Lore of Yore
Histories of the known universe... and beyond
The bountiful Diamond Mines of Saturn are one of the Wonders of the Cosmos, ringing the sixth planet in a marvel of architecture and engineering. During the Industrial Revolution, cosmonautical miners undertook the incredible task of connecting each of Saturn's ring particles into a single network of habitable tunnels; as of the present day, the Saturn Mining Company maintains a colossal operation that spans the entire planetary ring. Although expansive, the enterprise only gained traction in the wider Space Empire after a mining team led by Peter Gaskett discovered volanium in the Colombo Gap. Six months later, during an excavation on the planet's surface, diamond shards were discovered embedded into the rock; the Laplace Institute confirmed these shards had rained down from the rings above, and soon enough further mining operations unearthed diamond deposits in orbit. This led to a surge in tourism, and the so-called Diamond Mines of Saturn became a popular destination for holiday-makers and honeymooners. Currently the Overseer, Puccint Spick, has vetoed all civilian travel to the central mining facility after an incident in the Bessel Gap which saw the loss of his Cassini Division. Other dangers included cases of diamond blight contracted by miners, and reports of crystalline spiders living within the glittering deposits, ready to burst out from their ore cocoons upon unsuspecting diggers. There have even been reports of something far larger, and even more hellish, rampaging through the tunnels—but on these outlandish rumours the Overseer has remained firmly silent....
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With the advent of the Cosmic Age, it was inevitable that the Empire of Great Britain would expand not only across the seas but along the breadth of galaxies.
Some of England's finest minds turned towards the notion of space flight; with the Renaissance came the first pioneers to breach the blue skies of Britain and travel outward into the vast indigo beyond. Elsewhere, manned flights were tested by the Chinese, and in Florence a young artist came forth with an idea for a "Cosmic Screw" which could carry cosmonauts far beyond the Sun. In time, this so-called Universal Genius would write his Codex on the Flight of Starcraft years before the Pioneers took to the stars. Others, such as Nicolaus Copernicus, were somewhat late to the party. As England's kingdom and star territories became united under the Great British Space Empire, other nation-states raced to the stars to continue epoch-long feuds and wars. The First French Cosmic Republic built commands and bastilles throughout the Fifteen Galaxies, but could not compete with Britain's imperial expansion. England seeded the stars with boundary buoys to demark its territory—and to ensure the tea routes ran smoothly, even in the black depths of space. These were the high days of Empire, when Britain's morning drumbeat resounded throughout the Realm and Star Territories, circling the very centre of the universe with the unbroken strain of England's martial power. The Empire took what planets it willed, and brought the manifold peoples of the cosmos into the British way. Until Vorgak 3. The Royal Space Docks sprawl across the muddy face of London, a meshwork of girders and supports for the grand spacecraft of the Navy. From here, ships of the Royal Fleet launch into the vast cosmic empire beyond the blue.
Expansion is Britain's byword, and these days all berths are occupied—especially the bay at the end of the dock. That one is occupied more than most. Nobody goes near it. It's a death trap. Haunted. Just plain filthy. The vessel itself must have started life sleek and speedy, a sports yacht of the skies, but time and sheltering vagrants have left it dilapidated and infested. A small hamlet of vagabonds resides on one wing. They say some mad professor built it in a drunken fit. That the craft is as likely to implode as take to the sky. That the good ship will never fly again. There's an allotment in the dorsal turbine. You'd have to be mad, desperate, or deluded beyond measure to approach the ship at the end of the dock. Let alone board it. |
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