København

Description

København is a station whose past very much informs its present. Once a renowned shipbuilding facility, København suffered tremendous damage during the Catastrophe when the restraints failed on overhead shipbuilding berths, causing the ships to crash down on the buildings below. Its ruins are littered with the husks of once grand vessels of all sizes, from gargantuan frigates to smaller transports. Indeed, hollowed out hulls of some of the hardier ships have been retrofitted to accommodate some of the station’s current needs, with some even serving as housing. København has remained one of the most trusted producers of space-worthy crafts, even as its residents work to reclaim their lives and rebuild their station.

Chronicle Text

When the Catastrophe swept out over the Galaxy, she hit every port from a different angle, with a different kind of wave. Each destructive, each unique, each terrible. On København, where ingenious shipwrights and engineers crafted the galaxy’s very finest vessels, locals looked up to see a hellish rain of fiery ships. Some of these cruisers, ripped off their moorings by an unknown force, careened off into the Black, never to be seen again. Others, however, slipped down onto the station, through the hull and into the populated areas below. Often a first port of call for those seeking to move through the system and beyond, here often is the place where those with wanderlust are first drawn to. Now, then, and forever more, København, the patron station of journey’s beginnings.

Arrival Text

Welcome to København Traveller, the port of ports!

Statistics

System: Sol
Affiliation: Consortium
Level: 2
Legal: 3 (Low)
Orwellian: 10 (High)

Areas

Bank (Banken)

The bank is a drab and unassuming chamber carved into the stone of København’s asteroid shell near the supplies sector.

Professionally dressed tellers greet customers from behind clean desks. In the corner, a pudgy guard sits on a stool and struggles to keep his eyes open. Everything about the interior of the bank feels bland and functional.

NPCs

Brig (Jail)

A dilapidated asteroid-brick wall divides the facility into three sectors. Painted lettering indicates the direction of high and low security areas. At regular intervals, a pair of disinterested guards patrol the perimeter.

The front gate checkpoint leads to a cramped corridor where new arrivals are processed. Bio IDs are checked via retinal, thumbprint and blood scanners. The swivel buzz of motorized security cameras monitoring the area is audible everywhere.

NPCs

Clones (Clone Gestation)

København's busy clone gestation office shares a hallway with the gym, and the thumping music and sounds of exercise can be heard from its lobby.

The steady beat of an inspirational workout song echoes from the gym a few hundred feet down the corridor, and the tired-looking clone technicians move along with the music as they go about their work. Passersby in exercise gear peer in at the gestation pods and a few appear unnerved at the sight of the clones staring back with blank eyes.

An eerie green glow permeates the room as floor lighting, saturated through the clone gestation fluids, washes the area in various verdant tones.

Available Clones

NPCs

Employment (Employment Center)

Assembled in the shadow of a fallen ship, the employment center is filled with old-fashioned bulletin boards. Screens blink to refresh every few units, carrying short text summaries of the latest opportunities. Most are centered on the shipyard and port.

While the employment center isn’t a small building, it's dwarfed by the shadow of the freighter that sits behind it. The ship is cradled in a pile of debris, the broken remnants of the construction berth that once contained it looming high above. People emerging from the employment center cast nervous glances in its direction. While little more now than rubble left over from the Catastrophe, it was once an object of terror, falling from above to crush the people and buildings below.

NPCs

Career Advisory (København Careers Advice Bureau)

A make-shift office dedicated to delivering better futures, using only inspirational wall slogans and a pair of semi-functioning information terminals.

A large wall display cycles through a series of motivational messages, aimed at the modest queue of career hopefuls waiting for a free aptitude-test terminal. "PASSION is the fuel behind a successful career!" scrolls across the screen, from left to right, quickly followed by "Tomorrow depends upon what you do today, citizen!".

Underneath, a 3D holographic attendant repeats the same message every few units. "Trader? Operative? Engineer? What will YOU be?" she asks repeatedly, triggered every time a passerby looks over.

Side Jobs (Small Jobs Board)

A single, flickering screen to one side of the Employment Center advertises opportunities for short-term, casual work.

Name Description Credits Statistic
Bar Singer The Mermaid is looking for performers to entertain our customers and help us hook new patrons. Do you have what it takes? Credits paid for good shows. 20 Social
Cloning Pod Mucker Clone Gestation is looking for individuals with a good work ethic and willingness to get their hands significantly dirty. Visit our facilities for walk-in work. 13.5 Stamina
Parts Courier Our warehouse needs someone to deliver part orders to companies in the shipyard. Speed and efficiency are a must. 13.5 Agility
Wreck it Iwo Station Administration is hiring workers to supplement their professional Wreck Runner crew in the wreckage. You will be assisting an ongoing salvage operation. Report to Iwo in the Port to sign up for shifts. 27.5 Intelligence

Discreet Work

A dark corner in one of the station's less-frequented corridors provides a handy meeting point for those whose affairs are less than noble.

