Iron Stars - catherine

So she’ll just start exploring the station, not even sure what they’d have on here. Is there anything more than a gas station? Any shops? Anything cool to see, like gardens, art, etc? A cafe?

the platform is mostly for defensive purposes and aside from the ship service depot, there are only a few general good stands and a place to re-stock ship provisions. The recent move of Trivedi Tech from incorporation here, to the planet Olar has further stopped development on this ice world

She’ll go to the general goods stands, if they have it, just get whatever bare essentials she lacks—at least like, a backpack, underwear, toiletries level. She’ll then try and strike up a little small talk with the guy working the stand as she checks out. “So, what’s going on out there?” (edited)

22:04

She might also peruse for any kind of fruits at the stands or ships provision shops—particularly anything she didn’t have on Thjodhild or that might seem cool

Mariam has nothing but chem grown protein strains, and hydroponic root vegetables. The food here being not great has been a long standing point of contention here that something has not been done about right now. The station shopkeep has little else to say, largely unaware of much happening on the surface aside from the arrival and departure of the Imago Dei

Hoped he had more gouge on that fleet, but oh well. She grabs the few suppplies she picked up and heads off to find Valentina.

(Presumably they landed in Prime? That seems to be the major city from what I can tell?)

(Central)

20:46

(its where they told you to land, and is the main city, it might be listed on the map as Greenbriar, i forget what it says)

Her first order of business is to some more appropriate clothing and other essentials—anything other than hand-me-down ship locker suit—as far as she can stretch 500 creds. She’ll hop whatever kind of public transit and head to any kind of shopping district/market area/malls/etc she can find. She pays close attention to the behaviors of the residents and clothes they’re wearing to make sure she can fit in.

20:51

(Read through colony buildings—marketplace, seamstress. )

(If youre looking for goods we have essentially handled shopping as make a list and ill let you know if somthing cant be found, and its book prices for the cost)

(Okie dokie. I can do that. Just also hoped to interact with the locals, chat with NPCs, etc, however one learns of side gigs while they’re on a planet, lol)

21:13

(But I’ll shoot ya a list in a second)

(what kind of side gig are you looking for?)

(Nothing in particular. Just she’s got a few days to kill, if she hears chatter of anything, anyone needing help, few bucks to earn, etc.. She likes to small talk with locals just to learn about the place and local news/events/etc of note)

21:20

(She’s level 1, so whatever the SWN equivalent is to killing rats in the sewer in D&D, lol. Temp work, migrant work, anything.)

21:25

Shopping list:

21:26

Medium advanced melee weapon (rapier-esq), 60 in book. Rest is unpriced, but basically couple sets of nice clothes for normal city wear and exploring (ie character pic), at least one high end/fancy/formal dress for meeting leaders and such (she’ll prolly a level more formal than actually needed, cause she don’t know), some jewelry and perfume (easily wowed seeing/smelling it), and a peach (since they are grown here and she finds them fascinating, wants to try one) (edited)

(Rapier 60 Clothes 10 for common, 20 for fine Jewelery would be 50 for a set Perfume would be 10 Peach is basically so trivial in cost that unless we are buying a ton we can handwave it)

(Cool. 5x common, 2x fine, 1x rapier, 2x jewelry, and 2x perfume—270, with money to spare. Woot!)

21:33

So yeah, she’ll just explore the capital, make small talk with locals to learn about the place. Spend a while in the museum (saw they had one), and check out any other cultural type sights they have of interest (library, zoo, etc?).

21:35

Typical tourist in a big city. And then free wheel it from there if she hears or learns of anything cool to check out.

The museum you come to find is in Prime, and its only few exhibits have been sent to a less than appreciative audience in Galatea for the galactic museum. the locals do not have much to say that hasnt already been included in newscasts at some point over the last month, though there is a growing amount of concern over the Bladonna conflict to the west. Momentum against the UNW has swung, and the latest set of planned offensives have stalled.

