Let's Build a Space Station Left by a Mysterious, Long-Departed Alien Civilisation

"Novem-Build #1" The melding of Black Oath's "Across a Thousand Dead Worlds" with Angeline Trevana's "30 Days of World Building"

Nov 01, 2025

Welcome to something different—a month-long project I’ve titled, “Novem-Build.”

It’s a space jam between two ideas I’ve floated on my Substack in recent days—Black Oath’s vast and expansive space horror game, Across a Thousand Dead Worlds, the winner in my recent 500-subscriber poll, combined with “30 Days of World Building” by fellow Substacker

Angeline Trevena

What I’m going to attempt during November is to work through the prompts, ideas, tables and inspiration from the book to “build a world” and write about it here, one day at a time. Since this is a lot of work, I’ve decided to jam it together with my upcoming review and playthrough of Alex T’s 2022 space opera.

Now, the Across a Thousand Dead Worlds (mind if we abbreviate to AaTDW from now on?) book gives a few pages of lore and history, but also leaves much unsaid. There are plenty of gaps to “fill in” and seeds of ideas to develop and think about.

It feels like a worthwhile confluence of resources that should—I hope—be interesting for my ever-growing cohort of readers!

Exploring a futuristic setting

Fast forward one hundred years to the beginning of the 22nd Century; I wonder what kind of world you imagine will exist then?

Will we have ruined the planet by failing to tackle climate change? And would impending climate catastrophe bring us to our collective senses—or further widen the gap between the rich and the poor?

Suppose you take a pessimistic view (and I’m afraid I do). In that case, it’s not inconceivable that we will have collapsed into a society ruled over by inconceivably wealthy oligarchs fighting over ever-shrinking resources, with large areas of the planet being uninhabitable. Everyone else is living on the scraps in coastal regions.

Having exhausted our resources on earth, vast and greedy corporations have reached into space—not to provide a better future for humanity, but to expand their wealth and power through exploitation of resources on other worlds.

This is the state of play in the last years of the 21st Century—with Earth existing as a “dumpster fire” of dwindling resources and toxic fumes, whilst global trillionaires fight over the resources of the Solar System.

An unlikely scenario? I don’t think so.

A Discovery which changed everything

In 2070, a small space exploration company called Drake Industries stumbles upon something incredible—an entire, abandoned space station built inside an innocuous-looking asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Founded by entrepreneur Jonathan Fraser in 2063, Drake Industries was far from a big player when this discovery was made. But finding the less-than-evocatively named Asteroid 2083 RQ45 changed everything as the shrewd Fraser diverted all his resources into the exploration and eventual monetisation of the asteroid.

They quickly discover that the station—now named Karum Station—was built thousands of years ago by an alien civilisation. In honour of Fraser’s Scottish heritage, they call the race The Àrsaidh (the Scottish Gaelic word for “ancient”), but nobody knows anything about this race—their language, their technology, even their name.

From examination of their technology, it is surmised that the Àrsaidh may have been humanoid in appearance and over seven feet tall. But all attempts to decipher their language have failed, so it’s all guesswork. Their buildings and ships have no decoration, only simple shapes built for function. This has led researchers to describe their culture as highly utilitarian.

An opportunity for the brave (or foolhardy)

One discovery created an opportunity for adventurers. Within the station are numerous alien crafts, each programmed to travel to far-distant stations or planets where valuable resources or technology can be scavenged.

Keen to monetise this discovery, Drake Industries employs “Deep Divers” Each Diver joins as a “limited partner,” which means they share in any discoveries but take all the risks. Most are poor or desperate. Signing the Memorandum of Agreement gives them access to housing, food, and training, but it also removes their right to legal protection.

If they die or vanish, the company owes nothing.

What is presented in company literature as heroic adventure and a likely financially secure future is actually akin to 22nd-century corporate slavery, where only a few survive to enjoy the fruits of their labour. To outsiders, Deep Divers are symbols of courage. To insiders, they are expendable workers. The job offers a path out of poverty, but most pay for it with their lives. The role combines greed, bravery, and exploitation in equal measure.

