Welcome to Epsilon Sagittarius 3

History

The planet was settled in 2166, by a group of emigrants from Earth. Texas, USA to be exact. Their leader was a man named Cray McGuffin.

The colony was financed mainly by private enterprise, but the atmosphere processor was financed by Weyland-Yutani.

The atmosphere did not need much processing. Mainly, it lacked oxygen.

Overview, climate

McGuffin's world is a red planet. The surface of the planet is rich with ferrous oxide deposits (ie, rust). The climate is warm temperate, quite dry and windy.

The occasional dust storms are more than likely to kill anyone caught outside without adequate protection. The winds reach hurrican strength, and carry lots of debris.

To make matters worse, the high iron content of the debris creates severe magnetic interference, making communication all but impossible.

There were no native lifeforms on ES-3 when the colony freighter arrived. Now, the dominant lifeform is a gengineered grass which trives in the highly ferrous soil of ES-3. Economics, population

The current population on ES-3 is aproxx. 3,000 people, and 30,000 heads of cattle.

McGuffins world export large amounts of beef and iron. The iron can be mined on the surface, occasionally using explosives, as ferrous oxide. This is then brought back to the colony and processed.

The colony

The heart of the colony is the processing hall and the old atmosphere plant.

The colony no longer uses the atmosphere processor, but the fusion reactor in it still runs, as it supplies power to the entire colony.

The processing of ferrous oxide into iron takes a lot of energy when done by the ton, and it releases large amounts of oxygen, which must be vented to avoid fire hazards, and ozone, which is toxic.

Next to the processing hall is the meat plant, where cattle is butchered, mostly by robot-assisted human labor.

The main building of the colony includes hydroponic gardens, medical facilities, communications facilities, meeting hall.

Most of the colonists live in ES3GTP-2 housing units, locally produced houses.

Water, power and transportation is handled through a system of tunnels connecting all houses to the main building, with plenty of junctions and shortcuts.

Water is drawn from an underground river, and filtered before being sent out in the pipes.

Not far from the colony is a complex of huge concrete buildnings. This is where the cattle is kept when a viscious storm is approaching. The close quarters induce stress in the animals, and the colony's limited supply of fodder is strained, so it is only done when necessary.

Play notes

Think desert. Think Mars. The place is red, red, red. Dry, hot, windy. The wind blows grit in your eyes. The dust is everywhere. You can taste it. Everything tastes like blood. Even the air.

When the storm starts, you're isolated. You can barely go outside. You can't get in touch with the ship. The dropship can't fly. You can't even reach each other on the radios.

Even if you're inside, you can hear the storm. The steel structures ring with the impact of fist-sized iron rocks. In the tunnels, it's claustrophobic to say the least. And the natives are sullen, inbred types.

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