Any reason they sent the stuff away if the Galatians don’t appreciate it? Is the museum looking for new items? Any like, legends or tales of artifacts here on Gudrun they’re seeking? Do they have any interest in a Thjodhildian exhibit with genuine human-bone artifacts?

22:15

If not the museum; is there any kind of university here that would have any interest?

22:17

And then beyond that—she’s a biologist, specifically into flowers (but really anything)... don’t get the impression there’s anything left to explore/discover on Gudrun, but any references to cool/rare/exotic flowers or anything to go check out in the wild?

(there is a massive world anvil section on plants an animals, and its probably easy to see where the gaps are based on that, rather than listing every individual plant and animal that might exist out there, gudrun is a huge planet and very little of it has been actually explored. I cant really give any information on things no one has ever seen, because how would we know. THe museum is always looking for new items, origin does not matter, as long as they're not stolen from someone else or visibly some kind of maltech)

Ah, gotcha. From the map I was u see impression it all had; so wasn’t necessarily looking for things no one had seen so much as assuming it had all been seen at this point, and there were atleast tails or legends.... but I’ll go look at the plants part of world anvil. But basically she’s talk to the museum folks, library, whatever to try and get a feel if there’s anywhere particularly interesting to explore (ie legends, tails, rumors), other than just pick a grid square on the map and going.

 Hi Catherine, Just a heads up that I may be headed out to the west for a few days to see if I can lend a hand with the trouble, it'll be dangerous, but you're welcome to come along if you want.

(edited)

Sure!

22:32

(Not sure how you did that box)

( you use ` three times at each end)

She then heads to wherever their ship is parked to await Val...

So she begins cold-calling the numbers provided by Val, trying to setup a meeting with whoever the right UWN people are to talk to.

(To talk to about getting aid for Thjodhild; trade, etc)

Here is the specs for the ship: 
Cargo:50 tons medical supplies
50 tons colony supplies
50 tons Postech building supplies.
Crew: 3 pilots 2 marines
Full ship design as follows:

(edited)

00:57

Well, that went better than she expected. Now she goes about looking for transport to Sumati . (edited)

The ad astra shuttle network has several flights going to the planet they claim as their own. The ships are lightly crewed with just a pair of pilots

(Honest, I’m not normally this dumb. Just been a week, lol)

03:00

She leaves Val a thank you note, grabs her small bag of stuff, and go boards the shuttle. (edited)

(I’ll have to get back to you on downtime days. No map in front of me) When you arrive at Sumati some days later, the entire planet is a hive of activity. A terrible war between four power blocs was fought here once and only with Ad astra setting down roots and Sumati joining the UNW have things finally moved toward peace. Ad astra has a headquarters in every nations capital though the anamen is waiting for you in the holdfast of The Balak League. It is a smaller nation but was the most trustworthy in passing information and its troops helped swing the war toward a victory over the coalition of sovereign territories

She heads down to the planet and goes to where the holdfast where Anamen is. She checks out the cargo as it’s being loaded, impressed at how much they’re giving. She then goes and introduces herself to the crew with her best attempt at a speech. “Hello, crew. My name is Catherine, and looks like we’ll be flying together. I won’t lie to you, I’m not exactly a spacefaring expert, so I’ll be leaning on you all for help. We’ll be traveling to Thjodhild, where you will be only the second ship ever to touch the surface since the scream. The planet is not the most hospitable, but humans have managed to survive there none the less—and they are in much need of the cargo we will be delivering. Many of the locals there may not be friendly, and the rumors of cannibalism aren’t false. But we are coming to help them, not fight them. If you’re not up for this, then I can’t force you to come. But if you are, then I can give you my most humble thanks in advance. We’ll finish loading cargo, and gather last minute supplies, and head out first thing in the morning—hopefully I’ll still see all of you tomorrow.”

05:42

She then takes a few minutes to personally greet each crew member, learn their name, and what their role on the ship is.

She then goes out and spends the rest of the day just wandering the holdfast. She chats with the locals, overly friendly. She heads out of the hold, enjoying the fresh forested air before heading back into space. She wanders the woods immediately around the holdfast, checking out this planets local flora. She pays close attention looking for any particularly pretty or exotic looking wild flower and she digs up the whole plant with some local soil and puts it in a small container/can/whatever.

