Escape from Echo Station (Episode #1)

=== Escape from Echo Station ===

[Rule Set] Loner: Galaxy Drifter

[Genre] Sci Fi, Firefly, The Expanse

[PC]: Gina Antariksh, “Hawk”

[House Rules] Twist Clock, after rolling doubles, roll 1d6 > Current value of twist Clock to advance the clock, and avoid the twist, ELSE {activate the twist}.

[Start Date] 06 September 2025

[Last Update] 06 September 2025

=== Session 1 === 

[Title] A Cold Welcome

[Start Date] 06 September 2025

[Goal] Gina will meet up with Nova, a Ship Rat, living aboard the station.  The meeting has not been pre-arranged, but Nova knows to be on the lookout. Gina knows that her contact has a Starburst facial birthmark.  

[S1] Crowded Arrival Hall. Security is present and likely on the lookout for more than one “Person of Interest.”

[Goal: Establish contact with Nova for help in finding transport out of the system.]

? Is Security alert, and if so do they spot Gina? [Oracle R/C 3:5] No security does not spot Gina, and she is able to slip by the arrival gates unrecognized. 

?  Do either Gina or Nova spot the other in the arrival hall?  [Oracle R/C 2:1, No & ]  They completely miss each other.  

[Inspiration Check: Smuggle Secret Document] Add gear tag: Fake ID/System Pass, Credit for 10 days necessities.

In the arrival hall, there are several persons of interest with pictures displayed on the wall monitors. Gina is not one of them. [Roll 1d6 for every day. If Days < 1d6 Gina is still not on security’s radar and her name is not yet on the displayed wanted list.]  The arrival hall is crowded, and despite looking aroun,d Gina does not spot her contact, the man with the Starburst facial tattoo.  

The fake ID/System pass that Gina paid an enormous amount of money for on Resthome allows her to pass security.

Gina slips out of the arrival hall and proceeds to the station market, known as the Zócalo. 

[S2] The Station's Main Square or “Zocalo.” Crowded common area with shops, booths, and performers.  

[Goal: Find Nova, find accommodations, and find transit off the station to a different planet.]

?  Do either Gina or Nova spot the other in the Zocalo?  [Oracle R/C 5:5, Yes, but + twist counter: 1]  Gina spots a confidence game in progress, three-card monte, being run by a man with a distinctive facial birthmark.  [Twist: Rolled a 1 on a d6 and so triggers the twist. A third party changes the goal. Twist clock reset to 1.] As she begins to make her way toward the young confident man, a third person tries to pickpocket Gina and takes her ID

Gina takes off after the young pickpocket.

? Is she able to catch the pickpocket who is more familiar with the station than she is?   [Oracle Disadvantage R/C 4:3, No ]  The pickpocket makes a clean getaway. Gina is without money or ID.  Fortunately, she was spotted by Nova, who earlier shut down his game, and now approaches Gina. After learning what just happened, he is not able to identify the pickpocket, but says he can take her to a different place where they can hide out.  

The pair travels to an older abandoned part of the station.

[Inspiration Check: Navigate, Ancient, Artifact]

[S3]: Squatters Camp.

[Goal: Find refuge and a place to hide.]

Nova takes Gina to where he lives. [Inspiration Check: Poor, Salvage, Ship] It is a squatter's camp aboard the ancient hulk “Go For Broke.”   Nova and Gina negotiate sanctuary aboard the Go For Broke as a camp mechanic.  She will be helping the camp’s current tinker, Old Toby.

After setting up camp near Nova’s own cubby hole, Old Toby drops by to ask if she knows anything about air handlers. [Oracle with advantage R/C 4:6, Yes and] Not only does Gina know about it, she has also worked on a similar device back on Resthome.  

? Is Gina Able to fix the air handler? [Oracle R/C 3:1, No but]

Gina is unable to fix the air handler, but can identify [1d6] 2 parts needed to repair the machine. Toby says the two of them (Nova and Gina) will need to liberate a pallet of CO2 absorbers from the cargo transit area.  