Government Center (København Government Center)

Clean and professional looking, the building houses the governmental offices of the station.

København's Government Center is the station's most opulent building. Polished stone floors, a relic of the Before, lend the center an old world feel while various holo-projectors wash the walls with images of København's glorious ship-building days, reminding passersby of what was lost and is yet to be fully reclaimed.

Harried officials walk to and fro in crisp Consortium attire, conducting their business while a plethora of travelers seeking visas queue up at the appropriate windows.

Gym (København Pump 'N' Jump)

The Pump 'n' Jump gym is filled with breathless people working themselves into a sweat on old, worn out exercise equipment.

The workout room is spare, containing only basic exercise machines and little decoration. Frequent use has worn bald patches into the faded floor matting and the weights display a wealth of nicks and scratches. Patrons work out to music blasting from speakers mounted in the ceiling.

You must have minimum combined physical stats of 30 to avoid injury at this gym.

NPCs

Inn (The Mermaid)

The Mermaid is situated in the hollowed-out hull of an old freighter. As a heavily-themed venue, it pays colorful homage to humanity's ancient seafaring exploits back on old Earth.

The decor includes sculptures of wide-eyed sea animals, of dubious biological accuracy, and a large, jury-rigged holoscreen mounted above the bar which plays clips from an ancient, half-scrambled cartoon file of a dancing fish and a singing crab.

The inner hull of this once space-worthy vessel, and now The Mermaid's home, has been painted a charming aquamarine color. Replicas of life-sized sea animals from ancient Earth dangle from The Mermaid’s ceiling. The rest of the decor is equally nautical, comprised of ancient navigational devices and replica charts. Dust motes gather thickly on every trinket. The squat and thickset bartender, who appears to be of the Colonist genotype, is dressed in a ragtag assortment of what he believes to be ancient Terran sea-wear, and whenever a new customer approaches he sings in a jovial tone, “I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I can tell you need a drink right now.”

The back wall of the Mermaid is the most popular area, where large windows offer clientele a scintillating view of Mars. Customers sit to stare at the red planet far below, talking in hushed tones and speculating about the mysteries of its surface. The entire room is suffused in the gentle light of the distant sun.

NPCs

"Galactic Destinations" Introduction

Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.
Douglas Adams

The universe of Tau Station is indeed a ‘mind-bogglingly big’ place. In an effort to make it a little less daunting, we’re launching a tour of some of the many places you may discover throughout your journeys in Tau Station. Read the first of our Galactic Destinations series below as you walk into an Inn on København known as the The Mermaid…

The Mermaid is not a subtle place. Walking inside, you might almost feel like the very nautical theme slaps you in the face several times before singing an old sailors shanty and scampering up the rigging of those ships that supposedly sailed across vast bodies of water so very long ago.

The inside of the hull of a once space-worthy vessel that makes up the walls and ceiling of jaunty establishment has been painted a charming aquamarine color. Replicas of life-sized sea creatures from ancient Earth dangle from The Mermaid’s ceiling. The rest of the decor is equally nautical, with large-eyed ocean creatures smiling from a seascape painted on the walls. Ancient navigational devices and globes that the bartender swears are real adorn the corners of the room. Dust motes are briefly illuminated by the flickering flames from candles that light up the dusty interiors.

Behind the bar, the squat and thickset bartender, who appears to be of the Colonist genotype, is dressed in a ragtag assortment of what he believes to be ancient Terran sea wear. Whenever a new customer approaches he sings in an overly jubilant tone, “I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I can tell you need a drink right now.”


While each Inn you might visit in the ‘verse of Tau Station is unique and colorful in its own way, they also offer various useful functions and opportunities for the passing traveler.

Privacy and security are, in a dangerous universe, commodities that you might often find yourself craving. Renting a room at an Inn ensures that you’ll be safe and undisturbed for the duration of your stay.

Additionally, you will find the Inn a perfect place to train your Social skill stat. Nothing like a room full of chatty patrons to practice that charm on. Just try not to accidentally offend someone!

