spindowners

Life has had a long time to evolve, far longer than humans thought in the pre-singularity eras. As earthers first learned when they sent increasingly sophisticated satellites and probes to explore their interstellar neighborhood, the galaxy was anything but a sterile void. Vast clouds of bacteria floated between the stars, seeding life in every niche, evolving into exotic and complex life forms everywhere they landed.

The Vaughn Arch derives its name from its ornate entrance in sector TR-7. Once an exclusive club for wealthy business persons and government officials, it has transformed into the ad hoc governmental seat for what is now known as the Red Quadrant.

Already famed for its exclusive luxuries, the Vaughn Arch epitomizes the excesses of modern society. The Red Quadrant is known for corruption and hedonism. Some of the wealthiest inhabitants of the substation live here, and their mercenary soldiers are known for their ruthlessness and iron-fisted rule of the underprivileged.

Small, individually only four to ten centimeters long, and difficult to detect in the plasma streams they inhabit, plasma leeches are the scourge of starships and power stations throughout the galaxy. An infestation can be a costly affair, both in terms of drained energy, and in the costs of extermination.

Wielded primarily by the Kraken Guard, the skurler is occasionally found carried by others (though it is illegal in Kraken society to trade or sell skurlers). When powered, the skurler drains a tremendous amount of power and emits a loud crackling sound, giving it a nickname of "plasma whip" or "lightning stick".

The word mlastic derives from biomass plastic, which was most probably the name given by an ancient biotechnologies corporation. The inner walls of the substation are made of this living substance, which, among other functions, converts carbon dioxide into oxygen for the benefit of some of the air breathing organisms on board. Living solar panels on the outer wall of the substation are another integral part of this symbiosis.

Mlastic is a hard, porous substance with microscopic pixels that take on colors programmed by its cellular subneural circuitry to display any

It's unknown whether they were created intentionally and became rogue, such as by an ancient robotics manufacturer, whether they were created as a practical joke, or whether they evolved spontaneously as a semi-intelligent complex system. Steamchiggers have been the bane of civilization for nearly all of recorded history, and probably had several origins in many places.

Whatever their origin, steamchiggers have lately become a pest on the substation. Steamchiggers usually infest industrial areas and reclaiming centers. In the warzones of the substation, they have claimed new niches in the chaos, finding refuge in abandoned quarters and demolished corridors.