[S4]: Meanwhile, Back at the Squatters Camp.

[Goal: Establish rapport with residents and address some minor health concerns.]

Gina uses her medical knowledge to try to help the residents of the camp, hoping to earn some goodwill and thus some protection during her stay.  [ Given her skills, even a “no but” will demonstrate her medical skills.] Gina is able to treat several minor maladies and even identify one long-term condition that she cannot treat currently, but she provides the information to the patient.  She also notices a mysterious condition, which she asks about and learns is called Scourge.  Nova is elsewhere during this time, but Gina learns from others that he has an aging disease and is actually much younger than he appears. 

Not everyone reacts positively to learning that Gina has some medical knowledge.  A day laborer, Carl, recognizes that someone with her skills must be hiding from something if she is here in the squatter's camp.

[S5] “You Take My Breath Away”

[Goal: Sneak into the corporate bonded warehouse area. Swap out the CO2 pallets with new ones. If successful, the old CO2 scrubber modules will be off station before anyone notices. ]

? Are the pair able to avoid security?  [Oracle Check: R/C 4:4, Yes but +, Twist not activated, Twist clock = 2]

Gina and Toby are not detected but are in view of a camera for a few moments. This could be an issue if the theft is ever discovered. [Inspiration: Unknown, facility, Survival]  Gina spots a hatch that Toby says was not present when he was here last.  The door is labeled survival gear, but is locked in contradiction to station policy (law).  What good is survival gear if it is locked away?

? Are they able to locate the pallet and swap it out?   [Oracle Check: R/C 2:3, Yes but] Toby and Gina are able to swap out the pallets successfully, but security is alerted. A roving guard begins asking, "Who is there?" The pair are able to exit successfully.  

                  End the day [On day 2 rolled a 1 on a d6, 2>1] Security is now actively looking for Gina Antariksh, alias “The Hawk.”

Character Sheet:  

Gina Antariksh, “Hawk,” Corporate Refugee, 

Medical knowledge and Mechanical knowledge.

Frailty: Disgraced Doctor (Reputation Damage)

Gear: Fake ID Card and Mechanical Tools

Goal: Clear her name and resume her medical practice.

Leo Shadowmere, “Nova,” Ship Rat

Cultural Adaptation, Survival Instinct,

Frailty: Looks older than he is. (Aging Process)

Gear: Gambling and Disguise Kit

Goal: Rediscover a lost world. 

Threads:

1. How long before a security alert is issued for Gina Antariksh?

2. Who has Gina’s ID?

3. Find the Air Handler parts?

4. Liberating the pallet of CO2 absorbers. 

NPC List: 

1. Nova (Ally, who gets paid when Gina can escape from the station)
2. Old Toby (Mentor/Tinker)
3. Carl, the day laborer.

Locations:

1. Echo Station is an older station in the rest home system. Echo Station is a gate service station next to the jump transit point out of the system, with three connected transit routes. Period. These are challenging times with less transit business. The station is very dependent. On the authorities. At Resthome. The station's primary source of income is now transit business from the system's main planet. [Dependency 5. Based on a 1D6.] The drop in business along transit routes. Has been going on for some time, leading to parts of the station being mothballed and providing habitat for the unofficial residents of the station.

2. Resthome is an Earth-like world with a decadent culture. It was founded by a religious cult claiming to reestablish Earth, but it has since evolved to claim that Resthome itself is Earth. There have been recent social disturbances between conservatives and reformers on the planet. Multiple persons are currently fleeing the Resthome system for other places due to political persecution.

posted by Y.H.N.

Loner RPG + Adventure Maker = Spider Women of the Jungle World

I want to play through a session of “Loner, another solo RPG” on its merits.  In other words, I want to see if sticking entirely within the Loner framework is possible without referencing meaning tables or mechanics from different systems.

