Std.
Companion: Lyra
Spectral Class: M8 D (Red Dwarf)
Mass: 0.1 Std.
Diameter: 0.1 Std. (139,800. km)
Temperature: 2,381 K.
Magnitude: 14.2
Luminosity: 0.0003 Std.
Physical:
The Apollo binary solar system is thought to have being formed
from the subfragmentation of an ancient local protostar that was
divided into two major condensations with the rest of the mass
being ejected outwards. These condensations, subsequently,
evolved into the co-orbiting binary stars, Latona and Lyra.
Latona, with Sol-like properties, is the primary star of the
system whereas the companion star, Lyra, is a dim red dwarf
orbiting Latona in orbit 3 (1.0 AU).
Orbiting Latona are Lyra, a single planet, 4 gas giants, 2
planetoid belts and a total of 16 moons, while the Lyra
"subsystem" contains only a single major planet (Apollo) in
orbit 0 and a tiny planetoid in orbit 1.
THE LYRA PLANETARY SYSTEM:
APOLLO:
"...There were no survivors. Zero. The entire population
perished in less than a week. Hideous Deaths... A small number
of survivors managed to stay alive in air-tight shelters and
e-suits, but with no water, food or power.. their end was only
delayed..."
-Captain Yoel Ben Matteous
-DLS Apollo Debriefing at Trybec, 1197
RECENT HISTORY:
The system was first re-contacted by DLS Apollo in late 1196,
on one of her few survey expeditions prior to being dispatched
out to the Wilds. DLS Apollo arrived at Macis from Trybec with
orders to evaluate its status and complete an initial system
survey. As DLS Apollo dispatched its survey teams around the
system, the first scans already depicted, in the frigid and
silent breath of vacuum, the utter devastation and hellish
remains of what once was a developing centre of 800,000 humans
involved in academic & Naval research, native ore and
petrochemical traffics. The blasted frozen hulls of Macis's
orbital stations, slowly drifting across the yellowish unearthly
planet in an artificial cloud of debris, greeted the expedition.
>From an handful salvaged local news-reports, personal vidcam
tapes and the somewhat recovered starport computers, a
fragmented portrayal of Macis collapse was pieced together. The
orbiting Naval Yard, losing structural integrity as scores of
explosions rocked throughout it, was sent accelerating towards
the planet's surface. The underground-based communities
sustained the same devastation, if not worse than the orbital
ones. Power Plants blew up and released havoc on their
surroundings, cutting the current to the life supporting
machinery. Underground mono-rail trains crashed into stations
and tunnel walls, explosions blasted throughout the subterranean
complexes letting the deadly insidious atmosphere spread in to
them. Many hundreds of thousands died painfully as the first
hours and days of the collapse passed. An absolute evaporation
of life.
After spending a few months in Macis System, inspecting and
searching for survivors amid the breached orbital hulls and
dirtside habitats' remains, DLS Apollo returned to Trybec for
debriefing. It was clear from Captain Ben Mattious's and survey
reports that no survivors have been or could be encountered on
Macis, The Dawn league committee overseeing DLS Apollo's mission
proclaimed it as a boneyard world and introduced plans to
repopulate it.
In early 1200, as the Reformation Coalition was established,
Macis was officially reclaimed as an Administrated Territory. It
was renamed not only after Apollo, the Greek sun god from old
Solomani mythologies but also in memory of DLS Apollo, one of
the first 12 heroic vessels of the Dawn league trading
expedition. A Class E starport was placed in orbit, companies
established offices there and Technology Scavengers set out
towards the yellowish Tophet below.
APOLLO PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Diameter: 12,960 Km.
Density: Molten Core, 0.92 (5.296 grams/cm3 )
Orbital Distance: 0.2 AU (29.9 million km)
Gravity: 0.92 g (9.02 m/s2 )
Apolloian Year: 363 Days, 23 Hours, 58 Minutes & 47 sec.
Apolloian Month: 103 Days, 7 Hours, 26 minutes & 24 sec.
Apolloian Day: 21 Hours, 30 Minutes and 4 Seconds.
Day Time: 10 Hours 45 Minutes and 2 seconds
Night Time: 10 Hours 45 Minutes and 2 seconds
Axial Tilt: 100 11' 2.9" degrees tilt.
