Prospectors

Post Date : 22/05/2023

Prospectors

Explorers, enlightened seekers ... small in number, a single Prospector can shape the course of planetary civilization. Prospectors were the first humans to explore the space, first in Earth's solar system, and ultimately across the Cosmos. Every human world -- from the Centopoly's 100 to the vast expanse of the Outback was first (and continue to be) discovered, scouted and proven suitable for human life, by Prospectors.

Key Lore

  • Prospectors have played an important role in Cosmos civilization since the pre-AI Bloom era. In addition to helping to explore and colonize the planets of Earth's home system, they developed various mining and space infrastructure advances that provided the resources for the planet's restoration. It is from this work that these men and women first became known as Prospectors. Prospectors' faction icon is a nod to the clans' origins.
  • Many Prospectors are extremely long-lived, due to the time dialation caused by regular sub-luminal travel. As a result, many are aloof, speak in strange, uncommon dialects and generally the Centopoly as just another temporary, but slightly longer-lived, phase of human development.
  • Prospectors have contracted with corporations to create plantary 'time capsules' with servant popuilations dedicated to providing Prospectors with social, technological and societal 'amenetities' that are largely unchanged with the progress of time. Non-Prospectors call these planets 'Museum Worlds' 
  • Although the Centopoly posseses Bridge Technology, it cannot be deployed unless Bridge relay stations are installed in-system. The Centopoly relies on Prospectors to scout and locate suitable locations for these relay stations across Centopoly, Candidate World and Outback space. 
  • Prospectors play another important role in the Centopoly. Due to their extremely advanced planetary scanning (they can conduct deep scans of planets from lightyears away) and analysis capabilities, they can detect planets suitable for harvesting by Horizon Stations, which provide the fuel needed for Bridge Tech to operate. The Centopoly pays Prospectors' heafty 'finder's fees' -- above and beyond the usual Colonial Bonus, for locating and exploring these worlds. It does not matter whether these planets are populated by humans or not, as the byproduct of human activity on a planet can sometimes make it more rather than less suitable for harvesting

Cultural Notes

  • Over the centuries, Prospectors encountered and conquered many space-caused conditions, that continue to afflict non-clan members. One of the most dangerous and destructive is Space Dementia, which affects both machine and human intelligences. Lengthy journeys (outside of known Cosmos space) cause AIs and humans to progressively lose cognitive abilities. Prospectors have developed anti-Dementia genetic and technological modifications that enable Clan members to resist this condition. Non-Prospectors attempting to use or replicate these advancements generally do not survive. Well-traveled space lanes within the Cosmos all have spacial Dementia inhibitors that must be regularly monitored, upgraded and maintained in order to keep lanes open. Prospectors play this role outside of Outback Space. Automated Centopoly maintenance ships provide this service within the Centopoly's sphere of influence.
  • Prospectors were the faction least affected by the Great Sundering. Although interest in interstellar exploration waned during this period, Prospectors continued to explore, locating hundreds of worlds across the Cosmos, that were eventually settled during the Centopoly era.
  • Space travel is inherently dangerous. Many Prospector homes, buildings and technologies contain poems written to the 'Lost', individuals who have disappeared during space exploration missions. In recent centuries, as Prospectors have gone further out into the Cosmos, the number of these disappearances has increased for unknown reasons.

Origin

  • The first Prospectors were known as astronauts. 
  • Prospectors led many of the colony ships tht left Earth early during the Great Diaspora Era. 
  • It is rumoured that Prospectors have habitations that are compltely exposed to the vaccum of space. These colonies are home to Prospectors with highly advanced modifications and genetic engineering that allow them to exist long-term in the space. 
  • Prospectors have first naming rights of all planets, planetoids and space-borne phenomona they encounter in the Cosmos, They are also entitled to a share of any resources mined from the planet, called a Colonial Bonus for the first 100 years of post-colony establishment. Colonies that attempt to hold back the Bonus often die out to disease, attacks by native- non-native species or other calamaties. 

  • Non-faction members can become Prospectors, but they must apprentice for at least 200 years (real-time) and commit to never seeing their family or loved ones again