Last but not least of course, booze! It’s a crazy galaxy out there and sometimes you need to take the edge off. Assorted beverages will affect your stats in different ways, just make sure you can handle them!

So enjoy your stay at the Mermaid, have a drink on us, and watch this space for your next Galactic Destination!

Bar (The Mermaid's Drink)

The bar area of the Mermaid Inn, usually busy with punters eyeing the contents of the colorful bottles occupying the shelves behind the counter. The dark and sticky liquid contents glint in the moody lighting, teasing punters with a slippery promise to relieve stress, anxiety or boredom.

The various ornaments and mementos that adorn every shelf, corner, and wall of the Mermaid's Drink celebrate the communion of kindred spirits bonding over a shared drink.

Menu

NPCs

Hotel Rooms (The Mermaid's Pools)

Nautically themed hotel rooms with an ambiance heralding back to a bygone age of humanity's distant past.

The Mermaid's Pools are the hotel rooms in the upper decks of the Mermaid Inn. Sounds of merriment below often drift up to lend a comforting backdrop to these cozy rooms, decorated with items that the proprietor imagines will recall the fabled days when men traveled on huge expanses of water, driven by a lust for adventure and riches.

Prices

  • 1 day: 30.66? cr
  • 5 days: 122.63? cr
  • 10 days: 214.61? cr
  • 30 days: 551.85? cr

Lounge (The Mermaid's Grotto)

A lounge that sits atop the highest level of the re-purposed derelict cruiser that houses the Mermaid Inn.

The Grotto exudes a calming, almost zen-like ambiance. Soft lighting placed behind images of what the owner imagines life on Terran islands may have looked like wash the room with hues of gentle lilac and indigo. Patrons from all walks of life sip their drinks in a slightly less raucous setting than the Bar area downstairs.

An android waitress, a gift from Benevolent Dynamics to the proprietor of the Inn, quietly does her rounds, ferrying various colorful and sticky looking beverages back and forth. Some patrons' eyes linger on her with a sense of disquiet; not all are comfortable in the presence of a machine that emulates humans.

Market (København Retail Hub)

Mobbed by travelers, the market is filled with shoppers eager to spend a few credits while they wait for the work on their ships to finish.

København has a large and prosperous market block to go along with its busy port. Travelers and station dwellers mass around the stores and kiosks, packed nearly shoulder to shoulder as they jostle one another to see the merchants’ wares. Stressed shopkeepers are not an uncommon sight, exhausted by the constant influx of haggling customers.

The entire area lies in the shadow of a behemoth sized cruiser, presumably a bygone of the Catastrophe that came to crash down and lie at a titled angle above the market. Lights and power cables, some attached to speakers through which various stall owners loudly hawk their wares, can be seen hanging off it as the denizens below adapted the giant vessel to their present needs.

NPCs

Vendors

Some of the station's most well-known merchants keep stores here, their names identifiable by the animated holo-signs which rotate at the entrances of each one.

Public Market

København's public market offers citizens a platform to sell spare items and to hunt for bargains among the wares listed by others.

A large wall screen lists currently-available items, ranging from salvaged ruins scrap and battle-worn armor, to basic food items and begrudgingly-pawned heirlooms. Sales are overseen by a pair of watchful and well-armed Consortium guards, deterring scammers and would-be fraudsters from meddling in proceedings.

Storage (København Storage)

The hollowed-out wreckage of an immense freighter houses this storage facility. Dented lockers with dry and peeling paint line the inside of what used to be its outer hull.

A malfunctioning light fizzles in the depths of the storage area, creating eerie shadows in the bowels of what once must have been a great ship. Old passenger seats have been retrofitted to serve as seating around the locker room, and a thin layer of dust covers many of the surfaces. The lockers’ peeling paint matches the interior of the ship in an attempt to lend the area a more cohesive design, and each locker is marked with a logo proclaiming that it was made by Pandora Storage Solutions.

  • Small: 67? cr
  • Medium: 188 cr
  • Large: 469 cr

Port (Harbor Quarter)

København has one of the largest ports in the Sol System. Dozens of Consortium starships and private spacecraft wait in line for their turn to dock.

København's port is bustling with people. Frantic workers rush to make repairs and unload luggage and cargo, pushing their way through the streams of passengers disembarking from public shuttles. A variety of docked ships can be seen through the viewing windows, from simple cargo freighters to advanced patrol vessels brimming with weapons and combat arrays, and, occasionally, what looks like a poorly-disguised freebooter craft. Above them all looms the giant red majesty of Mars, squatting like a sullen scarlet sentinel in the station's sky.

