futurologists | PERDITION'S REST: LOCATIONS

The main settlement on the planet Q-65, Perdition's Rest is a boom town where Qorral settlers live during the planet's use as a mining colony. It has been in existence for around 30 years, sprung up from the uninhabited scrubland that covers the whole of the planet, and mostly houses workers for the nearby fracking fields and mine. Other residents include workers in various establishments, lawmen, spouses, and children.

The town is a blend of advanced technology and rustic construction, as the high-tech Qorral must rely on the materials available to them on the planet. Imported objects are rare, and are generally limited to mining equipment and weaponry. A main street runs through the town, with shops and other important buildings on either side. Houses sit further back, away from the noise of the main thoroughfare.

Perdition's Rest is surrounded on all sides by desert and scrublands, with mountains in the distance and pine forests further out.

TRAIN STATION

The train station is a modest affair, with a small building for waiting in inclement weather and purchasing tickets, offworld stained glass windows a small touch of class in the otherwise rustic introduction to Perdition's Rest. The wooden platform, lined with iron benches, is packed every morning with miners waiting to take the train down to the fracking fields. The train no longer goes to the next and final stop, where the abandoned town of Boneyard Junction can be found.

DESERT FLOWER SALOON

Whiskey, tequila, and gin flow freely at the saloon, and unlike in the Old West, there's actual refrigeration -- no room temperature beer for you (unless you like it that way). For the more discerning palate, sangria and cactus wine are also available. The Qorral do not have a legal drinking age, so underage recruits may sample the liquor if they're brave enough -- or just stick to the ginger beer and sarsaparilla.

The establishment itself is rustically built, constructed from local wood and stones. There are tables and chairs spread out throughout the floor where locals play card games and dominoes, and a few booths in the back for shadier deals. The stage is wide and holds a number of different performances throughout each day, from vaudeville routines and music acts during waking hours and more sultry, adult entertainment at night. A piano, imported from the Qorral home planet, is near the bar; it's more high-tech than the rest of the establishment, its keys lit up with a subtle blue glow. Customers are welcome to try their hand at the piano if it's not being used by a saloon worker; otherwise, it will play itself with a variety of jaunty favorites. The bar itself has no seats, and instead has a rail for patrons to rest their dusty boots upon as they imbibe.

Miz Poppy, proprietor of the saloon, has been part of Perdition's Rest since the colony's beginning, thirty years ago -- but don't expect her to have a lot to say. She's a busy woman, and your jawing is wasting her time.

The saloon doubles as an inn, its upstairs lodgings comfortable but nowhere near luxurious. This is the frontier, after all. Rooms include a bed, a dresser, a sink (with mirror), a table, and two chairs. The single bathroom is down the hall, so you all had better get used to sharing. (And before you ask, yes: they have indoor plumbing. But outhouses do exist if you feel the need to get rustic.) There are not enough rooms available for all recruits, so it's recommended that recruits learn to get cozy with one another, or find alternate lodgings.

The saloon also triples as a bordello, where Qorral men and women are available to entertain at any time of day. These Qorral also work downstairs at the bar or onstage, and are very friendly and open, happy to engage in frank, reciprocal discussion about their people with any offworlder. But don't let Miz Poppy catch you chatting for too long -- they're on the clock, and time is money.

BLACKSMITH

Don't let the name fool you -- a Qorral blacksmith doesn't only deal in iron and fire. Zebediah Goodson, quiet and a bit sullen, is also a mechanical genius. He services all machinery in the colony, from weaponry to fracking machines to the horses at the livery stables. Blacksmiths are an important part of Qorral culture, and Zebediah is highly revered by the populace. If you need something made or fixed, every single local will direct you to Zebediah's workshop, a big barn next to the stables. The noise doesn't seem to bother the horses, probably because they're all machines.

SHOPS

Beyond the saloon and blacksmith, most of the main street of Perdition's Rest is made of shops and stores where locals and offworlders alike may find any number of objects, both imported and domestic. Many shopkeepers are looking for assistance, so if you have the time, check the Bounty Board to see how you can quickly get goods and cash.

About Time: Local clockmaker. Sells watches and clocks of all shapes and sizes, from wristwatches to grandfather clocks. None of the clocks inside are set to the same time.

