Building Better Worlds. (ALIEN RPG: Colony Focus. F/Any. Possibly system-lite).

[Lustful Bride]

In Space,

No one can hear you scream.

In atmosphere,

your screams won't matter.

"The colonization of space is the only possible salvation of Earth.” ~Isaac Asimov

The universe is a cold and uncaring place. Mankind has always struggled to live within it, against itself as much as threats from outside our control. The journey from planet to planet across the void of space alone is a dangerous enough prospect. Countless things can go wrong, killing a ship and its crew long before they were even able to look upon their new home.

New unknown diseases could be born from the new world. The local wildlife could be worse than previously thought. Or the world could become a new battleground between any of the governmental factions. The galaxy is still reeling from the destruction of LV-426. While there are no official explanations over the colony’s destruction, Weyland-Yutani is adamant that UPP agents infiltrated the colony and caused the reactor of the atmosphere processor to go critical. People are frightened and there is clear anxiety about what kind of future the stars hold for humanity. But they still need to go out, mine resources, farm crops, find new and habitable worlds to hold the ever growing population of mankind, or even terraform worlds to fit our needs.

When it comes to colonization, you cannot be picky about what you get. Some people end up with worlds that are utter trash, Deathworlds that might never be settled but still have something of value there. Or you can end up with a paradise world that will always be at risk of being invaded or militarized over the Garden of Eden that it is in an otherwise uninhabitable planet.

Most people end up somewhere in between.

Olympus VII is among those somewhere in between. It has breathable air that kind of smells like Strawberries, lush vegetation that covers most parts of every landmass on the planet. The oceans are full of fish and the water itself is drinkable too (with some purification). But the oceans are full of predators, the jungles have terribly poisonous plants, and the world has storms, typhoons, and hurricanes similar to what would be found on Earth. It is not an easy life, the world is as bountiful as it is violent. But that just makes it all the more important to settle on it.

Discovered in the Iradinus-Olympia, system, Olympus VII is just in the right spot of the Goldilocks Zone, ensuring habitability for the foreseeable future. It is the only real worthwhile planet out of its 13 brothers and sisters that all orbit their star. Everything before O7 is too close to the system's star, blasting them into lifeless volcanic nightmares, and everything after it is too cold or unstable for a colony to settle down on. The other worlds of the system consist of a single gas giant near the edge of the their star's gravity, and several cold balls of ice.

Olympus 7 might as well be the perfect example of how the Goldilocks Zone works. Some even think that with enough work its twin moons just might be made habitable. But that is a long ways off. For now the colony needs to focus on survival and expansion.

The colony of Juno's Dream has only been on Olympus-7 for close to twelve year now. It has expanded since its initial arrival. There have been ups and downs, deaths, births, victories, and losses. But the hardy people there do their best to keep their heads held high. Composed primarily of settlers from the United Americas , and a handful of tag-alongs from the Three World Empire, they have shed their blood sweat and tears to make sure their new home can survive and thrive on this wild and untamed world.

Governed by a group of colonial advisors, they have done well. From just a group of tents huddled around their ship, and using campfires for warmth, the population of the colony has grown past the initial colonists and embryos that came  with the ship. The population of the colony is in the thousands now. All thanks to the level headed leadership of the Colonial Council and the hard work of the people, Juno's Dream is well on its way to becoming a true jewel of the collective territory of the United Americas. The Colonial Council has even done such a good job that the usual affairs by UA-Colonial Administration has decided to allow the people to continue running things this way instead of dictating to them what to do with an outsider from Earth itself coming to start issuing orders to these frontier colonists. Of course, there is a caveat to this new freedom.

The prefabricated segments of a new Colony Administration building is being brought to Olympus-7, along with some new staff and crew to help the colony maintain its footing and to help the quality of life for everyone present. There is even a new teacher being brought to become part of the Colonial Council and to help educate the students of Olympus-7, with Federally mandated educational standards. As citizens of the UA, they are expected to get a proper education, so they can be productive citizens of the United Americas.

Not everyone is behind this new proposal, but the last thing they want is some Colonial Marshalls showing up and accusing them of breaking the law. Within a year's time the transport ship shows up with its new colonists and a new building. Its purpose is pretty simple, to be an Administration building where the political, economic, and defensive affairs of the colony can be addressed and processed. While of course always reminding the people of Olympus 7 that they are all citizens of the United Americas and to some it feels as if a choker has been placed around their necks as they are made to obey and give heed to the UA now and again like good dogs.