A large, derelict cruiser, irreparably damaged during the Catastrophe, squats at one side of the cavernous facility. The ship has been retrofitted to serve as a building with its lower portions housing the customs and traveler processing centers. Shipwrights can be seen poring over partial blueprints and half-restored technical diagrams inside, negotiating complex repairs with frowning captains.

NPCs

Shipping Bay (København Shipping Services)

The shipping bay processes incoming and outgoing freight, aided by a vast network of mechanical rails to ferry crates and containers to and from docked vessels. Phosphorous crates from Daedalus glide along the rails, in among Taungoo Noodle shipments and the smaller, private packages containing individual citizens' belongings.

NPCs

Docks (København Docks)

A number of ships, cruisers, and freighters line the docks, partaking of the various services offered. Supplies are restocked; maintenance and repair checks completed; and tired crews enjoy a few precious segments of station leave.

Local Shuttles (København Shuttle Terminal)

The shuttle terminal is soundtracked by the tireless clank and whoosh of the main airlock bays as they process departures and arrivals. Stiff-necked visitors file through security checks, taking in their new surroundings and shaking off the travel aches acquired en route.

With frequent services to Sol System's other stations, København's Shuttle Terminal is a busy area with near-constant activity. Passengers, crews, and port staff alike all do endless battle here against the crowds and fatigue, trying to reach their destinations with some shred of patience and good humor intact.

Ruins (The Wreckage)

The wrecked starships that dot the area belie København's past as a shipbuilding facility. Ugly, uneven scars along the otherwise smooth walls show where breaches in the hull were quickly repaired after the Catastrophe.

The area known as The Wreckage is a vast and broken cityscape, a memento of the Catastrophe that the station wears proudly, a grim reminder of what was lost and remains to be reclaimed. Rising up around the city's carcass like awesome spiderwebs are giant, jagged tears in the wall that have been patched up from the outside in an ugly and haphazard manner.

The rest of the damage is equally breathtaking to behold. Littered among the toppled buildings and shattered streets are the remains of half-finished starships that crashed down from the shipyards above when their restraints failed. Some are no larger than personal shuttles while others are enormous and would take cycles of dedicated disassembly to remove. In a few areas, local Syndicates have begun this arduous task, hoping to find riches among the rubble.

NPCs

"Galactic Destinations" Introduction

We fly ships we no longer know how to build, across stars we are charting all over again. Our knowledge of space travel and our ability to build space faring vessels are like two ships passing each other in the night. Thank the skies for København’s wreck runners, helping us reclaim this vital skill a bit at a time.

Maya Von Christova – Benevolent Dynamics

Welcome to the Wreckage! Our next Galactic Destination brings you to the broken city-scape of the ruins of København. Here, vast city blocks lie crushed beneath behemoth like vessels that once came crashing down onto the station when their moorings broke apart. The station wears this gigantic scar like a proud wound of war, a twisted reminder of what was lost, and what must be reclaimed. Read on below to learn more about this enigmatic destination.

The Wreckage

When the Catastrophe struck, each station was affected in a different way, shaping their course and culture in the darkness of the years to come. København was the jewel of humanity’s ship building world. Here, the best and mightiest space-faring vessels were designed and constructed and the station’s shipwrights were the best in the galaxy. Tethered to the exterior of the station, were hundreds of vessels, each in various states of repair or construction. Shipwrights and engineers could be seen working on these throughout the day and night, their personal lights blinking to and fro like luminescent parasites on the back of a drifting behemoth.

On the day of the Catastrophe the moorings that held the gigantic vessels berthed on the exterior failed. The ships, untethered, drifted free. In the resulting collisions, many came crashing down towards the station. Thousands died that day, crushed or burned in the inevitable flames that followed.

The Wreckage is the memory of this day. The broken cityscape is littered with the corpses of these once magnificent vessels that were København’s heritage. Entire city blocks buried beneath silent and broken behemoths. Ruined skyscrapers with smaller ships jutting out of the section they crashed into.

Wreck Runners

Wreck runners are a special breed of scavenger who have been born out of humanity’s need and København’s special circumstance. Buried beneath the silent ship cemetery of the Wreckage lie secrets of ship crafting that are now lost to us. Wreck runners have adapted to scavenging the vessels that lie throughout this vast area, bypassing long forgotten security systems and surviving the many hazards that a dying space ship can present. Their self appointed task is to collect knowledge and scavenge resources to try and help København’s shipwrights reclaim the lost skill of crafting a space worthy vessel.


