Novem-Build #5: The Problems and Practicalities of a Distant Space Station
Some world building (by a soulless corporation) in the black, empty void
After yesterday's roleplay and narrative-heavy episode, the next couple of episodes are going to swing back to world-building—partly because I won’t have a lot of time to play (if at all) for the next couple of days…
To remind people, this is part of a Novem-Build challenge where I’m working through the prompts in
’s “30 Days of Worldbuilding” book (buy a copy) within my attempts to learn and play the behemoth that is Across a Thousand Dead Worlds from Black Oath Entertainment. I’ll get around to making a Contents Page soon, but here is the most recent episode. The button below takes you to the start of the project.Today, we are thinking about “Natural Resources.” Angeline writes:
When an area is rich with natural resources, settlements will naturally build up there. But you need to consider how easy those resources are to access and extract.
If that’s true in a typical fantasy world with forests, quarries, lakes and trees, how much more complicated is it when the “world” is a space station orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter?
Remember that Karum Station is built around a hollow asteroid, which rejoices in the unforgettable name 126995-3083-RQ45. It consists of two concentric rings of man-made construction by Drake Industries. Getting the materials to construct this edifice from Earth to the far side of Mars was not only a technological marvel but also phenomenally expensive.
You can perhaps understand why Drake Industries take every opportunity to monetise life on Karum Station?
Inside the asteroid itself is a technological wonder that, one day, Drake hopes to be able to exploit. The structures and fittings are built from a previously unknown metallic element dubbed A-Metal (short for Àrsaidh Metal). This substance is believed to be the “force” behind phenomena such as self-repair and levitation observed in Àrsaidh tech.
The problem for Earth scientists is that every attempt to harness, manipulate or alter A-metal renders it inert, which makes the cubes of A-metal found in a few places around the site all the more valuable. These cubes are humanity’s best hope for a glorious future and, fortunately for Drake Industries, the most valuable resource in the Galaxy. The company's constant hope is that Deep Diver expeditions will find supplies of this most precious metal.
As it says in this chapter of “30 Days of Worldbuilding”
At a base level, natural resources can determine whether a population thrives or dies. While people move to be closer to natural resources are plentiful, they also move away when these resources are depleted or no longer valued.”
Let’s be clear. Drake Industries is not out in the asteroid belt for philanthropic reasons. They are, without doubt, a greedy, corporate entity that cares little for the well-being of their staff and contractors. Similarly, those who seek to become Deep Divers are not in the business of space exploration for its own ends. They hope for fame, glory and, most of all, wealth—remember that Earth is essentially a smoking ruin as a result of unchecked climate destruction. There is little reason to want to stay on Earth!
As such, there is a symbiotic relationship between Drake Industries and the Deep Divers. Each desperately needs the other for its continued existence.
The hope exists that Drake Industries might locate an unending—or at least plentiful—supply of A-Metal. Perhaps one day. Karum Station itself might be rebuilt with this incredible material. But that day has not arrived. In the meantime, the station outside the hangar itself is cobbled together with metals transported from Earth.
It’s minimalist, not through design aesthetic, but necessity.
So, whilst there is a strange, alien, hype-tech vibe around the inner core of Karum, its outer core is a jumble of scrappy corridors, cramped spaces and patched-together rooms. For the staff, simply keeping the station orbiting and sustaining its inhabitants is a “win” when there exists the constant dread that this distant “tin can in space” might break apart and plunge everyone into an airless, soundless black void…
If you watched the Amazon Prime TV series The Expanse, you get something of the vibe that’s going on here…
If something on Karum Station breaks, then the station staff have to fix it with whatever is to hand. If they don’t have the materials, then something else has to be jerry-rigged in its place. So far as we know, Amazon doesn’t deliver to Karum Station 😛
Novem-Build #4 Dante Corren Arrives at Karum Station
Novem-Build #3 Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink
Novem-Build #2 Mapping out a location
Novem-Build #1 Let’s build a space station left by a long-gone alien civilisation
Really enjoying this.
Fantastic!