System Data
System Primary: Timeon, spectral type: G5
Lossend
Gravity: 0.7
Moons: none
Satellite: armed spaced station- Diamond Station
Primary colonizers: humans
Population Density: Light
Economy: Agriculture & Industry
Government, Police and Military
Service Patches for the Lossend RangersService patch for the Ranger Service Service Patch for the Space Rangers The service patches feature a stylized image of Lossend with Mt. Spire rising above the planet. The Space Ranger patch has an image of one of the squadron's fighters overlaying the planet. |
The Lossend government is a democracy. At the grassroots level communities and counties elect mayors. Prior to the First Sathar War the elected mayors of Lossend formed a Mayor’s council and elected a president from among their number. The Mayor’s Council only met for a few months a year but was sufficient for the colony’s needs as a planetary government.
At the time of the First Sathar War and the organization of the United Planetary Federation, a proper planet-wide government was organized with a president, legislature, and judiciary. The new government organized a planet-wide police force that is responsible for law enforcement, forestry, and wild game management called the Lossend Ranger Service (Rangers or Lossend Rangers for short). The LRS administrates the continental game preserve which was set aside for native wildlife.
The Rangers eventually took responsibility for interplanetary cargo inspections to prevent ecological disasters from imported flora or fauna that might damage Lossend’s agricultural industry. At the close of the Second Sathar War, Tachton donated surplus armed shuttles and fighters to the Lossend government and the Lossend Space Rangers were organized as a formal militia although they lack truly interstellar capable hulls.
A Short History
Settled by colonist from both Clarion and Minotaur before first contact with the vrusk and dralasites, Lossend remained an agricultural outpost till the organization of the UPF. The farmers first established on Lossend followed a philosophy of sustainability and soft impact on the environment. Changes occurred at the time of the First Sathar War due to tens of thousands of displaced refugees, inflationary food prices, and insufficient food production capacity. Larger farms with more automation began to appear which resulted in shifts in the population to fewer farm owners and more laborers.
After the war with greater emphasis on automation, the robotics industry prospered on Lossend. Margret Bouvia, a Land Fleet captain freshly discharged from service, returned to find her family's farm sold. Using her back pay she founded Tachton Instruments to meet the rising demand for automation in the agricultural sector. Her company has risen to become one of the megacorps dominating the Frontier.
Farming on Lossend
The first colonists received grants, materials, and support from FARM (Frontier Agricultural Resource Mission). The arrangement meant that the colonists paid back their "homestead stake" with cheaply priced food. Originally it was a win/win situation as the FARM board received food to funnel into population growth programs on Clarion and Minotaur and the colonist paid off their loan at a fraction of the total cost. The governing board of FARM imposed requirements concerning farming practices, farm size, sustainability, and environmental impact that the colonist had to follow.
The families that colonized Lossend through the FARM program were the first wave and socially this carried clout in the farming communities. Later immigrants often populated the laborer class. At the time of the organization of the UPF (during SW1) a small percentage of the Lossend farm owners had paid off their loan to FARM and were able to increase their operation's size and implement large scale farming practices that were a little harder on the environment (but not noticeably so). The slightly elitist FARM board tried to halt this but had no power to do so, especially in the face of the emergency situation and the critical shortage of food. It did bar the farmers with outstanding loans from doing this and the end result was that the farms that were able to expand got rich while those that could not were marginalized as they were forced to provide food to the FARM board at pre-war prices despite the inflationary economy. By the end of the war, the fortunes of many first wave colonists had reversed and their particular social status only remained in the minds and hearts of those families.
By and large, farmers on Lossend are seen as resourceful, hard workers with just a bit of haughtiness in their character whether they're 1st or 2nd wave immigrants. By the time of SW2 no one much paid attention to whether a Lossend native was a 1st or 2nd wave immigrant. However, there is a sort of fraternal organization called the Grange of the Founding Fathers (GFF) that requires that its members be descendants of the 1st Wave and that the family has continuously farmed with the original homestead. Naturally this organization is smaller every decade with such strict rules and there has been noise about changing them to allow membership to families that no longer have their original homestead. Typically the GFF is concerned with social status and the glorious past. It provides exclusive club houses to its members and arranges for collective bargaining for its members on exported food prices.