05:55

She then goes and checks out her quarters on the ship. She takes time unpacking her handful of items and clothes to try and make herself at home, and sets up her little potted plant on a table or such in her room. She then lays on the bed reading nervous about what tomorrow holds and beginning the trip.

The crew introduces themselves and their jobs aboard the vessel don’t sound any different than space travel really was just a few years ago, the last time you were on a ship. Travel outside the city is not something you would be able to accomplish while still making it back in time for your flight. Much of the land is still recovering from the ravages of war and the mountains around the city are especially dangerous. You rest aboard the ship that night as final plans to leave are made amongst the crew, and in the morning the ship begins pulling away from one of Sumati’s defensive platforms

(That works! No flower for me, lol)

She spends their time in transit just chilling with the crew, getting to know them and such. Lacking any real skills to contribute to ship operations, she helps out whatever ways she can to make it clear she’s not just a passenger/mooch. Cooking meals, swabbing decks, etc. She spends time each day shadowing the a pilot on shift (downtime activity, pilot skill). She also spends a lot of time reading up on her compad, learning all she can about the different polities, the state of the galaxy after the scream, and advances in science the last few years. (edited)

(Whenever we arrive, plan to land as close to her old village as practical)

(its 2 days in spike from Sumati to home for downtime allocation)

(How far was it from Gudrun to sumati?)

04:03

(7/90 pilot, plus whatever from Gudrun).

(6 days for the Gudrun- sumati trip)

(Cool, 13/90)

She instructs the pilot toward her village to put the ship down. She tells the crew (supposedly there are 2 marines) to stay here and keep an eye on the ship for now. She dresses in a normal dress (not her old tribal garb) with an armored undersuit to not seem too intimidating. She brings a backpack with some basic supplies from the ships locker, survey scanner, etc.. She then heads back into her old village, slightly nervous how they might receive her now.

Knowing how to approach the village as a friendly, using the ways that the warriors know to keep safe, Catherine is received by scouts first, who lower their spears for a moment, though remain in place, confused. you're known to them, but have returned in a much different state than when you'd departed a few weeks ago now.

She greets them in their native tongue “hello, friends. It is I, Shenandoah. I have returned with much needed help. I need to see the chie—my husband.” Almost trying to keep walking past them with a little fake confidence like she owns the place.

the warriors fall into place around you, recognizing your voice if not your new appearance, and you're escorted into the village where things look much the same as they did when you had left. The chief is out front of the large building the both of you shared for many years, addressing another group of warriors and wishing them luck with whatever task he has sent them on. They all bow , before racing off into the woods

“Husband” she calls out to him as she enters, catching his attention. Her tone is more professional than affectionate; but she’s never exactly been that loving to him over the years, so that would be par for the course. “I have returned with news.”

He looks on for a moment, his mind just a moment behind your words, and processing them. "You look now like you looked on the day you crashed here, and were found by the tribe. Hardly like one of us anymore. What is your news?"

“Yes, my old clothing tended to draw unnecessary attention. I can tell you the words spoken by Valentina were true. The galaxy has moved on and left this planet behind. They have advanced far beyond the levels this world was at even before the darkness.

23:28

I won’t lie, I was very tempted never to return to this planet. However, I realized that was unfair to you and this tribe. While I may have started as a captive here—you always treated me well and brought me in to this tribe. I wish to return the favor.”

“And what would you returning this favor look like?” He asks, motioning for you to follow him into the home you both shared until recently

She follows him into the building. She lowers gracefully to sit cross legged on the ground, as was customary of women in their society—not daring to try and rock the boat or pretend she is now in anyway his better... “I have returned with a ship full of supplies. Most importantly foods, and modern medicines. I would like to offer some of this to the tribe.” (edited)

“In exchange for what? What is the tribe accepting this gift for, and what is expected of us?”

“As of now, nothing. This is a gift from me. Groups out in the stars heard of your plight and were willing to send this help....