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Post by Terry Mixon on Mar 25, 2021 9:06:46 GMT -5
Oh. My. Goodness! You folks have been playing together for nearly two decades! [There is no smiley for this!]No nearly about it! I've been playing with Joe and Terry for 20+ years. Matt and Eric for almost as long! Akus Moby (Traveller) started in the late 90's and although it is on hiatus (since 2019) it isn't dead yet. Akus always ran by email, never on a forum. Silverband (D&D-ish fantasy) started in 2000, I think, and although it's in it's 3rd or 4th iteration it's still going strong. It's shifted from email to the Unseen Servant forum! In both those games we had players I'd played with all the way back to the FidoNet days in the middle/mid 90's. I miss playing with Jera, Paul, Suz, Keven, Greg, John and many others from over the years.  I particularly remember Suz and Greg's characters spending a full month of posts playing a round of golf somewhere in Reaver's Deep. Dang it! Now I've got the hankering to get Akus Moby back up and running! And Bruce is playing in both my games on Unseen Servant, so maybe I could lure him over to this one, too. ------- Let's see, Akus Moby is set in a totally homebrewed Sector where the Imperium, AI/Virus/Robotic wars, and the Ancients are all the stuff of legend and myth from thousands of years ago. The sector is only a couple of hundred years away from being planted bound, jump drives came from archeology, so finding and exploring ruins is still a big deal here. The starting area (parts of 4 subsectors) is home to several competing multi-system and single system governments that compete with each other. The PC's started off as strangers invited to a lawyer's office on Argent where they discovered that they were all distant cousins of Akus Moby and that he left them a Starship in the Mark system. They have to travel to Mark to get it and keep and work it for at least a full year, before they can sell it. So off they go and have adventures along the way: finding an "ancients" site, having someone make an assassination attempt on Joxe followed by a small nuclear explosion that killed the assassins, "fishing" for some alien "fish" in the rings of a gas giant...things like that.  Finally, they arrive on Mark and discover their new ship is in bad shape. For one thing, someone ripped out the computer and all the programs for it and all the weapons that were in the turrets are missing. Eventually, they are able to buy a replacement computer and after much tinkering get the ship working. While working on the ship they discover a strange Jump Drive hidden inside what looks like a normal J-Drive. It is unlike any jump drive they have encountered before and clearly was built by an advanced technology. They also find that Akus left multiple Transponders, passports, weapons, videos of some sort of surveillance, and some very illegal drugs in a secure storage locker at the Starport. They are told by their local lawyer that Akus had been working as a part-time, unofficial, agent for Mark Security (The Black Marble). They learn that someone from Montrose wants to buy their ship, but the will won't let them sell, even if they want to. A shake down cruise leads to an adventure with non-canon Aslan on a nearby system. Pretty tame, but they sign an agreement to come back at least once a year in exchange for really good trade deals. They also sell that very illegal drug to the Aslan as it isn't illegal there and is actually an important therapeutic for aging Aslan males. The party is flush with cash now, although, almost all of it disappears into ship repairs and the addition of a couple of laser cannons and sand casters. Upon returning to Mark they are approached by a group wanting to charter the ship to take some machinery to a pretty distant system. It is good money, the Black Marble makes contact and encourages them to accept, and so they do. Then just before they leave a group of commandos make an attack in the middle of Mark's biggest city...and Brent and Joxe just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time eating lunch at a cafe. They survive, but the Black Marble strongly encourages the party to Up-Ship and get off Mark ASAP! This is where we left off: The ship is in Jump Space on the way to from Mark (home base) to Kurzu two parsecs away. They hope! They haven't tried that strange drive at a J2 and they haven't tried using the J2 program they wrote for it before this jump. The PC's Joxe and Brent have just gotten married, but no honeymoon due to the latest ?terrorist? attack against the group. You've figured out that the attacks are aimed at Joxe and the pendant her first husband gave her that she always wears. Investigation shows that the pendant holds some sort of secret message that everyone is trying to decipher...something to do with a J3 drive (which no one in known space has), you think. The Zeristu Empire, the Confederacy, the Montrose Hegemony and the Mark/Sequi government...and all the other small states would kill to get their hands on a J3 drive and a J3 program to make it