More and more, farming is becoming big business on Lossend and there is tension between smaller farm outfits and larger or corporate run farms. In response, some of the most successful small farms, unable to compete with large farms mass producing cheap food staples, have converted their operations to wineries and breweries. In this way Sherridan Valley has become Lossend's Nappa Valley, producing highly prized wines consumed throughout the Frontier. Lossend's independent micro-breweries produce highly prized beer and liquors as well.
Margret Bouvia and Tachton
Margret Bouviais a tough as nails CEO and former Land Fleet captain. With no prior background in robotics, it is truly surprising that her company now dominates the Frontier’s robotics industry. Before Tachton reached mega-corp status she aggressively threw herself into learning the business, leveraging her knowledge of farming, and her status as a native and descendant of a first wave colonizer to gain market share on Lossend. Pan Galactic Corporation, as the first mega-corp, already controlled market share in the robotics industry but its attitude was, "This is our product, take it or leave it." In less than 7 years Tachton had come to dominate the market on Lossend and was beginning to branch into military applications as well as file some of the most significant patents in robotics
Margret, an experienced leader, had always attracted good personnel. She recruited a large number of Land Fleet veterans to work for her, mostly NCOs and a few junior officers. With the combined military experience and connections her company quickly broke open the robotics market on the military sector which put her on a collision course with PGC
PGC had been getting its way since the First Sathar War and attempted to simply land mercenaries on Lossend and shut down Tachton but the combination of solid security personnel backed by a horde of armed robots caused the mercenary leader to wisely back down. Next PGC attempted to block Tachton's ability to ship product off planet but this move failed due to the perception that PGC had become a bully. A period of corporate espionage and sabotage went on but the conflict never broke out into a true shooting war. Tachton had succeeded by catering to the customer in every sector of the robotics market while PGC had failed through largely attempting to squeeze out the competition
Eventually PGC made peace with Tachton and began to purchase their excellent security and war robots for use in the conflict on Laco. Tachton used the influx of capitol to expand the corporation to true mega-corp status.
Since that time the company has expanded its operations, building infrastructure and facilities that also aid the local economy. Mindful of their near corporate war with PCG, the corporation has begun construction on Tachton Station (an armed space station in orbit).
Common Agricultural Exports(see Star Frontiersman issue 17) The native inikfruit is high in starches and nutrients. 200 million tons are shipped to Clarion anually, 180 million tons are shipped to Minotaur, and 50 million tons shipped to other destinations. The dried gourds are painted and decorated and sold as trinkets to tourists and used as a popular musical instrument locally but otherwise do not impact the economy significantly Chyctoss, originally imported from Morgaine's World, is an excellant meat substitute. 250 million tons are shipped to Clarion and 98 million tons shipped to Minotaur. Bacaya Fruit, which is grown on many worlds in the Frontier, is not a significant export but is certainly important to the local economy. Baslic herb is transplanted from Clarrion. The baslic plant is grown for both the local economy and for export but is not a significant export item. Chale is transplanted from Gran Quivera. It is a delectable leafy plant and 300 million tons are exported annually to Clarion and Minotaur. Karreega is another transplant from Gran Quivera. It is a popular food with vrusk but only a small amount is grown and shipped to Kwadl-kit. Lurine, a transplant from Minotaur, is a major export in the form of liquor. It is shipped throughout the Frontier but Lurine liquors from Lossend sell poorly on Minotaur. It’s used in whisky and brandy but the Lossend Liqueur Company has become quite successful marketing a flavored line of Lurine Liqueurs for desserts and coffee and tea mixers. Popular flavors are Inik Liqueur (Red), Grawbello Liqueur (deep orange), and Maccatta Liqueur (Bright green in color). Note: Dralasites despise Maccatta Liqueur and any food prepared with it. |
The Economy
Robotics are exported to Gran Quivera and sold under license by PGC. Tachton is also a major exporter of modular automated factories. Robotic farming and food processing equipment as well as parts are sold locally as well as being exported to New Pale, Rupert’s Hole, Yast, Inner Reach, Groth, Ken'zah-kit, Kdikit, Morgaine's World, Hakosoar, Circe, and Kraatar
Finished goods are imported from Gran Quivera. Petroleum for plastics is imported from Clarion and heavy duty industrial materials from Minotaur.
