Following the Port Wander thread and Suraks excellent background for it, i thought it would be worth having a thread to discuss ideas for running Footfall.
IMS this is going to be the main base that the PCs will operate from and i want a Mos Eisley "Wretched hive of scum and villainy" feel to it. My version of Footfall has the following ideas.
A vast sprawling station built around the remains of a half built Imperial starfort. Footfall has many "Islands" connected to the central station by chains, stone corridors and even just floating nearby, accessible by small shuttles. Hanging above the main station is a 3km tall statue of the Emperor, his wrathful gaze facing away from the Furibundus Star. This statue is not only breathtakingly vast but also a true work of art. Sadly the feeling of pious humility it inspires lasts only as long as it takes to board the station. Once inside, crime, violence and deception rule the day.
Criminal gangs control most of Footfall and are not above robbing and killing anyone who looks vulnerable. All citizens thus go armed. Ships captains travel with bodyguards and away from the busier areas, even citizens travel only with others, never alone.
Ships at berth here are advised to keep an alert eye for wreckers, local criminal gangs flying maintenance pods that drift silently towards berthed vessels and attempted to strip them of armour, scrap, sensor pylons and anything else they can get their hands on. In practice most captains either pay a bribe to the wrecker gangs or keep their ships turrets armed and their auger arrays running constant local sweeps.
The stations islands belong to various groups and the smaller ones can change hands with great regularity. Wealthy Rogue traders often maintain well defended mansions floating local to the station with warehouses, offices and supplies waiting for their return. Other islands are held by businesses as warehouses, brothels, slave markets, armouries and some are purely dedicated to defense, being stuffed with weapons and operated by local gangs that are paid for their efforts by station taxes.
The central starfort is barely recognisable as such, being covered with turrets, towers, ramshackle buildings and other build up from across the centuries. Anyone wishing to do business at Footfall generally heads to the Court of Knives, a large domed marketplace at the top of the station. The Court has a number of permanent establishments around the edges and built into the walls and the centre is a huge bustling marketplace of temporary stalls called the Pit. The Pit has a few permanent but unhoused traders but mostly it caters to merchants, captains and factors looking for bargains and selling their wares. Oftentimes a captain will bring a sample of his wares here and invite potential buyers to sample these wares before agreeing to purchases on a much bigger scale. Due to the nature of the koronus expanse, pretty much anything can be found in the Pit, if one is present on the correct day. Most Rogue traders and several Calixian interests hence employ factors to ensure that when that rare death world beast or Eldar wine turns up in the Pit, they have a buyer available.
Hanging above the pit suspended from the ceiling and with a large conversion field protecting its iron lattice work floor is the balcony Saloon of a Mr Telasco of Malfi. Telasco is a lush, dandy, gossip and pleasure cultist who runs his saloon for wealthy and respected clients above the toil of the common folk. Prices here comfortable exclude any but the very rich and those that dine, relax or politick here do so mostly on account of its exalted status.
Far below Telascos is the Feedpipe, a much larger venue where food, drink, drugs, women/men and other pleasures can be had. Catering to a much lower standard than Telascos, the Feedpipe is still expensive enough to exclude the common crewman or gang member. The gang that run this establishment, Rogers Red-shirts, are one of the slightly more respectable outfits who also run various defense islands, logistics (movement of cargo) and a variety of businesses catering to all needs, both moral and not. While the kind of behaviour and menu items in the Feedpipe would warrant a swift visit from the enforcers on many worlds, in the Koronus expanse it is seen as fairly mainstream.
The Forsaken Brothers have a chapel on one side of the Court of Knives that to all appearances is more of an armoured fortification. This is not unreasonable given that the Brothers, a group of 120 clerics from a banished and exiled order, run security in the Pit and for some of the more permanent establishments. Dressed in poorly maintained black robes over very well maintained black flak armour and armed with a variety of weapons (usually autoguns with fragmenting rounds but support weapons, including webbers, meltaguns and even a rare plasmagun are available to them as well), the Brothers, known as the Black Brothers, both for their attire and their miserable demeanours, break up fights, punish those found guilty of stealing from established residents and otherwise keep order.
More to come later
. Mind sharing your version? Since I never used her, I am eager to her yours. Perhaps, I can gain some inspiration form yours as well.
Really, it makes me happy if a player tries to solve things "mechanic-wise" along the lines of "the only things in existence in the universe are plot-relevant" only to stumble upon an GM who keeps in mind that the plots the pc are after in the moment aren´t the only things going on at the time and the place.