work. State of the art in this sector is J2 and only a few ships have that, most have to do with J1. Randall, Hendrick and Magda have cobbled up a J2 program for the strange alien drive you have found on your ship. You don't know how or where Akus got it, but it appears to be capable of doing J2...maybe J3 even. He had it hidden inside the shell of a standard J1 drive console. The drive works fine with the standard J1 program, but you don't have access to a J2 program so you're writing your own. There seems to be problems with it and the Pc's are pulling their hair out trying to figure out why their program doesn't seem to work right...there might have been a misjump when they just used it and that's where Paris was badly injured when a Grav Module failed and cargo containers fell on her head down in the hold. You are on a mission to get to <can't remember system name, but I have notes> with machine tools and plans to upgrade a B Starport to A. Mark's Government is all for this and you are sort of un-official agents for them. The Montrose Hegemony is out to stop that from happening, as they have a monopoly on Jump capable ships in that area of their subsector and they don't like competitors. You think you have gotten away with the cargo without them knowing where you were going, but you aren't sure as a Montrose flagged ship lifted not long before you did, and saw that you jumped, but of course not where. You're going to have to travel far out of your way to get where you need to go to avoid Montrose controlled systems which is why you're heading for Kurzu a jump 2 away. You really need that J2 program to work for later jumps, too, as you're going by a route requiring a couple of J2's to bridge gaps in systems! Second day into a jump that might be a misjump... Doctor Tamaki/Bob is working on Paris’/ John injuries in Sickbay. Magda/Derek is eating breakfast and looking at the jump data on her computer unaware anything is wrong yet. She has bad jump sickness and takes pills to knock her out, so she slept through the bad jump and is unaware of Paris' injury. Hendrick/Bruce is on bridge watch, but is thinking about the encrypted data from Joxe's pendant. Brent/Matt is checking the cargo tiedowns and grav modules in the cargo hold after Paris' injury. Joxe/Joe and Adrian/Eric are tearing down the damaged grav module in Engineering. Lilly/Terry is investigating the video footage from the ?terrorist? attack the other day. Magda got it by hacking Mark's traffic and security cameras. They probably know, but you weren't challenged about it. Sir Randall/Greg never answered this post, but he should be thinking about that encrypted data, too. Tres/NPC is in Engineering monitoring systems...being an unobtrusive NPC, sigh! I think Terry, Joe, Eric and Bruce would be game to crank it up. I'd love for Matt to come back and play here and in Akus as Joxe has lost one husband already, hasn't she? I don't know if Derek or Bob would still be up to play, but I bet they would. We'd need someone to take over playing Paris and Sir Randle because John and Greg appear to have left gaming. Both those characters are important to the game. Tres was an NPC at the end, but as the ship's main Engineer, he really should be a PC not an NPC. Well, anyway, we'd need replacements for a few characters, but it could be done. It is so tempting! You can dooooo iiittttttttt! And a little retconning some of the characters for new players could work, too. Don't let missing players ruin the day! Do it the soap opera way! "The part of #%$#@$$%@#$ will now be played by $%#$%#$% and he's an Aslan engineer. Suck it.  |
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Post by joertexas on Mar 25, 2021 10:37:44 GMT -5
I'm up for a restart in Akus Moby. Losing Matt/Brent would be a big change, but it's not the end of the universe if it happens. If Matt can't play, I'd recommend just letting me start with another character, and transpose Joxe's current plot with the ex- and the necklace to her.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Mar 25, 2021 22:19:23 GMT -5
Oh. My. Goodness! You folks have been playing together for nearly two decades! [There is no smiley for this!]No nearly about it! I've been playing with Joe and Terry for 20+ years. Matt and Eric for almost as long! ...snip... Well, anyway, we'd need replacements for a few characters, but it could be done. It is so tempting! Anytime you need a forum or subforum, just let the Admin know and what names need to be used. |
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Tophocles
Prospector
Last Guy in the Airlock
Posts: 85
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Post by Tophocles on Mar 28, 2021 0:35:06 GMT -5
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Aarav
Traveler
Posts: 173
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Post by Aarav on Mar 28, 2021 9:54:35 GMT -5
I did.
I've actually been to the cemetery, back in 2004, though we failed to locate his grave that day. Subsequent visits by other Piper fans led, eventually, to the gravestone.
This past week included Beam's 117th birthday.