Eccentricity: 0.0
Seismic Stress: 2.5
Atmosphere: Dominant Fluorine Mix
Pressure: Standard, 0.95 Atm.
Energy Absorption: 0.500
Greenhouse effect: 1.0
Hydrograpics %: 48.25%
Composition: Liquid Hydrofluoric acid Mixture
Apollo Temperature Distribution per orbit location between the
two stars:
Closest Farthest Mean
Row Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
1 -14.59 -26.52 -58.14 -69.86 -39.65 -51.45
2 -21.59 -33.52 -65.14 -76.86 -46.65 -58.45
3 -28.59 -40.52 -72.14 -83.86 -53.65 -65.45
4 -35.59 -47.52 -79.14 -90.86 -60.65 -72.45
5 -42.59 -54.52 -86.14 -97.86 -67.65 -79.45
6 -48.09 -64.02 -91.64 -107.36 -73.15 -88.95
7 -53.59 -73.52 -97.14 -116.86 -78.65 -98.45
8 -59.09 -83.02 -102.64 -126.36 -84.15 -107.95
9 -64.59 -92.52 -108.14 -135.86 -89.65 -117.45
10 -71.59 -99.52 -115.14 -142.86 -96.65 -124.45
11 -78.59 -106.52 -122.14 -149.86 -103.65 -131.45
Atmosphere:
When viewed from orbit, Apollo appears to be a featureless
globe, masked in a yellowish smog of upper-atmosphere aerosols
and Nitrogen fluoride. Apollo's insidious atmosphere is one
of the most dangerous in the entire Reformation Coalition
worlds. The fluorine compounds effect the normal use of
standard equipment. As a rule, most equipment can not be used
outside the habitats or can not be used without special
modifications. Here are some general points concerning the
atmospheric effects on Apollo.
All organic matter (bodies, plants etc.) reacts with fluorine
and convert into oxygen, Carbon Tetrafluoride, Hydrofluoric acid
and various other compounds in D20 days (Apply DMs for various
sizes). Water burns in fluorine and decomposes into oxygen and
hydrofluoric acid. The atmosphere renders most personal
protective measures ineffective in 2d6 hours time. A rubber gas
mask lasts about an hour. Glass frosts first and then
disappears, plastics act like rubber, only a little slower.
The heavy metals (e.g. iron, nickel, copper) stand up well,
forming an insoluble coat of fluoride at first and then doing
nothing else.
All air-breathing power plants, intended for outside operations
need to be modified to carry their own on-board oxygen supplies.
Vehicles, operating on liquid hydrogen fuel can modify their
fuel tankage to carry half oxygen, half hydrogen. For
additional rules and information see The World Tamers Handbook,
P. 16.
Hydrographics: The Apolloian Hydrosphere consists of liquid
hydrofluoric acid (HF). It melts at -83 C (-117.40 F) and boils
at 19.4 C (66.92 F). In it are dissolved varying quantities of
metallic and non-metallic fluorides. Such as Boron Trifluoride,
sodium Fluoride, etc.. When the oceans and lakes freeze, they
do so from the bottom up, so no layer of ice over free liquid.
APOLLO'S CHEMISTRY: (Author note: Just notes from Chem books)
Fluorine, a pale yellow gas, does not occur in the free state.
It's chief minerals are fluorite (CaF2), Cryolite (Na3AlF6) and
fluoropatute.
Fluorine: Boiling -188 melting -220 density at 20c 1.7g/L
- it's chief use is to convert uranium minerals into UF6, a step
in the processes of uranium fuel for nuclear power plants.
Special fluorating agents to make organofluorine compounds,
Teflon.
- Fluorine reacts violently at room temp. with almost all other
elements. Compounds of fluorine ca be made with all elements
except helium, neon and argon.
Water burns in fluorine to give HF and oxygen.
2F2 (g) + 2H2O -> 4HF (g) + O2 (g)
- Mixed with hydrocarbons, fluorine cracks all carbon-carbon bonds
and strips hydrogens, leaving HF and CF4. You can see why this
element must be stored in special metal alloy cylinders, and why
more moderate fluorine agents are useful.
