Wednesday 7 March 2018

The Many Decks of Fordek (Part 3)





The bow half of the UESF DISCO consists of many hundreds of decks, divided among fifteen distinct sections. Below is a light summary of what you can expect to see in five of them:

Lewahdek


Perpetually dimmed by lumiform vandalism, starved of clean air due to iyostrip damage, and low on water from doopak scarcity, Lewahdek can be a tough place to make into a home. One of the first parts of the ship to be plundered dry in the early days of recovery, the majority of these section decks have a distinct "brutalism" architectural vibe, as they were originally designed to hold terraforming workshops and machinery storage. The lowest decks of this section serve to house massive bays of Yaw-Control Engines ("Yacks"), where impoverished workers brave radiation poisoning to extract the precious deposits of greese, fewel, and flooids held in high demand by the upper decks.

The pilfered infrastructure of Lewahdek and the extreme poverty of its denizens necessitate the tending of enormous colonies of rats for food; rat farms are plentiful, and also the source of many great epidemics that plague the ship. It is not uncommon for entire decks to be quarantined (sometimes violently) by panicked shipmates. It is equally not uncommon for feral, often mutated rat swarms to break from their farms and descend upon the hapless dwellers of Lewahdeck, consuming all in a ravenous blood frenzy.

Fire outbreaks also pose a constant threat to the folk here - fewel depots are prone to explode if not properly maintained, and many a tucked-away drug laboratory has burst into flame during production. Because most fire control doors have been stripped of copper wire and synthetic gaskets, the blazes are left unchecked, and are able to scour the life from entire decks in a short time.




Lunj


The opulent collections of glass walkways, marble steps, and brass trimmings that make up the Lunj section are appropriately representative of its eccentric occupants - these decks are stuffed to the bulkheads with a veritable commune of hedonists and thrill-seekers, otherwise known as "Lunjers". The former bars, restaurants, theatres, clubs and lounges that constitute this section find continued life as dens of vice and depravity, constantly being tweaked and tailored to suit the whims of its owner. Those that steer away from the sedentary lifestyle are often keen to convert a Lunj elevator shaft into a makeshift bungee jump, or an old arcade into a duelling pit.

Lumiforms from all over the ship have been gathered and tinted to light up the decks of Lunj with a rainbow of colors (much to the chagrin of the lower decks whom dwell in darkness as a result). Roving bands of motley jesters, amateur musicians, and oddly-aggressive acting troupes
prowl the halls in search of an audience, willing or not. What little space there is not dedicated to performance and revelry has been set aside to accommodate the hoarded stockpiles that allow Lunjers to perpetuate their glitzy lifestyle - storerooms are bursting with stolen sweet-paste, experimental drugs, celebratory costumes, and all manner of alkol.

The Lunjers are not entirely without guidance of goals. The group is led by a mysterious figure called Jakuv Spaydez, a masked king who drives the eternal party and unifies the group under a common banner. Those who disrupt the festivities or harm the Lunjers are targeted for swift, sinister retaliation at the guidance of Jakuv.

Man-Ketchun


Man-Ketchun enjoys a ship-wide reputation as a hideout for mutant cannibals, albeit with a bizarre air of sophistication about them. They simply love having guests for dinner! Unlike other citizens of Fordek, the people of Man-Ketchun are mutated into hideous, inbred monsters. Academics suspect that they are descended of those whom were trapped here for many BilSpins while everyone else slept away in cryonic stasis, leaving the luckless crew to suffer generations of radioactive deformity and polluted genetics.

The decks of this section are festooned with stained dining halls, long-emptied pantries, non-functional freezers, and rooms filled end-to-end with stainless steel counter-tops. While most has been looted in past BilSpins, there are more than a few areas in Man-Ketchun left totally untouched, largely in part to its fearsome reputation, but also because many of the insulated bulkheads here are set on "Rationing Protocol Time-locks"

There are rumors of a massive cache of batteries stashed away in a Man-Ketchun pantry, pulled from devices over many TenMils, and hoarded with the ultimate goal of re-activating an unpowered Younee-Fabb. This is the handiwork of the Sawseers; a band of sticky-fingered burglars holed up in a secret lair, speculated to be somewhere in the upper decks. If the device is brought back online, such a move would rocket the group to incalculable heights of prosperity.

Lendskad


The decks of Lendskad are festooned with all manner of broken machinery, the dismantling and recovery of which offers employment of last resort to the truly destitute of the DISCO. Deep in the steam-filled maze of pipes and service shafts, somber citizens work tirelessly to extract every inch of copper, every scrap of rubber, and every ounce of chemical. The most prominent feature in Lendskad is the Big Slick; a massive landing gear piston coated in lubricant that cuts through most decks, where workers can make a living by scraping greese and drilling for hydraulic flooid.

Most of Lendskad is unfit for human living; spaces are too cold and cramped, oxygen is low or nonexistent, and hazardous leaks are common. What little space is habitable has been carved into territories by influential industry unions, who offer work opportunities and sleeping bunks in exchange for what is essentially bonded servitude. At the head of these unions is the Council of Progress - corrupt trade representatives who amass fortunes through the sweat of their workers, and who dole out punishments or rewards as egotistical dictators.

Argodek


Argodek is the agricultural heart of the DISCO, owing mostly to the wide expanses of open space argobas in which farmers can grow fields of barleekorn - the key ingredient for nutripaste. The steam runoff vents from nearby Lendskad not only keep the decks of this section at the optimal humidity for crop growing, but are also essential to water reclamation efforts that hydrate the parts of the ship without access to doopaks.

The people of Argodek (called "Gro") are an odd, secretive bunch. Great families have struggled to terraform and protect these decks for many BilSpins, and they are reluctant to accommodate newcomers or even tolerate outside visitors. They are especially intolerant of "blues" - people with blue-tinted skin, whose ancestors have only just recently awoken from cryonic stasis. Many a confrontation between a Gro and a "blue" has turned to heated violence.

When not busy tending to their fields, the Gro like to gather at the end of each cycle for community activities. Mostly these involve drinking, dancing, and storytelling, but there are whispers that many such meetings are actually excuses to rally the community around a secret pet project: the building of an escape rocket capable of leaving the DISCO.



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