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Aarav
Traveler
Posts: 173
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Post by Aarav on Apr 1, 2021 20:34:24 GMT -5
"Yeah!" Blackjack comms back to Tok and to the Bridge, "Got the power plant coming up to max and the M-Drive is fully engaged. We got no jump mass loaded, though, so we ain't going to jump anywhere. Is there any sort of local system defense here? We didn't see anything on the way in, but you know they must have something!" Say, is Blackjack an NPC? I was thinking this was a PC. . . . |
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Aarav
Traveler
Posts: 173
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Post by Aarav on Apr 1, 2021 20:38:47 GMT -5
Doc Vargas answers, "Yes, Gill is here. He was wounded and was brought in by one of the Delgado folk. It looks like he and Madam Cho are going to survive, but I'm sorry to say I couldn't bring Captain Firestorm back."And Vargas is an NPC too?
And Gill?
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Post by erisred on Apr 2, 2021 16:29:47 GMT -5
"Yeah!" Blackjack comms back to Tok and to the Bridge, "Got the power plant coming up to max and the M-Drive is fully engaged. We got no jump mass loaded, though, so we ain't going to jump anywhere. Is there any sort of local system defense here? We didn't see anything on the way in, but you know they must have something!" Say, is Blackjack an NPC? I was thinking this was a PC. . . . Yes, Blackjack is an NPC, and he and Madame Cho are leaving the ship as soon as she recovers and they can get back to the Starport and disembark. Blackjack is the owner of the ship, at the moment, but he's giving the ship to the crew when he leaves. |
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Post by erisred on Apr 2, 2021 16:37:57 GMT -5
OOC: For the new folks, Blackjack, Dr Vargas, Raven and Gil are NPC's. All of them, except Blackjack were PC's who's players disappeared on us. I hold out hope for Carlos and Chuck (Vargas and Gilroy) to return, but I doubt they will.
All the Delgado Trading people are NPC's, including Madame Cho. Once upon a time Sir Baltus was a PC, but his player dropped out a loooong time ago.
Blackjack and Madam Cho have decided to retire and run off together. Blackjack is giving the ship to the crew, with Raven getting a bigger share as Captain. Raven is now dead, so she's not in line anymore. It will be equal shares for all crew once Madam Cho recovers and she and Blackjack leave.
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Post by raikenclw on Apr 5, 2021 0:01:22 GMT -5
OOC: . . . It will be equal shares for all crew once Madam Cho recovers and she and Blackjack leave. Really? Even poor [in credits anyway] Peng? |
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Post by erisred on Apr 5, 2021 16:10:54 GMT -5
OOC: . . . It will be equal shares for all crew once Madam Cho recovers and she and Blackjack leave. Really? Even poor [in credits anyway] Peng? Sure! |
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Post by erisred on Apr 8, 2021 15:13:44 GMT -5
Well, Matt made an appearance here last Wednesday to say he was back from illness and then promptly went silent again. <sigh>
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Post by joertexas on Apr 8, 2021 23:42:41 GMT -5
Well, Matt made an appearance here last Wednesday to say he was back from illness and then promptly went silent again. <sigh> If it's okay, I'll just keep subbing in for Tokheletoi. |
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Post by raikenclw on Apr 11, 2021 22:53:56 GMT -5
Regarding the current scene:
Given the accelerations and distances in question, can the pirates keep that moon between us until they reach the 100D limit? If not that, then how about the [rather risky] 10D limit?
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Post by raikenclw on Apr 11, 2021 22:56:44 GMT -5
NOTE: I assume that none of Peng's cannon (not even that fourth one, which hasn't been fired again since lift off) were able to cycle yet. Because if they had, he would have taken a shot even through sand, rather than let the pirates reach the safety of the far side of that moon unmolested.
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Post by erisred on Apr 13, 2021 15:27:31 GMT -5
Regarding the current scene: Given the accelerations and distances in question, can the pirates keep that moon between us until they reach the 100D limit? If not that, then how about the [rather risky] 10D limit? Nope and nope! But these guys are nuts! |
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Post by erisred on Apr 13, 2021 15:32:42 GMT -5
NOTE: I assume that none of Peng's cannon (not even that fourth one, which hasn't been fired again since lift off) were able to cycle yet. Because if they had, he would have taken a shot even through sand, rather than let the pirates reach the safety of the far side of that moon unmolested. Nope and nope...again. You know, the bad guys just have to get away so they can come back after you when you least expect it. Oh, and to let their entire network of Pirates, Reavers, and Slavers know to be on the look out for "those bastards aboard The Clear Sails!" OOC: No, it wasn't fore-ordained, but it would have taken even better throws than you got to have taken them out. |
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Post by Terry Mixon on Apr 13, 2021 16:52:11 GMT -5
Regarding the current scene: Given the accelerations and distances in question, can the pirates keep that moon between us until they reach the 100D limit? If not that, then how about the [rather risky] 10D limit? Nope and nope! But these guys are nuts! And they’ll be back to haunt us later, I’m sure. |
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Post by raikenclw on Apr 15, 2021 20:47:45 GMT -5
NOTE: If the crew finds itself discussing ways and means of acquiring further information on the pirates, Peng votes to come back in a few weeks - perhaps as passengers on another vessel - then waylay Complaining Potentate for a private chat. Nothin' too bad, just hook him up to a lie detector, then fling questions at him for several hours while taking careful notes of the readings.