Starting with the Adventure Maker, I rolled the following:

• Setting: A Jungle-Covered Planet.

• Tone: Nostalgic and Timeless

• Opposition: Suspicious Characters and different factions. 

• Additional:  

• Sinister conspiracies - “Saly” and “Unravel”

• Political Intrigue.

A jungle-covered planet or the part that we can see.  To me, nostalgia and timeless mean something like Redwall or a Studio Ghibli film.  This would be a setting with everyday locations (village life?) with detailed realism, and subtle magic.  The themes will be environmentalism, balance, harmony, community, and family bonds.   If this moves beyond the home village, I see this becoming something like a Steamboy setting.  At the very least, the factions and suspicious characters must come from somewhere.  

Scene one: 

Outside Maku Village, deep within the world forest, spider-mounted lancers move quickly through the lower canopy of the grandfather trees. The annual caravan, which brings goods from the other side of the world and purchases the village's spider silk, is on its way. After all, it would not do to have the visitors trampled by the enormous fauna of the forest, or worse, carried off by Gazer wasps before delivering their cargo.  

Norobu whistles a stop to her mount and then allows it to drop, trusting the thong about her neck. In time, the great spider Nikkii would come to respond to commands through leg pressure alone, but their partnership was still new. Nikkii’s soft mandible clicks indicated something to investigate to their left.  Again, taking up the whistle, Norobu released a series of high tones needed to reach faraway human ears in a forest where human voices only penetrated short distances. <curiosity, passage of a large beast>, and then urged Nikkii to move toward the disturbed foliage. After all, this is why she was on the left flank: spotting anything the patrol leader needed to know. If the answering tones <denied, stay on course> were heard, their backs did not indicate as they disappeared into the foliage.

-----

 

Horrified by the devastation around her, Norobu nearly missed the slime trail leading up the underside of a great bough toward the upper canopy layer.  Right above them hung the most enormous bull caterpillar Norobu had ever seen. At least 20 feet long and possibly over 10 tons, the creature consumed three-foot diameter branches like kindling into a fire.  

<Does the caterpillar react aggressively? R3C3  Yes, but + 1 Twist founter>

The caterpillar stops its grazing and prepares to charge.  The muscles of its great tube body begin to ripple with agitation, and the poison horns, once again in this air, begin to let off an acrid smell.  Nikkii and she knew if they were to drive it away from the village’s grandfather trees, they needed the high ground.  Pulling tight to Nikkii’s carapace, the great spider knew to begin climbing.  

< Are they able to gain the high ground? R1C2 Yes, but>

A branch snapped below, stopping the greedy creature, who lifted its rear poisonous horns into the air.  Great quivers ran along its sides before resuming its wholesale destruction of timber.  

<Can they get into position to attack the beast from above? R6C3, No, the caterpillar attacks>

With a burst of speed faster than anything that Norobu had ever seen before, the great beast reached the meter-wide bough, which was their target first, and came charging straight down at them. <Harm rules R6C2, Norobu takes 2 harm>  Norobu is stunned when the creature slams into them.  Nikkii manages to sting the creature as it passes, <Harm Rules R4C6, dealing three harm>. The next moment, Norobu has her lance in hand and jabs it at the beast.  <harm rules R2C2, receiving two harm +2 twist counter>. Nikki stings again, dealing one harm.  Another desperate attempt with the lance deals two harm to the creature.  Slashing at its tormentors one last time, the great beast disappears into the canopy.  

<Do Norobu and Nikki hear the caravan coming? R5C5 Yes but  +3 Twist >

<Twist 5/4   “An emotional event hindered the hero.”>

The battered Norobu looks up, hearing the distant sound of the patrol communicating that they had made contact with the outlander Caravan.  Seeking to answer in return, Norobu can only grasp the shattered remnant of the instrument left to her by her missing mother.

