Freelance
TravellerCyan: Gateway to the Reach
This article originally appeared in Spanish in Vuelo Raso N. 6 and was translated by Google Translate and Jeff Zeitlin for its appearance in the May/June 2024 issue of Freelance Traveller. Lea este artículo en español.
Cyan is a system that connects the X-boat route of the Pax Rulin subsector of the Trojan Reach with the Glisten subsector of the Spinward Marches, and although it has the Doradon and Perrior systems (2202 and 2203) under its domain, it is a system about which there is very little official information.
| Cyan at a Glance | Pax Rulin/2102 Trojan Reach | |
|---|---|---|
| UWP | C-5689B9-A | |
| Size | 5 | ~8,700km; 0.62g |
| Atmosphere | 6 | Standard |
| Hydrosphere | 8 | ~83%, single large sea |
| Population | 9 | ~5,000,000,000 inhabitants |
| Government | B | Non-Charismatic Leader (Baron Hazai, Regent for Count Azud I
(underage)) Opposition Faction: Runic Group (secret, offworld support) |
| Law Level | 9 | Restrictive (Amber Zone), wary of pirates Local custom: Alcoholic beverages prohibited |
| Tech Level | A | |
| Trade Codes | Hi | (High Population) |
| Importance | 3 | Ordinary; up to 6 ships/day, 30/week |
| Economy | C8D +4 | Very abundant resources, hundreds of millions of workers, completely integrated infrastructure, highly efficient. |
| Culture | AC6B | Discordant; extremely xenophilic; somewhat different/unusual; very abstract symbolism. |
| Food Availability | +8 | Average to above average; medium variety; moderate cost adjustment (×1) |
Overview
With a hydrosphere of 83% and a population of approximately 5 billion people, Cyan has understood the importance of cities on the sea. The main continent represents 54% of the land surface and on it is the starport and the startown. Despite the poor quality of the starport (type C), it is quite large since it is used to receiving many ships that stop to refuel and trade, as well as the system’s own ships that transport merchandise between the colonies and the main system. Due to the system being classed as an Amber Zone, it is not common or recommended for visitors to leave the starport. The Amber Zone rating arises from both the high law level and the risk of uprising, due to the type of government.
The main source of food for the inhabitants of Cyan comes from the sea in almost all areas. Starting with the fish farms and continuing through the algae crops until ending in the enormous seafood trays, passing through the rooftops used for breeding seabirds. The possibility of living in marine cities has led to the expropriation of many fertile lands in order to grow native cereals wholesale.
Azud I, Count of Cyan Age 11
STR 3 DEX 8 END 5 INT A EDU 8* SOC D
Carouse 0, Persuade 0
* Due to his young age, he has not yet completed his studies
Hazai, Baron of Cyan Age ?
STR 7 DEX 5 END 6 INT A EDU A SOC B
Leadership 3, Legal 3, Deception 2, Diplomacy 2, Persuade 2, Admin
1, Broker 1, Carouse 1, Firearms (projectiles) 0
Government
The Baron and His Puppet, Count Azud I
The current Count, Azud I, is the 11-year-old son of the late Count Ustix II. The early death of his parents made him heir, but until he comes of age, running the government falls to his uncle Hazai, Ustix’s brother, who has been promoting many extreme legal measures (according to what he says , just as his brother Ustix would have done in life).
Although Azud is the titular Count and ruler of Cyan, in practice Baron Hazai rules, while marginalizing the young Azud, to the point of being embarrassing. Several dissenting voices have emerged in nearby systems who are truly dissatisfied with the way in which Hazai seems to be trying to usurp the County from his own nephew without any dissimulation. Hazai’s dissimulation is so little that he does not hesitate to send Count Azud to spend long periods “summering alone” in the deserts of Doradon.
Runic Group
The secret organization “Runic Group” is a small infiltrated operation on the planet that works to help destabilize the government in order to replace it with some less oppressive model in terms of legality and population control. Although they are all inhabitants of Cyan, the group has been founded and sponsored with the secret support of the Ling Corporation and Baraccai Technum. Baron Hazai can be said to be a thorn in the side of the corporations and merchant traffic between Pax Rulin and Glisten.
Part of Runic Group’s plan is to try to gain Azud’s trust and for him to become a more capable count than his uncle, so until Azud is ready to govern, the Runic Group will continue working in the shadows, and away from police surveillance as much as possible.