Some are happy for the UA assistance, others reject it, and others still don't care and just try to go about their day. Still, even if the UA had to stick its nose into their business, few will argue that its nice to have some new educators to help keep the colonist's children from becoming country bumpkins that would be mocked on any other world for not even knowing their time's tables, or being unable to answer basic questions about the Constitution of the United Americas.

Even her skeptics are happy to see the work that the new head of education for O-7 has been doing. She's so nice with the kids and is even willing to help out around the colony with her own hands, instead of only ever having an influence on things when a Council meeting has been called. Few would ever suspect that there was a lot more to her than meets the eye.

But when danger comes to the Colony, they will be more than happy that she's not just a teacher.



After digging around and finding a Homebrew system for a Colony Management game within the ALIEN RPG system, I got a bit of Colony Fever. I'm not entirely sure how this would work (I'm even okay with going system-lite or freeform if need be) but I'm looking for a mix of regular roleplaying with a dash of Colony/settlement management tossed in too. It wouldn't be all just counting how many credits are in the colony's bank account, or trying to mitigate arguments between the Space Hatfields and the Space McCoys. Danger will eventually come to the colony, and we will have to see if the colony will survive the danger, and if it can even survive past that. Which is where some measure of hope may come from my character.

She's one I've been thinking about and working on for some time now and I'm glad to finally have a chance to put her down on paper.

Deborah Gustave Claymore. A strange name for such a friendly woman, but to anyone who asks, she just says that's how names are on her birth-world of Epsilon Eridani.

She's happy being a teacher, helping lead her class to being better people, fostering young minds, and loves being part of the Colonial Council. Even if these people are many light years from Earth, they are still citizens of the UA and she likes to make sure they know that the Government cares.

When something horrible happens to the colony, she is among the first to take action though. Most people on the colony don't know much about her, beyond her being that friendly, excitable schoolteacher who seems to do well with her kids and occasionally helps out around the colony. (Like that one time those weird alien vines were growing everywhere and threatening the colony so the Council allowed some flamethrowers to be pulled out of the armory, to get rid of the vines, and she turned out to be the best one at handling a flamer. Or that time she helped Old Man Jenkins get his truck running again after the engine seemed to die).

None of them know she spent a long tour in the Colonial Marines. 10 years of service in some of the harsher combat zones between the Untied Americas and the Union of Progressive Peoples.

As soon as the alarms start ringing, its like a switch was flicked inside of her. A coldness is in her eyes, even when she smiles. She swore she'd never pick up a gun again. You don't get out of the Colonial Marines without losing a part of your soul. She held a pulse rifle for 10 years of service. She gave up some of the best years of her life for fighting and bleeding in stinking hellholes. Covered in mud and blood and shit and viscera. The worst part was that some dark shadow within her liked it...the rush of seeing an enemy die, the sweet release of a battle won, or that boiling fury of defeat.

Or maybe she was even one of the infamous Artificial Womb Soldiers. The best and most lethal inventions the United Americas ever had to offer. Those who knew of the AWS program might have been clued into the fact she was one of them, if they had noticed the way she carries herself, how she still calls people 'Sir' sometimes. How her last name is Claymore, all AWS candidates always have the last name of some type of weapon. She had two. Claymore, and Gustave (named after the famous Carl Gustave Recoilless Rifle).

The program was discontinued but many of them are still out there, being soldiers, mercenaries, or just killers for fun. Only a tiny percent of them are actually able to let go and acclimatize to civilian life. To those that see her now, its terrifying to see the way she becomes...a killer once more.

She thought she'd buried it deep....but she always kept her gun close by, kept it polished, battle ready. She prayed to God that she would never have to pick it up again....today she'd love to get her hands on God. But first, she's got kids to save, and nothing will stop her from carrying out that new mission.

Strapping on her boots, donning her old warpaint, cutting her hair, slapping a magazine into the reciever, each little ritual awakens an old demon within her. Its a tired cliché, but you need a wolf to protect your sheep.

You never get between a mother bear and her cubs, just like you don't fuck with a veteran of The Dog War.