End  Scene One:

Scene Two: <Roll 4 - Quiet Scene>

< Except for the role of the Next scene, no other game mechanics were involved.>

With Yerena’s worlds still burning in memory (flashback to a truly epic dressing down about trail discipline and following directions), the trip back to the patrol was quiet. The senior woman’s usual incessant interrogation about tail-sign and medicinal plants was missing.  As obnoxious as the training usually was, the harsh look and the older woman’s silence were worse.

===

Pillars of sunlight pierced the dim canopy, filtering through layers of dappled green. Flowering vines hung like chandeliers in the open spaces between the boughs, their scent thick in the air, sweet enough to draw leather-winged pollinators gliding through the gloom. A small lizard, scales catching a flicker of light, peeked from a nest of rainbow-hued epiphytes.

Along moss-draped branches and fern-laced trunks, ant trails wove in steady motion. Each ant carried a burden many times its size—fragments of leaf, petal, or prey—bound for the hidden heart of the colony.

No voices echoed through the understory. The Great Spiders and their riders moved with uncanny silence, their passage muffled beneath the insect drone and the skittering of small predators. So quiet were they that a gliding squirrel, poised to leap, flinched in surprise when a massive, jointed leg settled beside it without warning.

===

The Canvasarra stood at the intersection of three great boughs, each at least 30 feet in diameter but separated by less than 200 feet. The open volume in the canopy was greater than any Norobyu had ever seen. If enough people could be found to defend it, it would have made an excellent site for a village.   

The room is precisely what made this the perfect place for the caravan to hold the dozens of guards, merchants, and catapillar drivers.  The draft animals used by the drovers, related to the Bull Catpillar that bruised Norobu. That is a smaller version of their wilder cousins. These might not be able to carry as much, but good luck getting the wild breed into harness, much less to take a human command.  

Closer in, the Canvasarra was a riot of sights, sounds, and smells.  The smells of roasted foods and cooking fires. The smells of familiar spices and the haunting familiarity of those spices combined in new ways.  The smells of humans and animals. In all, it was the smell of a campsite lived in too long and ready to be returned to the forest. 

 “Grandfathers! That odor, and they just arrived!”

“Ah, it is not that young one,” replied Yerena. “Look at how close the central trunks of the tree are. There is an upwelling far below us. That is the only way this area could support so many Grandfather trees so close together.”

“You will not need to worry about that tonight.  The caravan guards can watch the open areas well enough.  You will stand post tonight with Anna and Roku as outriders. Go in there now and get Nikkii watered and fed.  

A stern look from Yerena helped Norobu stifle the protest that automatically began to rise inside of her. 

As Nikkii carried Norobu toward the mass of humanity, Yerena patted her own mount.  

“No, Jea, I don’t think I am being harsh.  She and Nikkii handled that bull far better than I feared.  Missing the first night will be hard for both of them. Still, Norobu is less likely to be distracted by the forest if she is with someone.” Yerena chuckled after a pause, “and yes, Anna is less likely to be distracted by the caravan guards if she has company.”

“Let’s go to the bathhouse.  If opportunity presents himself, I would not mind a little distraction myself.”

Scene Three (Next Scene Roll 6 - Meanwhile)

posted by Y.H.N.

Star Viewing in Florida

Last Saturday evening, I took my 14-year-old, Alastair, star-watching on the shore of Lake Okeechobee. Looking west, we had a large expanse of farming area to our backs, and the nearest sources of light pollution, West, North West, and South West, are roughly 20 miles away.

The view was amazing. After living in Broward, where there is no night sky, seeing the sky in Port St Lucie (PSL) was amazing. I use reference stars to gauge the level of light pollution. Polaris is almost 2nd magnitude, and I can see that one in town from my driveway. (Yeah, no street lights!!!) The other two stars at the other end of the "little dipper" are Beta and Gamma Ursae Minoris (UMi), 2nd and 3rd magnitudes. On a good night in PSL, you can see Beta UMi with averted vision and some knowledge of what you are looking for.