Mining is a small but significant percentage of the Lossend economy. The mining corporations involved on Lossend are small and lack mega-corp status. The largest, LRM (This needs to be spelled out), is one of the few whose operation on the southern continent predated the formation of the continental preserve. They continue to work the north slope of Mount Spire exporting copper and diamonds.
There are a few independent resorts as well as a few owned by the Star Play mega-corp. Tourism has become important to the local economy especially for the animal breeders providing stock for the organized safari hunts.
Lossend exports food to Clarion and Minotaur (both are high population worlds lacking in agriculture) and these two planets have been its major trading partners since its founding.
Environment
Lossend is an ideal world for an agricultural colony. Its fertile prairie and plains were easily converted to farmland and the 70 hour day enhanced growing cycles. Large tracks of the planet are also pine forest, though the Lossend Pine bears little resemblance to the Terran pines.
The southern continent, Fallow, has been designated a continental preserve for native Lossend flora and fauna due to radical changes in the ecosystem from importation of a wide variety of plants and animals. Fallow is dominated with forest but its most striking feature is Mount Spire which has the distinction of being the tallest mountain on any planet in the Frontier. The north slope of Mount Spire has proven to be rich in diamonds and a number of small corporations and companies have mining operations that predate the organization of the preserve.
Inhabited sites on Fallow include a handful of licensed resorts, a small number of 2-4 man ranger stations, and a science station studying the Lossend ecosystem. Lossend Resorts Ltd owns the license for the resort at the foot of Mount Spire and caters to climbing expeditions and Losso-dragon safaris.
The wypong is an animal at the center of much controversy on Lossend. An intelligent primate like animal, it was originally miss identified as a sapient species but this status has since been disputed. Living in bands of 20-30 individuals they are consider pests by farmers. Some farmers have advocated eradication of the wypong in farming areas, especially after the creation of the continental preserve. The government, under pressure from animal rights lobbyists, has had to declare the creature protected. This means that one of the principle responsibilities of the Ranger Service is to manage the wypongs in agricultural districts.
Lossend Beastiary
Imported Game & Domesticated Animals
Pecken
The pecken is a 4-5 kg flightless bird, genetically engineered to effectively digest Lossend's insect life. (Looks and tastes like chicken.) It’s an excellent source of protein as well as the eggs it lays. The pecken is extremely cost effective for farmers as they will gorge and grow fat on insects with only minor amounts of feed to round out their diet. A local chain restaurant, Lossend Fried Pecken (LFP), has recently expanded its operation to extra system locations at Port Loren, Clarion Station, and Minotaur. More are planned for next year but the company is branching into corporate run Pecken farms to support the increased demand.
Genquine
The genquine is a genetically engineered Equine stock from Clarion that has adapted well to the Lossend environment. When the colonist arrived on Clarion it was discovered that their cloned horse stock easily became sick and experienced a high mortality rate. Geneticist developed this genetically engineer horse stock called genquine that proved resistant to the adverse Clarion environment. The first farmers on Lossend brought the genquine with them for muscle power. Latter it was determined that the Terran horse would do well on Lossend as well. Some ranchers use pure cloned horse stock but most use genquine or mix bred genquine and horse stock. They're powerful, smart animals and many farmers keep them for transportation even if they have electric vehicles available. Despite Tachton's recent debut of the robotic horse; the genquine and Terran horse breeds remain popular methods of transportation in the undeveloped areas of both Lossend and Clarion.
Loxxen
The loxxen is a genetically engineered bovine developed specially for the farmers on Lossend. Not terribly bright, it can be ill tempered and dangerous. They grow big on Lossend's Parie Grass.