- Fluorine owes its extreme reactivity in part to an unusually low
F-F bond energy. Because the fluorine Atm is so small and the
atoms in the F2 molecule are so close together, there is
considerably repulsion between the lone pairs of electrons of
the two atoms. This tends to push the atoms apart and thereby
destabilizes the molecule, so not very much energy needs to
break the bond.
Hydrofluoric Acid and Hydrogen Fluoride
- Hydrogen fluoride forms explosively when hydrogen and fluorine
are mixed.
- HF boils at 19.5 near room temp., easily condensed. special
vessels lined with wax or polyethylene or cylinders made out of
alloy steel or polyethylene. Glass containers cannot be used
since HF dissolves this material.
- Hydrogen Fluoride dissolves in water to form Hydrofluoric Acid.
A weak acid.
- Hydrogen fluoride either as a pure compound or in a an aqueous
solution must be treated as a very dangerous substance. It can
cause excruciating pain. This is probably because HF can
migrate into nerve tissue where calcium ions are vitally
involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. here calcium
ions can win fluoride ions from HF because the highly insoluble
CaF2 can form, which can interfere with the work of the nerves.
The oxidiser in the atmosphere is free fluorine (F2) in a
rather low concentration, about 4-5 percent. With it appears
a mad collection of gases. There are a few inert diluents,
such as N2 (Nitrogen), Argon, helium, neon, etc., but the
major fraction consists of CF4 (Carbon Tetrafluoride), BF3
(Boron Trifluoride), SiF4 (Silicon Tetrafluoride, PF5
(Phosphorous Pentrafluoride), SF6 (Sulphur Hexafluoride), and
probably others. In other words, the, the fluorides of all
the non-metals that can form fluorides. The phosphorous
Pentrafluoride rains out when the weather gets cold. There is
also free oxygen, but no chlorine. That would be in liquid
except in very hot weather. It sometimes appears combined
with fluorine in CIF3 (Chlorine Trifluoride).
SOIL AND GEOLOGY:
Above the molten core of the planet, the lithosphere consists
exclusively of fluorides of the metals. There are small
deposits of such things as Bromine Trifluoride, but these have
no great importance. Since fluoride are weak mechanically, the
terrain is flat. Nothing though like granite to build mountains
out of. Since the fluoride ion is colourless, the colour of the
soil depends upon the predominant metal in the region. As most
of the light metals also have colourless ion, the coloured rocks
are rather rare.
PLANTS AND PLANT METABOLISM:
The plants function by photosynthesis, taking Hydrofluoric acid
as water from the soil, and carbon Tetrafluoride as the
equivalent of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce
chain compounds, such as:
And at the same time liberating free fluorine, back to the
atmosphere. This reaction could only take place on a planet
receiving lots of ultra-violet radiation because so much energy
is needed to break up carbon Tetrafluoride and hydrofluoric
acid. the plant catalyst (doubling for the magnesium in
chlorophyll) is nickel. The plants are coloured in various
ways. They get their colours from the dominate metals in the
soil.
ANIMALS AND ANIMAL METABOLISM:
Animals depend upon two main reactions for their energy, and for
the construction of their harder tissues. the soft tissues are
about the same as plant molecules, but the hard tissues are
produced by the reaction:
resulting in a Teflon boned and shelled organism. It's going to
be tough to do much with. Diatoms leave strata of powdered
Teflon.
The main energy reaction is:
The blood catalyst metal is titanium, which results in
colourless arterial blood and violet veinious, as the titanium
flips back and forth between tri- and tetravalent states.
WHY GO THERE?
Large natural crystals of fluorides, such as calcium difluoride,
titanium Tetrafluoride, zirconium Tetrafluoride, are extremely
useful in optical instruments of various forms. Uranium appears
as uranium Hexafluoride, all ready for diffusion process.
Compounds of non-metal such as boron are obtainable from the
atmosphere in high purity with very little trouble. All
metallurgy must be electrical. There are considerable deposits
of beryllium and they occur in high concentrations in it's ores.