On the lake's shore, we could see so many stars that it took a few moments to identify familiar asterisms. Alastair was blown away. He wanted to bring my friend out to the lake as well. It makes me happy that Al wants to include my lady friend in many of our activities.

Gamma UMi (3rd magnitude) was easily spotted, as were many others. However, I am chagrined to say that I did not have any 4th, 5th, or 6th magnitude reference stars memorized. I am correcting that now.  

 

posted by Y.H.N.

We have Met the Aliens and They are Us!

                One of the more interesting futures would be one in which humanity's search for life in the universe is the cause of the alien civilizations and alien life that we do find.  Let's say earth life begins to spread through the universe at ... oh say 5% of the speed of light. It is an interesting speed in that a light year takes 20 years to cross, roughly a human generation.  New settlements succeed or fail, and at least a few of those that do succeed produce the next wave of interstellar settlement. This is sometimes called, “Crawinization.”

At theses speeds each system settled becomes a genetically isolated population. Through the founder effect, genetic drift, and natural selection, the process of speciation begins. This completely ignores the possibility of engineered selection. Even new arrivals from the mother civilization are either reestablishing a failed effort, and thus starting the clock over, or are encountering an existing population to which, assuming small crew sizes, they can make only a limited genetic contribution.  Some estimates put the time for one species to transform through accumulated mutations into a different species at 2 million years, but in some African fish species as little as 15,000 years. That said each wave of settlement starts with a small population, one genetic choke point after another driving speciation not through time but through distance.

Settlement thus moves as a wave front through the galaxy, but how fast? Upon arrival let’s estimate the time for the daughter civilization to build the population and industrial base to repeat the process is about 500 years.  Some will be faster, some will be slower, but it is the faster that will seize the colonization opportunities.  The mother civilization has a 500-year head start on reaching any settlement target. At 5% of the speed of light this amounts to about 25 light years beyond he daughter settlement.  Beyond that, at least one of the daughter civilizations (assuming many successes) will be closer to any given settlement target, still at 5% of the speed of light. 

Where is this settlement front headed? Sol is about 26,000 light years from the center of the galaxy and in the middle of the galactic habitable zone, an annulus about the disc of the galaxy where stars form and the necessary elements for life are being generated in the deaths of supermassive stars.  A circle of radius 26,000 ly is roughly 160,000 ly in circumference.  The waves of settlement will proceed in both directions and each covering half that path, 80,000 ly and meet on the other side of the galaxy. At 0.05c this takes 1.6 million years, or 80,000 human generations.

As we colonize the galaxy, we are going to take our allied species with us. The producers of food, oxygen, companionship, and even the microbes in our gut. Oh, heck with it. Let’s take all species with us just in case. 

In addition to going through a genetic choke point every 25 generations or so, consider also that we will have full control over our genetic future.  It is difficult to imagine using that freedom to deliberately produce the diversity of say the Star Wars Universe, but what about unintentionally? We need to think about 1.6 million years with small deliberate decisions made in each generation.  In one generation, we eliminate a genetic disease, in the next we ensure our children are just a little more resistant to depressurization than their parents.  How many generations of small deliberate adaptations until vacuum exposure is a survivable experience?  How long till we are as adapted to vacuum as we are currently to the heat of the Australian desert, with vacuum adaptations are just one possible choice. 

What about metabolic needs? These needs drop roughly as the cube root of the scale, a 1/2 sized human takes up 1/8 of the space and food, water, and air resources.  Why stop at 1/2?  How far down could we go and still support human cognition?  What about temporal adaptations? What advantages accrue to a human clade with a clan that metabolizes, moves, and thinks at 1/100^th of normal speed in order to pilot interstellar voyages? To such a human a 500 year voyage is still a grueling 5 subjective years, but not endured on a generation ship.  In the end, different branches of humanity meeting again after thousands of years may be as alien to each other as anything imagined by George Lucas. 

--- posted by Y.H.N.