by Tom Verreault
At the time of the founding of the United Planetary Federation, Morgaine’s World was little better than an outpost. A group of farming homesteads with grants from the Frontier Agricultural Resource Mission had been established without even a proper landing facility for starships. With the climatic space battle of the First Sathar War fought virtually on the planet’s doorstep, the colonists renamed the world in honor of the fallen hero of that battle.
Though Morgaine’s World began as an agricultural outpost, it could not remain so for long. Because of the star system’s location and the establishment of the UPF government on its sister planet, Morgaine’s World was destined to grow to its present day moderate population levels. Today the economy is growing in the business and industrial sectors which are dominated by corporate interests connected to the resource mining of one of its moons and to the mega corporation Pan Galactic which is headquartered on the sister planet. Not unsurprisingly, the presence of Star Law’s training academy, as well as Spacefleet’s Gollwin Academy, has had a significant impact on the planet's economy as well. Agriculture has always been a major industry, but today it is a small percentage of the overall planetary production.
The agricultural outpost beginning of this colony has become part of the social myth and fabric of its society. The planet is rugged and tough and the citizens of Morgaine’s World view themselves in the same terms whether they live in urban or rural environments and regardless of their occupation. Morgainers are noted for their “can do” and patriotic attitudes. Disproportionate numbers of Morgainers join Space Fleet and exploration services than from any other colony based on percentage of population. High population worlds like Clarion and Minotaur see larger numbers of their population join Space Fleet than Morgaine’s world but the actual percentage of the population is less than that of Morgaine’s World.
Due to the colder and more rugged environment that Morgaine’s World has compared to its sister planet of Gran Quivera, the clothing norms tend toward warmer and more serviceable clothing. A typical Morgainer will dress in pants and layered shirts with the outer shirt being warm, loose, and falling to below their belt. Serviceable leather belts are worn over the outer shirt fastened with a large metal belt buckle. A loose vest that reaches the belt finishes the outfit and for ¾ of the year they wear ponchos against the cold and rain though they resort to a parka for winter.
| Morgaine's World Three time Knife Throwing Grand Champion, Sofiya Proskovya (Wearing a typical Morgaine's World clothing style). |
Two items of material culture have sprung up on Morgaine’s World; the Morgaine Trekker and the Morgaine knife. The Morgaine Trekker is a boot favored by the working class, ideal for work and hiking in the wild and rural areas of the planet. Originally it was made by hand and then in small shops. The boot proved to be very popular with members of the various exploration services. Its fame brought the attention of corporations like Pan Galactic Corporation. PGC now markets the Morgaine Trekker throughout the Frontier and claims that it has the only official trekker. It even went to the expense to build a factory on Morgaine’s World to support this claim. Other companies and corporations elsewhere in the Frontier have produced cheap knock offs to cash in on the famous name of this footwear but no one can match the quality of the few shops still producing true Morgaine Trekkers.
The Morgaine knife came about as a necessary tool for life in the early colonial outpost. It was well balanced for throwing and long enough to use to clear underbrush. It remains popular on the colony despite the population shift to urban areas. Competitive knife throwing is a planetary sport.
Characters who grew up on Morgaine’s World speak their native Terran language as well as Pan Gal. They begin play with a pair of pants, a loose but warm shirt, belt, poncho, an authentic Morgaine knife (see below) and a broken in pair of Morgaine Trekkers (75% chance they are true Morgaine Trekker otherwise they will conform to those made by PGC) as well as their starting money. It’s highly likely they had one or more close friends or family members in Space Fleet or an exploration service. They are positive, patriotic, believe they can do anything, and have a “don’t mess with Morgaine’s World” attitude that they carry through life like a chip on their shoulder. To a certain extent the hero, Admiral Morgaine, is viewed as the father of the colony or a patron saint.
Any character from Morgaine’s World rolls a d10 at character creation to see if they have the culturally based “knife skill”. On a roll of 1-2 they have this skill at level 2, on a roll of 3-7 they have this skill at level 1 and all other results mean they have this skill at level 0. Level 0 means they can throw or fight with the knife without a -20 penalty for being unskilled. This skill is treated as a racial skill and learned at “in” PSA rates (use the military PSA if using the AD skill system). It allows the character to effectively throw or fight with a knife regardless of their PSA and profession. A character that has both melee weapons and thrown weapons can ignore this skill unless it is higher in level than those skills.
These boots are a rugged hiking/work boot whose stitching pattern identifies them with this planet. The pattern is easily duplicated so that cheap knock offs as well as reasonable quality copies are made throughout the Frontier in an attempt to cash in on the name of this popular boot. These copies are simply a standard boot costing 15-20 Cr for the cheap knock off and 20-25 for a quality mass produced boot (PGC version of the boot is 25 Cr).
The true Morgaine Trekker is produced in small shops and sometimes by hand on Morgaine’s World and cost triple that of the PGC model, 75 cr. One shop specializes in a boot with an integral knife sheath for 80 Cr. These prized boots give the wearer an edge in rough terrain conferring a +5% to any ability DEX/RS ability check required to respond quickly in rough, rocky ground, or wooded terrain. Being in an urban environment or on a star ship nullifies this effect.
Like the trekkers boot, this knife was made famous by being used by explorers and in the 3D holo vids. Cheap knock offs and copies abound throughout the Frontier but these cost and act the same as a standard knife. An authentic Morgaine knife is a thing of quality and beauty. It is so well balanced that it has a +5% bonus for throwing. It’s adequate to substitute as a machete in the light underbrush of Morgaine’s World (or other terrain that would not be considered heavy underbrush) and is an effective survival tool. Many (60%) come with a sharpening stone in a special holder sewn onto the side of the sheath. Cost: 20-25 Cr.
Links
[1] http://develop.starfrontiers.info/content/sofiya-proskovya
[2] http://develop.starfrontiers.info/content/morgaine-trekkers-and-knife