-Shalom Zaidfeld
----
Toronto, CANADA
Internet: cs911408@ariel.cs.yorku.ca
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Date: Mon, 22 May 1995 15:51:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: Zaidfeld <cs911408@qrc.com>
Subject: APOLLO NEWS NETWORK draft v0.0001
Here is some background information for Apollo. I might use it for a
campigan in the Apollo System and RC. Let me know what you think, so
once again, comments, suggestion are welcome. I have also made an ANN
PRESS card and ANN logo in GIF format.. Oh well.. Enjoy,
---
Apollo News Network
For Traveller: The New Era
by
Shalom Zaidfeld
"... It is our commitment to the Reformation Coalition to be the
voice of those who can not be heard; To be the outward link for
those who can not journey amid the stars; To be a reminiscence
& a storyteller, who will unveil to the universe the true
accounts of the lives of the brave ones, out here... In this
boneyard Frontier!"
[INSERT NAME]
ANN Service Launching Speech
Necropolis, Apollo 12/X/1200
INTRODUCTION:
Throughout political turmoil, trading treaties, colonial
recruiting and military panic, it is the Coalition Information
Network which ties together the various worlds of the
Reformation Coalition. CIN's information is acquired and
distributed in diverse ways, be it a intrepid field reporter
accompanying RCES operations in the Wilds or a slick
journalist covering the latest Assembly of Worlds proceedings
on Aubaine or even a small news agency on a boneyard world,
information is the common trading cargo of the coalition.
In a backwater system within Coalition Space, just off the
main jump routes, lays a disorganised frontier world renamed
after Apollo, the Greek sun god who replaces Helios in the sky
from old Solomani mythologies. A name which was also carried
by one of the first 12 heroic vessels of the Dawn league,
celebrating the Dawning of a new era, the renewed drive
towards the stars.
Devoid of habitable planets, the system is primarily of
interest because of the unique inhospitable atmospheric
conditions on the main world which provide a vast range of
academic research, free-lance prospecting, mining,
petrochemical production and numerous other opportunities.
The Apollo News Network is a typical illustration of the
renowned drive possessed by the Coalition to reclaim the dead
"boneyard" worlds around them. Privately operated by a small
group which is made up of individuals with a mixture of skills
like reporters, journalists, technicians and other
combinations, ANN is held mutually with ambition and
determination. ANN reporters are known throughout the system
for their infamous abilities to scour around for stories &
rumours, snoop at intriguing events and quite often get into
rather stressful situations.
BACKGROUND:
Established in Late 1200 on Apollo (0436/Aubaine) by a retired
CIN veteran reporter [INSERT NAME], a Nimbus Palm for
Excellence in Journalism winner. [INSERT NAME] and his wife
[INSERT WIFE NAME] left Trybec in 1198 and headed out as a
part of RCSA's Regeneration & Administration of Boneyards
Initiative [RABI] to the empty graveyards of Apollo.
[INSERT NAME], noting the lack of public awareness and
inadequate local CIN [Coalition Information Network] services
to the RCSA's RABI, he appealed to the local RCSA offices on
Trybec to confer him a grant to establish an agency which will
gather and distribute local news and information. Soon after,
ANN's offices opened to the public, located in Necropolis,
Apollo's sole hub of administration and commerce.
He started out with a mere staff of two reporters and a small
credit grant which supported a limited local newswire service
and hefty dreams. ANN grow during it's first year of
operation, expending to a staff of six reporters and in early
1201 was admitted as Apollo's official news and information
agency with the CIN centre in Trantown, Aubaine.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
Albeit small, ANN's offices are always open to the public and
filled with chatter and clatter. The informal and friendly
atmosphere is inviting and most travellers who pass through
the system are encouraged to drop-by not only for refreshments
and rest, but to exchange information and rumours. Supported
by a small group of inexperienced graduating students from
around the coalition and dynamic old hands, they share the
agency's vision of fetching information & news from and to the
Coalition's frontier planets. As an inexperienced and remote
agency, ANN's ambition is fuelled by vigour drive to cover and
serve the entire Apollo system's population by 1204.
Although somewhat new in the Information and News arena, ANN
began expanding throughout the Apollo System... END.
-Shalom Zaidfeld
----
Toronto, CANADA
Internet: cs911408@ariel.cs.yorku.ca