Cactus Needle & Threads: The local tailor, where recruits can go to get suited up like a local. Be warned, though -- bespoke outfits aren't cheap!

Corbucci Munitions: The arms dealer of Perdition's Rest. A variety of weaponry is available here, though the focus is on guns, being the most practical for living out in the frontier. There are rumors that the dealer may or may not deal with bandits.

Fines & Gablorzook Apothecary: The local drug store and pharmacy. Also a soda fountain and candy store!

MacGuffin's General Store: Dry goods, hygiene products, tools, and more. You need it, they got it.

Hart & Sole: General leather goods as well as cobbling services. Their sign features a stag with a boot on one antler and a glove on the other.

Lowell's Barber Shop: A local barber shop where you can stop in for a shave and a cut. Lowell is also the town surgeon, so stop by if you need something removed.

Ryder's Trading Post: A local Trading Post where you are welcome to swap what you have for what you need.

The Safe 'n' Deep: A store that focuses on selling and repairing personal mining gear, run by a pair of brothers who've got a monopoly on the latest gear imports through their cousin in the space faring business. The younger is the better salesman while the elder is a more proficient repairman.

Venture & Sons: The local milliner, dealing in handmade hats in a wide range of styles, as well as imported hats from the Qorral homeworld and across the galaxy.

THE LAW

The sheriff's office is located in the center of town, a modest building with an office in front and several barred cells in the back. These cells often hold drunks and bandits, the latter of which are shipped off to the Qorral homeworld for justice. The drunks just sleep it off and are sent out again once they sober up. There is an armory here under heavy lock and key, with a variety of imported guns and rifles available to the sheriff and her deputies.

Sheriff Rosamund Holladay is an unflappable, charming woman who takes her job seriously; she'll answer any questions to the best of her ability, but she doesn't cotton to people screwing around with her town. Sheriff Holladay has a tense relationship with the Deemers; she doesn't trust them and doesn't like how Perdition's Rest is bleeding citizens to the Deemer camp, but there isn't much she can do as long as things haven't escalated to violence.

Next to the sheriff's office is the mayor's office, the nicest building in town. Mayor Mordecai Jones is a respected man, and can often be found about the town during the day, his aide close at hand to field any questions and keep his schedule on track.

LIVERY STABLES

The livery stables, located at the outskirts of Perdition's Rest, are a slight misnomer -- none of the horses are actually alive. Between horses specialized for riding, pulling plow, or leading carriages, all horses are fossil fuel-burning robots.

Though some horses are owned by locals, more are available for rent. The horses for rent are all stamped on the rear with PR STABLES: RIDE ON! and are available in a variety of colors, from black to unpainted metal to neon pink. The stable owner is a friendly Qorral named Esther Shilax who will also provide riding lessons for a small fee.

CHURCH

The Qorral are a faithful people, worshiping the sun from their home solar system. Reverend McCormick holds sermons every fifth day, presides over funerals and weddings, and is available for advice and counseling all hours of the day. The reverend is happy to answer any questions about the Qorral and their faith, though he is upset by his flock slowly leaving to join the Deemers up in the hills, and will ask not to speak on these matters. The church itself is a large, open building made of wood and painted white. The walls inside are inscribed with maps charting the Qorral homeworld's orbit around its sun.

Behind the church is the Sundance Cemetery, which has become overgrown with brambles over the past year as more and more of the Qorral leave Perdition's Rest, no longer returning to mourn their lost families and friends.

All area outside Perdition's Rest is known as the badlands. This is where the danger lies: between exposure to the elements, dangerous wildlife, and thieving bandits, the Qorral recommend that no one goes out there alone or unarmed.

Animals to be found throughout the badlands: giant spiders, giant lizards, wolflike creatures, snakes, regular-sized lizards, rodents, deer . . . and more! Feel free to make up other thematically-appropriate creatures.

DESERT

Although farmland can be found close to Perdition's Rest, most of the land on Q-65 is desert and scrubland, rocky, sandy terrain with rough grasses and shrubbery. It spreads for miles in any direction, making travel dangerous due to the lack of discernible landmarks. However, since Audentes is here in the rainy season, some of the danger is mitigated thanks to cooler temperatures and easier access to water -- but getting lost is still a very real concern, so be wary.