Leave the men where they lay
They’ll never see another day
Lost my soul, lost my dream
You can’t take the sky from me.

I feel the black reaching out
I hear its song without a doubt
I still hear and I still see
That you can’t take the sky from me.

The Ballad of Serenity

The Wrecks

A heap of an area, willed with all manner of junk and detritus. People may enter as citizens, but they usually exit resembling crazed ruins rats, scratched and sweat-stained by a crazed hunt for valuable salvage.

On any given day the Wrecks pivot between desolate emptiness and sparse population by desperate people avoiding prying eyes, bandits, and merchants looking for some cheap and interesting wares. It can be worth your time to pull on a pair of gloves and dig through the debris in the wrecks in search of something useful, just keep your wits about you during your excavation. You never know who's watching in the wrecks.

The Wilds

The darkest and most dangerous area of the Wreckage, rumored to hold the greatest salvage.

The Wilds are among the most dangerous and lucrative areas on the station. Hidden in the bowels of the Wreckage, the atmosphere is charged with ionized particles from the constant discharge of all manner of weapons. Syndicates and dangerous denizens are often locked in endless battles to secure the best salvage and hidden caches here.

Shipyard (Købe Ship Construction Yard)

Still battered and scarred from the Catastrophe, most of the shipyard is sealed off and marked with warning signs. The areas that are still intact contain dozens of ships undergoing maintenance.

København's shipyard is attached to the exterior of the station like an extra appendage. Airlocks lead out into construction berths where engineers and contractors in void suits work on various vessels, some emblazoned with the Consortium flag. The ships they’re working on include everything from small personal transports for government officials to military cruisers that could potentially house a crew of hundreds.

Much of the knowledge that the Station's shipwrights once held was lost during the Catastrophe. Today, many of the ships look makeshift and patched together, as engineers improvise solutions to the best of their limited know-how.

The entrance to the shipyard includes the office of the wreck runners' supervisor. The building is actually the hollowed out mess hall area of half a large cruiser with chairs and tables still attached to the ceiling (which was once its floor). The squat makeshift building is perhaps the most lively of the area, with wreck runners coming and going at all segments, bringing scavenged tech and resources for the shipwrights to pore over.

Ships for Purchase

NPCs

Sick Bay (København Klinik)

The waiting room of the clinic is usually packed to capacity. As quickly as the nurses lead patients through the cracked glass door to the exam rooms, more arrive to take their place, usually complaining of accidents in the Port or Shipyard.

People sit and wait in silence, stoically enduring the aches and pains that brought them here. A few complain loudly as they clutch at sometimes grisly wounds. Many seem to be wearing the uniforms of København's Port and Shipyard teams, betraying the dangers of this station's common professions.

NPCs

"Galactic Destinations" Introduction

København, once a beacon of industry, a station of shipwrights and world class engineers known far and wide as the very best in the building of spacefaring vessels. Now, after the Catastrophe, this station is a husk of its former self. When the Catastrophe struck here, it struck hard. Hundreds of gargantuan ships moored above the station, some for repairs, others being built outright, came slowly but inexorably crashing down upon the luckless denizens below. Cruiseliners, built to ferry thousands of passengers across the solar system disintegrated entire city blocks, other buildings exploded into fiery balls of deadly plasma as fuel tanks ignited or dangerous payloads caught a spark. In the aftermath, København’s people crawled out of the wreckage and, those that did, marvelled at their survival.

Today, the station is a wrecked shell of its former self with giant skeletons of once space-faring vessels crouching over entire city blocks like hungry gods. Yet it is also a testament to resilience, to the indomitable spirit of its inhabitants. Rather than give up, the people of København have learnt to adapt to their situation, and even more to try and reclaim their former glory.

Many ships have been converted into buildings, their now empty hulls serving as walls and ceilings. Brave scavengers known as Wreck Runners have been especially trained to navigate the dangers and ancient security systems of dead vessels, hoping to find resources and slowly clean up the graveyard known as, “The Wreckage.”

While much of the knowledge of shipbuilding has been lost, many people have come together to try and piece together what information there is and fill in the gaps with their own ingenuity. And slowly, the shipyards of the station have begun manufacturing vessels again, with corporations like Chamberlain setting up shop in the scrappy station, struggling to emerge like an ugly phoenix hatchling from the ashes of its previous life.

Notes

  • The station is loosely based on the capital city of old Earth Denmark, Copenhagen.
  • Much of the Inn's decor is an homage to the 1989 animated Disney film The Little Mermaid.

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