Nadir
Death from Below
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Resubmit a cool grandfather.
Image Credit: Pascal Beeckmans, edits by yours truly | Guardians of the Galaxy | Francesco Lorenzetti | Pringle art | Paul Chadeisson
Canon: /
Links:
Dear Jamiehttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/127944-dear-jamie/
Tortuga stationhttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/4236-tortuga-station/
Permission from OG submitter [Xhttps://i.gyazo.com/afaeba695c5a1c3782d441d9fef76ee9.png]
SETTING INFORMATION
Space Station Name: Tortuga
Station Model: Tortuga station
Classification: Pirate base | Shadowport
Location: Between Nal Hutta and Ylesia
Affiliation: Corsairs of Cato | Nadir by proxy
Population: Heavily Populated
Demographics: A smorgasbord of humans, near-humans, aliens, and everything in-between. There are simply too many species on the station to single any one out as predominant. And besides, what self-respecting pirate would bother conducting a population census?
Accessibility: Known and visited by most pirates in the galaxy at least once. It’s considered something of a neutral ground for the raiding type, and offers safe haven to all manner of illicit business folk who have found themselves on the wrong side of a dogged lawmaker. Its proximity to the Shadowrun means it’s just a jump away for those who know about the hyperlane.
Description: Tortuga looks – and, in fact, is – a nightmarish construction with no real plan behind it. If god liked spikey, metal legos and a goth aesthetic, this would be the result. It is plainly apparent that the shadowport has been beaten into shape with scrap metal and defunct vessels. What isn’t plainly apparent is that it boasts several layers of imposing defenses that are more than capable of warding off would-be boarders.
There’s always at least one pirate fleet lingering in its shadow; usually more. On top of that, the station boasts heavy redundant shields that would make even capital ships think twice about mounting an assault on the station.
As far as internal security goes, there’s not much to say – in its role as a neutral meeting point for all manner of pirates, a non-aggression rule is quietly, but resolutely enforced. Mercenaries can be found occasionally patrolling the streets, but incidents are surprisingly few and far inbetween. The swift crackdown of the gray authorities simply isn’t worth it.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Entertainment district
Between bars, clubs, and arenas, the visiting pirate will never find himself bored. If hunger calls, the streets are overflowing with vendors and markets; for the distinguishing marauder, there is always the E’nachu bkhoh – a corridor almost as tall as it is long, and populated almost exclusively by restaurants from every corner of the galaxy. Be you from near or far, rest assured there’s a little joint somewhere with your local cuisine.
Those with more means – or perhaps just a taste too exquisite for their chit – will likewise find their amusement on the many floors of glittering casinos and behind the doors of smokey brothels. All manner of goods are offered here, daily fresh and ever improving.
Residential district
Despite what one might expect of a criminal station – that it’ll be a filthy den of iniquity – Tortuga’s residential districts are generally as proper as any apartment complex one might find in the mid-levels of Coruscant. There’s lofts both big and small, boarding houses and hotels, and, of course, penthouses and luxurious villas. This is the only part of the station where some kind of peace is more strictly imposed upon the otherwise rather rowdy populace.
Even pirates have to sleep, dammit.
Agricultural district
In order to accommodate the vast needs of such a big station, be its population transitory or permanent, Tortuga needed to produce its own food. Thus one of the longer arms of the shadowport was dedicated solely to that purpose. Advanced biodomes were built, largely run with mechanized help and droids engineered to work the fields. This allows the large station to remain self-sufficient in the case of trade disruption, and of course makes it impossible to starve the pirates out with a prolonged siege.
Life support & Control
With such a big station, every level and district was built with its own life support. This allows for compartmentalization in case something goes wrong elsewhere on Tortuga. It also protects the station from nefarious sabotage and tampering.
After the Corsairs established a firm hold on Tortuga, they followed the initial idea set with Life support and likewise decentralized the Command center. The change was made to give fallbacks to the station’s many systems in case of an attack. With several redundancies in place, this prevents boarders from seizing control through the assault of a single location.
Docks
With a port as large as Tortuga, it is no surprise it boasts both internal and external docks. The first exist in several levels along most of the stations arms; the externals jut out even further on long spines. Along these run long lift tubes that make ferrying personnel to-and-fro on the large capital ships a breeze.
On top of the ports for large and small ships alike, Tortuga also has several dry docks for repairs, refits, and new coats of paint. Pirate vessels are known to engage in frequent scraps, after all.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Tortuga has a long and storied history. That is, if one considers ‘long’ to be about twenty years, give or take, and ‘storied’ to mean ‘smeared with blood’.
Then it definitely qualifies.
Since Asari Morin and his crew built the station from cannibalized ships, Tortuga has changed hands as many times as there have been corrupt politicians in the senate. Various men, women, aliens, and everything in-between have declared themselves Pirate Kings, often by prying the figurative scepter from the yet-twitching grasp of their predecessor.
Unfortunately, such a disorganized rule can never last.
In this game of thrones, greater and stronger beasts rose in power and influence far from the Captains bickering for control over the station. And thus when the time came to present an united front against the assault of one such criminal group, they simply couldn’t – or wouldn’t – mount a strong enough defense to keep off the inexorable advance of the more cohesive fleet.
Without much fuss, the Corsairs of Cato established a new order on Tortuga, kicked the corpses out the airlocks, and opened new venues of trade with the ever-growing network of the Underworld.