On Karum Station, Divers live among scientists, soldiers, and tourists. The place is crowded and chaotic. When off duty, most Divers drink, laugh, and spend money fast. Everyone knows that each mission could be their last.

Security at the station is tight. A private army of Drake Industries guards the site. Divers are not allowed to carry weapons inside. Each guard is trained in combat and wears advanced armour. The rules are strict: anyone who fails to pay their daily air tax or breaks station law can be expelled at once.

Make no mistake, the dice thrown by Deep Divers in pursuit of wealth and fame are loaded in favour of Drake Industries, who have zero qualms about simply replacing expired Deep Divers with another in the endless line of volunteers.

This is the scenario into which players of Across a Thousand Dead Worlds emerge. We create one or more Deep Divers (the game can be played true solo (if you are masochistic) or with a small party (to increase survival chances), travel to distant places where even the travel is deadly, attempt to scavenge for treasures whilst battling horrific and ultra-deadly enemies, before travelling all the way back to Karum only to have to hand over your treasures to Drake Industries!

Tomorrow we shall begin creating our brave band of adventurers and get to grips with the character creation process of Across a Thousand Dead Worlds—but to round out this first post in the series, here are the “prompts” and my bullet-pointed answers to those prompts as we begin to create Karam Station.

GENRE

Gritty sci-fi horror set in a possible vision of the future

Conventions for the genre

Set approximately 100 years in the future
Earth faces an ecological catastrophe caused by climate exploitation
Global and trans-Solar System corporate oligarchies dominate
People are expendable assets in a privatised space economy.

LOCATIONS REQUIRED FOR THE STORY

1. Karum Space Station

Created inside a hollowed-out asteroid by a long-departed alien race.
The station sits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Functional, angular design aesthetic with no decoration or beautification
Divers, workers, and tourists fill the corridors. There is constant noise—laughter, music, arguments, and stories. People drink at a bar called the Red Asteroid.
Every aspect of life on the station—housing, safety, travel—is tied to Drake Industries’ control.

2. Drake Industries

Founded by Jonathan Fraser in 2063. It began as a small asteroid-mining company that initially struggled against larger competitors.
Discovered the Karum Station in 2073, which opened to the public in 2093

Drake Industries maintains its own private army on Karum Station, equipped with top-tier weapons and armour.
The company also enforces an air tax and other service fees. Those who fail to pay are expelled.
The company's ethos blends pride and manipulation. It praises courage, wealth, and exploration, yet its only true goal is profit at any cost.

3. Àrsaidh Ships

Left behind when the Àrsaidh departed roughly 700,000 years ago
Programmed to travel automatically to set destinations “piloted” by Deep Divers
Divers use alien ships and tools that can connect directly to their minds. This link causes visions and voices, often leading to madness.
The routes are a mystery. Each Diver launches into an ancient network with no map. Some come back rich; most vanish into space with no trace.
The slim chance of returning on one of the ships and becoming rich and famous is what motivates deep divers to enter them.

4. The Red Asteroid

The Red Asteroid is a bar on Karum Station, often described as the heart of its social life.
It’s where Deep Divers gather to drink, trade stories, and remember those lost on missions. It’s a place of noise, camaraderie and solidarity.
The bar is known for its funeral rite after the (regular) death of Deep Diver. Those who mourn will blindfold themselves for the next cycle (24 hours)
The bar represents the station’s rough, fatalistic spirit—a place of laughter, grief, and survival amid constant danger.

That’s the “flavour” of the place that forms the “home port” of the game Across a Thousand Dead Worlds. We’re going to spend the next month building on this tantalising glimpse, whilst creating—and playing—Deep Divers.

Join me tomorrow for some character creation shenanigans as well as an imagined map of Karum Station.