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Post by raikenclw on Apr 17, 2021 12:48:24 GMT -5
Just a reminder:
Nobody has yet responded IC to Peng's suggestion regarding trying to scoop up the damage debris left behind by Taggart. It should be fairly easy to track, using active sensors - it's not like it can hide against the background of space. Even a visual scan could find it, given we have at least a rough vector; since it will occlude each distant star it passes, the ship's computer should be able to tag it without much effort.
Of course, whether or not we could find anything useful - in the way of determining where Taggart might have acquired those bits and so might go for their replacements - is a different question.
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Post by Terry Mixon on Apr 17, 2021 16:29:52 GMT -5
Just a reminder: Nobody has yet responded IC to Peng's suggestion regarding trying to scoop up the damage debris left behind by Taggart. It should be fairly easy to track, using active sensors - it's not like it can hide against the background of space. Even a visual scan could find it, given we have at least a rough vector; since it will occlude each distant star it passes, the ship's computer should be able to tag it without much effort. Of course, whether or not we could find anything useful - in the way of determining where Taggart might have acquired those bits and so might go for their replacements - is a different question. I missed that. Will correct. |
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Aarav
Traveler
Posts: 173
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Post by Aarav on Apr 18, 2021 11:31:53 GMT -5
Nobody has yet responded IC to Peng's suggestion regarding trying to scoop up the damage debris left behind by Taggart. It should be fairly easy to track, using active sensors - it's not like it can hide against the background of space. Even a visual scan could find it, given we have at least a rough vector; since it will occlude each distant star it passes, the ship's computer should be able to tag it without much effort. Of course, whether or not we could find anything useful - in the way of determining where Taggart might have acquired those bits and so might go for their replacements - is a different question. I missed that. Will correct. Uh . . . it does seem like the Ref may have responded, by "overlooking" this proposed course of action, and then having an NPC suggest that the next step for Clear Sails would be to find a remote refueling location on the surface. I don't suppose the next Ref intervention will be as . . . painless as that one. . . . |
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Post by Terry Mixon on Apr 18, 2021 14:23:27 GMT -5
I missed that. Will correct. Uh . . . it does seem like the Ref may have responded, by "overlooking" this proposed course of action, and then having an NPC suggest that the next step for Clear Sails would be to find a remote refueling location on the surface. I don't suppose the next Ref intervention will be as . . . painless as that one. . . . Eris is more than happy to let us wander into trouble. Obviously. |
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Aarav
Traveler
Posts: 173
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Post by Aarav on Apr 18, 2021 15:13:39 GMT -5
Eris is more than happy to let us wander into trouble. Obviously. |
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Post by raikenclw on Apr 18, 2021 22:25:42 GMT -5
it does seem like the Ref may have responded, by "overlooking" this proposed course of action . . . Eris may have truly missed it, focused as he was on ending the scene in his pre-planned way. Which is why I specified "IC;" if folk want to ignore Peng [Raven did so routinely after all], that's one thing. But ignoring a player's input is another - very different - thing. |
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Post by Terry Mixon on Apr 18, 2021 23:27:45 GMT -5
it does seem like the Ref may have responded, by "overlooking" this proposed course of action . . . Eris may have truly missed it, focused as he was on ending the scene in his pre-planned way. Which is why I specified "IC;" if folk want to ignore Peng [Raven did so routinely after all], that's one thing. But ignoring a player's input is another - very different - thing. Sorry! |
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Aarav
Traveler
Posts: 173
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Post by Aarav on Apr 19, 2021 8:42:27 GMT -5
it does seem like the Ref may have responded, by "overlooking" this proposed course of action . . . Eris may have truly missed it, focused as he was on ending the scene in his pre-planned way. I suppose that's possible; y'all have much more experience playing together than I can even begin to imagine but, FWIW, it does seem like there is a sense that Clear Sails, currently unable to refuel at the port without apparent harassment, can fly around here at ShiraLea without much worry of encountering more powerful elements intent on opposing or interdicting such behaviour. That seems . . . a bit optimistic for a lightly-armed merchant ship with just one-and-a-half gunners. . . . |