An Oppressive Environment
A large part of the population lives in an environment that borders on oppression and proof of this is a huge forced labor camp at the north pole of the planet. Any prison sentence has a high chance of ending up in this huge work camp, where metals and minerals are extracted in the traditional way (pick and shovel). Occasionally revolutionary movements arise that are crushed with terrible efficiency and suicide attacks are one of the most common forms of terrorism that have been felt since Hazai took power. Although Baron Hazai has only been in charge for 8 years, he has worked hard enough to become the most hated person in the entire system. Even though no one dares to say it out loud.
Arcology City: Capitanía IV
Capitanía IV is a huge building that makes up a single city, with a population density of 30,000 people per square km. Outside the city, the starport is the main destination for travelers as this arcology is famous for its large number of shopping centers, juice stands, restaurants and recreation areas., the latter including a huge indoor ‘pool’ with mesh walls that allows you to swim in the ocean without the risk of being eaten by any predator. However, the possibility of drowning is still present.
The Transit Station
The Imperium maintains a transit station for X-Boats. The management of the station is subcontracted to Baraccai Technum, which also manages the planetary starport. This transit station is only open to the Scout service and ships whose hull does not allow entry into the atmosphere. There are no public transient facilities aboard; crew, passengers, and cargo from non-Scout ships are shuttled to the surface starport. The rest of the ships must use Cyan’s C-class starport on the surface.
“La Brisa” Hotel
Located in the startown, this hotel has a pretty bad reputation among people in the area. You could say that no one who can afford an alternative would stay overnight here. For only 6 Cr/12 hours you can request one of the 548 small cubicles (1m high, 1.5 m wide and 2.5 m long) that “La Brisa” has and manage all of this through of the Reception Utility Droid. Payment must be made in advance and each 6 Cr. corresponds to a period of 12 hours, after which the cubicle will be sealed again and if you remain inside when this happens you must pay another period or wait for the authorities to “rescue” you and process the complaint for non-payment. The bathrooms are communal and surprisingly clean.
The reception droid1 responds to the name of Ber’Zi; it has programming designed to perform the tasks related to Profession (domestic employee) 1 as well as Assistant 0. It is quite old and can clearly use some repairs and a new coat of paint.
“The Deeps” Restaurant
A semi-mandatory stop for all those daredevils who decide to ignore the system’s Amber Zone classification. Built below the waterline of the Capitanía IV arcology. The food here is not cheap by planetary standards, as the full menu can cost around 90-100 Cr. per person. However, diners will be able to enjoy a huge variety of native foods cooked in a delicious way and always accompanied by the best juice for the occasion. It must be remembered that the consumption of alcohol is prohibited.
Rye 259-2
Despite its name, Rye 259-2 is not a cereal from the Poaceae or similar families, but rather could belong to the Typhaceae family within the Imperial taxonomic classification system. Regardless of this, it is a cereal that grows on saltwater coasts and has become famous not only for the nutritional value of its flour, but also for the controversial nature of some of its uses.
The sale, consumption or preparation of alcoholic beverages is a serious crime in Cyan, however, and within the limits of the startown there is a fermentation plant dedicated to producing a rye liqueur exclusively for export sale. Perhaps this wouldn't be so problematic if it weren’t for the fact that the factory belongs to the government (Baron Hazai’s to be exact). According to the monitoring and statistical systems of the law enforcement agencies, the inauguration of the factory meant that the population’s discontent rose by 3.035 points, while the attempted crime rate increased by about 0.0192 points and was the main issue of 27.578% of conversations on networks for 1.34 days.
Cyan Rye 259-2 Liqueur
Trade name: Cyan’s Essence
Classification: Luxury consumable (DM for purchase of this liqueur
+2)
Base price according to manual 20,000 Cr., suggested optional cost
16,500 Cr. Each ton contains 500 finely cut glass bottles of 1 liter
capacity, each of them protected by a small but elegant polymer box
with a pearlescent appearance.
Quantity available each month: 1D×5 Ton (1 minor lot)
Single bottle at the starport: 70 Cr. A beautifully crafted glass
bottle, filled with a cinnamon-colored liquor that smells like
alcoholic bread.
The Great Polar Race
Once a year, for a period of 30 days, a great competition takes place. This traces its origins to the grandfather of the current count Azud I and father of Hazai, Ustix I. Although Hazai maintains the tradition of the race and has tried to make it more attractive by increasing the prizes and bringing contestants from other systems, it has less following every day.
According to police sources, the decline in the monitoring of the race is not so much because of the race itself but because of how hated Baron Hazai is. The refusal to follow a career presented and financed by this man is nothing more than a small attempt at collective protest by the citizens. The height of the protest occurred in the previous year where several snowmobiles were sabotaged in the final and the baron was accused of being responsible for this sabotage so that his favorite foreign contestant would be the winner (the sabotage led to the fall of the public opinion about the baron by -0.257 points and that of the race by -2.894 points, while the opinion about Azud I increased by +0.964 points).