Native Species
The Lossodragon
| Lossodragon | |
| TYPE: | Large Carnivore |
| NUMBER: | 1 |
| MOVE: |
Slow (10m/turn) walking Very Fast (90m/turn) diving) |
| IM/RS: | 6/55 |
| STAMINA: | 125 |
| ATTACK: |
55 - ground 50 - air |
| DAMAGE: | 4d10 |
| SPECIAL ATTACK: |
Dive and knock out 35% RS check for no knock out but still suffers regular damage |
| SPECIAL DEFENCE: | N/A |
| NATIVE WORLD: | Lossend/Timeon System |
High in the cliffs of Lossend's Mount Spire live the closest thing to the dragons of human mythology ever to be found. These two meter long six limb beasts come complete with a horned tail and wings. Though not capable of full flight these dragons are adept gliders. They use their powerful limbs and strong claws to scale the cliff faces of Mount Spire and wait upon outcroppings for their prey to pass below. They then leap from their perches and extend their fore limbs, stretching out the wings attached between their fore limbs and spine. Their wings are adeptly built to allow hurtling dives which they arrest at the last moment when they grapple their prey with their four hind limbs. The wings are strong, bound by a network of ligaments and muscles attached to a radiating set of wing bones. Dive speeds nearing 90m/s have been achieved by their powerful outstretched wings.
The lossodragons have exceptional eyesight and use it to spy other avian creatures and large grazing animals feeding upon the slopes of Mount Spire. Their four eyes allow them to watch the ground below with the forward pair and the sky forward with the upper pair. However, their night vision is poor so they seldom hunt in the dark.
Lossodragons mate for life but are only found together during mating season. They are mammalian and typically give birth to twins each year. Occasionally triplets will be born. The pups are no more than 15 cm long at birth and are totally dependent upon their mother for survival. Typically, only one of the offspring survives to adolescence and leaves its parents' perch. Additionally, adolescent life for lossodragons is dangerous and about half of all adolescents are killed by predators when the dragons are vulnerable on the lower slopes when they have descended too far down Mount Spire. Only full grown adult lossodragons are safe on the lower slopes.
The Lossend government is well known throughout the frontier for its planetary conservation and wildlife management. Lossend has successfully established a big game industry in balance with their wildlife conservation. Lossodragons are the crowning jewel of Lossend's big game industry. Hunting tags for lossodragons are the priciest and are most rare on the Lossend Game Department hunting list.
The Wypong
The wypong (Polyhedron Magazine #18) are semi-intelligent omnivorous ape-men. They troop in groups numbering up 20. They lack a language but use rudimentary vocalizations that convey alarm, aggression or curiosity. They do exhibit tool use with the principle example being very crude bows and arrows amongst the smartest of them but most just throw stones. They have a universal fascination with air vehicles and seem to worship them. Recent research has suggested that this is tied the wypong’s relationship to the lossodragon which does prey on small unattended wypongs, carrying them away.
|
Wypong |
|
|
TYPE: |
Medium omnivore |
|
NUMBER: |
20-30 |
|
MOVE: |
Slow |
|
IM/RS: |
5/50 |
|
STAMINA: |
20-100 |
|
ATTACK: |
55 |
|
DAMAGE: |
2-10 (fists or thrown stones) |
|
SPECIAL ATTACK: |
n/a |
|
SPECIAL DEFENSE: |
n/a |
|
NATIVE WORLD: |
Lossend/ Timeon System |
Their relationship with the farmers on Lossend has been tragic. Viewed as pests and vermin, troops that have destroyed crops and orchards have been wiped out by outraged farmers. Due to their unpleasant odor, the slang term for a wypong is skunk ape or skunk monkey. This name has also become a serious insult in Lossend society. The wypong is now protected and the Lossend Rangers are responsible for their management. The Rangers employ capture and relocation as well as putting down overly aggressive wypongs.
The average stats for a wypong are RW: 55, Move 45, PS 3, IM 7, RS 65, STA 65
Tools: Bow and 8 arrows (crude) or thrown rocks
Note: the original presentation of the wypong in Polyhedron 18 was of a primitive sapient race, we chosen to present them more as an intelligent animal like a chimpanzee or gorilla. I’ve left in the primitive bow and arrows from the canon article but for myself, I would limit them to thrown stones. I’ve provided the stats above from the original article and provided a standard creature stat block below, use one or the other.