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Post by raikenclw on Apr 19, 2021 18:48:01 GMT -5
a lightly-armed merchant ship with just one-and-a-half gunners. . . . That depends on how you define "lightly-armed." While the power of a ship's laser cannon used outside space combat is somewhat ill-defined under Classic Traveller, as I remember it is roughly comparable to the armament of a Main Battle Tank. The Clear Sails mounts four (4) such weapons. Also, only the ship's crew is aware that currently only one qualified gunner is available to operate them. Shirelea does not appear to have a COAC [Close Orbit and Aerospace Command] or even so much as an armed merchant for planetary defense. I suspect they depend upon deals with various independent pirates for such things. Our ability to send one of these scurrying into jump demonstrates how well this works in practice. |
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Aarav
Traveler
Posts: 173
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Post by Aarav on Apr 19, 2021 19:04:01 GMT -5
That depends on how you define "lightly-armed." [snip] I suspect they depend upon deals with various independent pirates for such things. Our ability to send one of these scurrying into jump demonstrates how well this works in practice. I was thinking "lightly-armed" in comparison to, oh, I don't know, say, a " pirate ship." 
I think you're probably right about whomever that "angry voice" belonged to being left with few options other than a "hired gun."
But we don't know how much the folks aboard Taggart were being paid to attempt to kidnap your crewmates nor how much "angry voice" would be willing to offer some other mercenaries--or the gang aboard Taggart--to attack Clear Sails.
Maybe "angry voice" is just a crazy, local religious fanatic. Or maybe he's the local version of Nicholas Van Rijn unhappy about Delgado trying to move in on their trade concessions. . . .
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Post by raikenclw on Apr 19, 2021 20:33:00 GMT -5
I was thinking "lightly-armed" in comparison to, oh, I don't know, say, a " pirate ship." If you look at the stats for that ship, the only thing it definitely has over the Clear Sails in terms of combat capability is it's acceleration [3Gs versus our measley 1G]. But unless we are attempting to run away from it, this advantage in accel has little bearing on [Classic Traveller Book 1] space combat. The only other relevant factors is that the Type P design incorporates no armor and possesses exactly the same number of hardpoints (4) as we do. Of course - as the linked article points out - each "Type P" is a different beast. Thus a particular pirate may mount a turret on each hardpoint, whereas we currently mount only two (although ours are of the largest type and fully armed). But armament of such degree assumes the pirate concerned has been lucky at "finding" weaponry. The fact that the Taggart failed to shoot back after it's initial [two-shot] attempt leads me to suspect that it is a not-so-well-off example of the breed. E.g. maybe it only has two cannon [one dual turret? two single turrets?] to begin with and either we took those out of action or they're even slower to cycle than our own guns [poor maintenance?]. In short, if the Taggart is typical of the level of "contract enforcement" that Shirelea customarily deals with, I'm not very worried. I think you're probably right about whomever that "angry voice" belonged to being left with few options other than a "hired gun." But we don't know how much the folks aboard Taggart were being paid to attempt to kidnap your crewmates nor how much "angry voice" would be willing to offer some other mercenaries--or the gang aboard Taggart--to attack Clear Sails.
Maybe "angry voice" is just a crazy, local religious fanatic. Or maybe he's the local version of Nicholas Van Rijn unhappy about Delgado trying to move in on their trade concessions. . . .
True. But you must also allow for this setting's lack of FTL communications. To summon Other Mercenaries will likely require at least two weeks; courier jumps to Wherever with message/contract, then Other Mercenaries jump to Shirelea in response. This assumes that Other Mercenaries are awaiting a call to action at Wherever, rather than off Somewhere fulfilling another contract. So I think we're probably pretty safe in hanging about Shirelea for the time required to refuel as well as gather in such debris as we can track down. NOTE: This assumes (of course) that Other Mercenaries aren't already in-system. But the fact that such forces did not interfere in our little tet-a-tet with Taggart argues rather strongly against this being the case. IIRC, there isn't anywhere else in-system even as marginally interesting as Shirelea for sophonts to hang around. |
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I particularly remember Suz and Greg's characters spending a full month of posts playing a round of golf somewhere in Reaver's Deep.