Despite the controversies, the race is a real challenge in 30 stages, of which 18 are on snow/ice that are run by snowmobile, 4 stages on a mixed mass of water (with sections of frozen water and sections of ice) that can be run either by canoe or on foot transporting the canoe, and 8 coastal stages that are covered by boat. The prize for the winner is several hundred thousand credits.
Author’s note: The Great Polar Race can be a good initial adventure if any member of the group has the Driver career2 or it can be a good opportunity to include an NPC with these characteristics.
Appendix: Defining the Cyan Security Forces
Editor’s note: This information was included at the beginning of the Spanish-language version of this article in Vuelo Raso N. 6. It outlines the full procedure for defining the Cyan Security Forces, as the article from which the procedure is drawn has not as yet been published in Spanish. The presentation here has also been corrected for some procedural errors that were found.
Cyan is a key world linking the Trojan Reach to the Spinward Marches. In light of its high Government and Law Level and Amber Zone rating, it was therefore felt important enough to define the Cyan Security Forces, using the article “World Security Profiles” from the Mongoose Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society No. 5.
| Security forces: | SAB8-5 Pe (Pervasive) |
| Planetary Presence: | A |
| Orbital Presence: | B |
| Presence in system: | 8 |
| Stance: | 5 |
Cyan Security Forces Profile
Planetary presence: To define the planetary presence
of security forces, roll 2d6-7+DMs+LawLevel. The DMs are taken from a
table in the article, based on planetary Size, Government, and trade
codes. For Cyan, the only modifiers that can be applied are +1 for
Government B, and –2 for trade code Hi
Adding these gives a total modifier of -1. Applying this to the
formula gives 2D6-7-1+9, which reduces to 2d6+1: The roll is 9; 9+1=
10 (A) The security forces are very, very present.
Orbital Presence: To define the Orbital presence of the security forces, the same formula is used, but the DMs are taken from a different table, based on Starport, Size, Government, bases, and trade codes. In this case, the only modifier that must be applied is +1 for Government B, giving 2d6-7+1+9, or 2d6+3. The roll is 8, so the presence of the security forces in orbit is even higher (11, B) than on the surface.
System Presence: To define the presence of security forces in the system beyond orbit, roll 2d6-7+DMs+OrbitalPresence. Note that LawLevel is not added here; it is already accounted for in the Orbital Presence. The DMs are taken from a table based on Starport, Government, gas giants, and trade codes. Here, the Class C starport provides DM -1, and the lack of gas giants in the system provides an additional DM –2. This gives us 2d6-7-3+11, or 2d6+1. The roll is 7, which gives a final value of 8; the presence beyond planetary orbit is noticeable.
Stance: The last thing that remains to be determined is how proactive the system’s security forces are, i.e., if they maintain a general attitude of passive vigilance (or do not worry about anything at all) or if they are very given to taking the initiative when doing their work, perhaps to excess. Stance is defined by rolling 2d6-7+DMs+LawLevel; the DMs are taken from a table based on Starport, Atmosphere, Government and trade codes. The applicable DMs are +1 for government and -2 for trade code Hi. Rolling 4 gives us 4-7-1+9, or 5. As this is lower than the law level, the Cyan Security Forces generally prefer passive surveillance, rather than active pursuit of illegal activity.
Security codes: Like the trade codes in the UWP, security profiles have their own codes and descriptors that indicate whether the majority of these bodies are corrupt or paramilitary or a host of other descriptors. These are looked up from provided tables, and automatically apply when all criteria for the code are met, unless the table indicates that one rolls 2d6 against a target number. The following codes may apply:
- Factionalized (Fa), on a 2d6 roll of 10+. We roll 8, so this does not apply.
- Militarized (Mi), on a 2d6 roll of 10+. We roll 4, so this does not apply.
- Pervasive (Pe). There is no roll required; since Cyan meets all of the listed criteria, it applies.
The final profile for the Cyan Security Forces is SAB8-5 Pe
The Cyan Security Forces cover almost all aspects of the lives of Cyan’s inhabitants, including constant monitoring of the streets through security cameras (fixed and through drones), constant storage and processing of information about the inhabitants (control of activities, data mining on the network…). Perhaps the biggest challenge for anyone who wants to commit illegal acts is not attracting the attention of security forces.
Although the CSF is pervasive and essentially omnipresent, the Stance of 5 suggests that they tend not to actively look for illegal activity, instead preferring simply to respond when something comes to (or is brought to) their attention. Thus, the best way to not be caught at illegal activities is simply to avoid being noticed doing them. (Easy to say; not the easiest thing to do, given the high presence.)