Places of Interest
Lossend's Star Port: Dawn's Landing
When the joint agricultural mission from Clarrion and Minotaur landed on Lossend they named the site Dawn's Landing after the hot shot Royal Merchant Marine pilot who first landed here. Pilot Lt. Dawn Winters' landing craft suffered a catastrophic failure that should have crashed her ship but somehow she managed to land saving the equipment and engineers on board the shuttle. Unable to lift off, Lt. Winters organized the engineers and kicked and cajoled them into overcoming the obstacle of leveling the location and setting up a landing field. The site was not the intended location for the first star port on Lossend but necessity required that it be used in the early days of the colony. There has always been discussion of building another star port but the political will and even more importantly the financial will is lacking. The Medical Services Organization runs a small hospital at the star port.
O'Donnal's Station
O'Donnal's Station is a thriving but moderately sized city a kilometer away from the star port. Its main street is lined with general stores, saloons, barber shops, trading posts, equipment repair shops, and stables. A major component of the city's economy is the food processing and packaging business (for export), the animal trade (local), and a proper air field for helicopter and air cars forcing tourist to pass through town before departing for their resorts. There is a small government run clinic.
Tachton City
Tachton City is the corporate headquarter of Tachton Industries on Lossend. It has a better star port than Dawn's Landing (though reserved for company craft), research labs, factories (mostly robotic), a company arcology for corporate personnel, and support facilities for its operations. It’s called a city more for its size then its total population. What is of note is that Tachton City is a show case for automated living. There is a conference center and major symposiums on robotics and AIs are sponsored by Tachton. The company sponsors a youth camp and a modern university for the youth of Lossend. Tachton also runs a small but very advance hospital here primarily for the benefit of employees. If there was a disaster or emergency, Tachton security personnel would assist and the hospital city would be provided free in the interest of public relations.
Sherridan Vallley
The Sherridan Valley is a major wine producing center, with idyllic environmental conditions for the cultivation of grapes and other fruits used in the wine making process. Some of the wineries have begun to offer tours and resort like accommodations. For the past five years, the Grape Harvest Festival has grown steadily in popularity and dramatically increased the tourism revenues for the wineries in the valley.
Diamond Harbor
Diamond Harbor is the largest town on the southern continent. Fishing and mineral refining are the principle industries of the town. The Lossend Rangers maintain a station here attached to the government clinic, which is the only medical help available on the continent. Diamond harbor is an active shipping terminal (ocean going) and air field. By default, it is the gateway to the southern continent.
Mount Spire
Mount Spire is the largest mountain in the known planets of the Frontier. It is located on the southern continent of Lossend and is the epicenter of mining and resort activities on Lossend dating back to before the creation of the nature preserve. The home of the vaunted Lossodragon, it is a dangerous place due to the predators, rock slides, and avalanches.
Suggested Adventure Seeds
Here are some suggested adventure seeds that could take place on Lossend
Safari!
Big game hunts are big business on Lossend. A variety of animals have been imported to hunting resorts on the mainland and Tachton, in conjunction with Star Play, has developed robotic big game to placate individuals with a desire to not hurt real animals. The robotic safaris are not as popular as the real safaris but are good for beginning hunters as safety protocols are used to prevent injury to hunting parties. Characters visiting Lossend can spend their layover taking a safari or as a hunting guide. If a license can be obtained for the Lossodragon, hunts on the slopes of Mt. Spire are also possible.
Hired by Mining Interest
Mining interests will hire guns for hire to escort raw or refined ore against the possibility of hijackers. Characters may be hired for general security at mining sites on the slopes of Mount Spire.
Join the Ranger Service
Characters may join the Lossend Ranger Service and function as a general purpose planet wide police force, game warden, and environmental police.
Space Rangers!
Who doesn’t want to be a Space Ranger? Characters may join the fledgling LSR militia inspecting cargos, interdicting smugglers, or fighting pirates.
