Here am I, floating in a tin can, far above the moon, Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can doo.
Section ZZ, Plural Z, Beta. A small, but mostly charted area of the western spiral arm of the galaxy. Section ZZ is generally avoided by galactic travellers, as there is instability to subspace in the area, due to a war nearly a billion years ago. Because of this instability, many travellers end up places they didn't really intend to go.
Floating deep in space, hanging on the Lagrange between two great giant stars, is one of those places. Here, a twisted mass of primitive spaceships, a stones throw from the stone age of a thousand local races hangs in nothingness, occasionally joined by another, pulled across time and space by the twisted warp beneath reality. Tiny capsules and vessels, powered by the simplest of reaction drives, this twisted wreck bears mute witness to sentient life's earliest impulse to reach out to the stars above.
Among the ships lies a simple, flask shaped vessel, bearing the mark of an ancient Terran nation, the red, white and blue banner of a culture long forgotten in this new era, but a historical treasure to Earthmen none the less. Many hundred other such ships bear the same value to a thousand other cultures spread through the galaxy.
Newly discovered, the ancient treasures have sparked the desires and imaginations of a hundred thousand archaeologists and paelontologists across the galaxy, and the race of discovery is on.
Plot Uses
It belongs in a Museum! - It's got tremendous value just because of age. But who deserves to have it? Bring out your Indiana Jones fantasies.
Our Ancestors Had WHAT? - An ancient military weapon prototype can be found among the wreckage. While the power of the weapon itself is nothing special among modern weapons, the principles that it works on are otherwise unique, and with modern energy generation, it can be used to tremendous, and terrifying effect. Retrieve it before the enemy does!
Here's to you, Herbie - Galactic Civilization is built on a story that is a lie. Within the twisted tangle is the proof of the lie - Expose it, and tumble the corrupt and twisted order which slaughters wolflings and enslaves the uplifted, or protect it from those who would bring chaos and unbridled war upon the universe.
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Links to this article 1
- Songs Of Fantasy! Murometz linked by MoonHunter
Favored by Kindred Readers 1
Use alongside
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Updated: Added some plot uses.
Very clever!
You know this sort of fits among the Tales of Adventure?
A great location to attract plots! (And kudos for the Indiana Jones reference. :) )
Linked to Songs of Fantasy!. It seems like an oversight.
I couldn't find the Codex.
Fixed link and found a little bug in the process... good catch.
Captain, the radiation field here.. it is disrupting our power set
Here you are, flying through semi-charted space, and your warp engines die, and the geek at the science station pronounces that some under understood phenomena you have stumbled into is disabling your ship. This is a story complication to any other plot and could explain why so many ships are floating here.
We sent a message to the universe
The movie Star Trek I, with Voyager comes as inspiration for another plot from this. Something from elsewhere finds this place and decides the universe is obviously primative and needs to be "corrected".
They are my toys
A young powerful energy/ spirit being has collected all these things. Not all of these things could of floated here. Disturb his collection and a reality altering energy being might be "annoyed". It might even play with those who are disturbing its collection.
We need a prime sample
A species is dying out due to certain genetic tampering in their past (seemed like a good idea at the time) and a new element (probably some virus). They need a "clean sample" of the species. Strangely enough, someone remembers this place and that a ship of that species was there.
I enjoyed this, Solid 4. Unfortunatly I doubt I will get to use it, since I don't run many SCi-Fi games (and the ones I do run are Star Wars). But, still, Good Job.
Haunted-the wrekage is haunted by the astronaut/s that died there.
A neat idea!
Why couldn't this idea be used with Star Wars??
Link is to the original author's gallery.
Some amusing nods to certain sci-fi-ish tales here, and it's an interesting take on the classic 'ship graveyard'. Perhaps some of the wrecks have managed to retain some vestige of atmosphere, and some have been here so long, with dim radiation sources providing a meager trickle of energy, that new forms of life have evolved from the organic sludge that used to be crew, food, and so on...
Do I hear a signal from the Red Dwarf? :)
Some useful variations on the classic ship graveyard and can make for a nice land mark to add to an otherwise dull section of a campaigns galaxy.
It also sparked the following adventure idea:
We are not alone
Having thought they were the only intelligent life in the universe the humans onboard the exploration vessel "Lost Horizon" were stunned at its discovery of the graveyard. Not one, but hundreds of relics from different species seem collected here. The scientific value of the graveyard is immense, to say nothing of the anthropological value.
Deciphering the origins of many of the ships and then trying to reach their homeworlds could form the basis of an entire campaign. Of course not all of these species get along, and more then a few may be offended their ancestors graves have been disturbed by these meddling monkeys.
"Newly discovered, the ancient treasures have sparked the desires and imaginations of a hundred thousand archaeologists and paelontologists across the galaxy, and the race of discovery is on."
That pretty much sums up the effect that this post had on me, very nice!
What if one of those ships had alien eggs on board?
Very cool, a interesting endeavor for a Rogue Trader crew to come across, salvaging the debris can lead to a fortunes worth in archeotech and xeno artifacts, although the threat of Chaos and warp tainted hulks is high, to say nothing of being declared heretics should the Imperium catch them salvaging alien vessels.
The star charts from vessels as well could point to resource rich planets and cultures eager for commerce with the Rogue Trader brave enough to visit their home systems.