Throughout the desert, there are bandit camps -- tents or shacks made of stolen bits of metal, hiding dangerous outlaws. The bandits have left Perdition's Rest for some reason or another, dissatisfied with their jobs or looking for more money or simply owing to a defect in personality, but unlike the Deemers, the bandits only have one purpose in life: greed. They prey upon former friends, family, and strangers alike, and will especially be interested in seeing what kind of loot these offworlders are carrying.

Apart from the scrubland, there are also pine forests found throughout the badlands and creeping up the mountains, with deerlike animals and various rodents scattered about for hunting. If a traveler is lucky enough to stumble upon a forest, they'll also have a steady source of water from mountain streams that flow down into creeks and pools, a welcome respite from the otherwise harsh landscape of the desert.

CANYON

A major feature of the badlands is the Darkstone Canyon, named after the evil figure in Qorral cosmology. The canyon is beautiful during the day, as long as you stay at the top -- the deeper and darker you go, the more dangerous it becomes. Getting lost is the least of a traveler's worries in the canyon, where rocks and steep drops make for treacherous walking. Many a Qorral surveyor has gone out to the canyon, only to be found weeks later, bones picked clean by scavenger birds.

Throughout the canyon, a mighty river flows, teeming with fish but also swirling with dangerous rapids. If one braves the river, they may find hidden caves throughout the canyon -- many of them containing bandit caches filled with riches or perhaps things that are even more valuable.

FRACKING FIELDS & MINES

The fracking fields are out in the desert near the end of the train line: a depleted, overworked swath of land, crumbling and dead. Nothing lives here, no animals and no plants, and certainly no Qorral. The machines are ugly, black iron things blighting the landscape, and the dusty, dried-up ground is full of sinkholes as the entire field destabilizes from the fracking efforts.

The fracking fields are a recent, desperate development; older, abandoned mines dot the mountains around the field and should only be accessed with the greatest care; the Qorral have abandoned the mines within the past five years as the argecite deposits slowly dried up, and have since shifted their efforts to fracking. The mines are unstable, both due to the lack of maintenance as well as pockets of flammable gas throughout the winding, endless tunnels.

But the largest danger inside the tunnels are the sand worms, massive, pale grubs that slither blindly in the bowels of the mine, searching for food. Their diet? Anything. The sand worms have circular mouths like a lamprey, with rows upon rows of sharp teeth lining their maws. They live in the deeper part of the tunnels, but the fracking and subsequent geological instability has disturbed them and driven them closer to the surface. There are even some sightings of the sand worms far away from the caves, where they thrash blindly in the desert heat in search of food.

DEEMER CAMP

About a year ago, some of the local populace began splintering off into a religious sect known as the Redeemers. Known pejoratively as Deemers by the Qorral of Perdition's Rest, this group has swelled in numbers over the past several months, preaching salvation through deeper mining into the planet. They rarely come down from their camp, and when they do, it's only to proselytize to the locals, though they never seem to be successful. It's a wonder, then, whenever someone disappears from Perdition's Rest overnight and joins the Deemers seemingly out of nowhere.

The Deemer camp is located on high ground, halfway up the mountain on a flat stretch of desert land. They live in a series of tents, their camp largely unfortified due to their superficially peaceful co-existence with the denizens of Perdition's Rest. They have weapons, but they're ostensibly for driving off the savage wildlife of the badlands. The sheriff is suspicious of such a large group of fanatics being armed, but she has no cause to do anything, and so there is a tentative truce between the two groups.

The apparent leader of the Deemers is Jonathan Black, a no-nonsense preacher who deeply believes in their cause. Incongruously, he is not interested in speaking to Audentes very deeply about the Deemers' beliefs, and instead will have one of his subordinates answer questions.

BONEYARD JUNCTION - INACCESSIBLE UNTIL 23 OCT.

Located near the fracking fields, this is the original Qorral settlement on this planet, founded thirty years ago. Shortly into its occupation, mining efforts caused the settlement to collapse. It was subsequently abandoned and the population moved to the current location of Perdition's Rest. Currently a ghost town, the locals have renamed this place Boneyard Junction. It is the final stop on the train line.

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