| Planet Curacao | |
| Owner | |
| Orbital Spa & Cruise | |
| Location | |
| D/E-3, Cortez |
DIAMETER: 19,443 km.
MASS: 6.98 x 10e25 kg.
TERRAIN: Terrestrial
TEMPERATURE: -56°C to 53°C
ESCAPE VELOCITY: 13.27 km/sec
Unfettered by colony law, Curacao is run by Orbital Spa and Cruise Lines as a pleasure planet where every whim and decadent urge is fulfilled. The only sound that can be heard over the lapping waves on its fabulous beaches is the tremendous outpouring of credits by its patrons. This is not a planet for the idle vacationer; it was established to cater to the affluent from Manhattan and Los Angeles who, in many cases, have more currency than morals. Beautiful tropical archipelagos dot the world's pristine oceans, which are filled with exotic -- and sometimes dangerous -- sealife. Curaco has proven fiercely resistant to introduced Sol flora and fauna, necessitating the bulk import of the many necessities the resorts require.
Curacao was first discovered in 465 AS when Cortez was charted as an alternate passage through The Barrier, however it only became a place of renown a decade later with the formation of Orbital Spa & Cruise. Banking on the appeal of a hyper-luxury resort beyond House regulations, Orbital constructed planetside retreats to cater to the most decadent whims of Sirius' elite. It was an instant success. Free of any taxation on gambling, royalties on trade, or restrictions on conduct, the company could cater to every requirement of those select few who could afford the service. By 502 AS, OS&C was the first private entity to outright purchase a Docking Ring.
From 818 AS onwards, Curacao fell on hard times. The Gallic Invasion led to a sharp decrease in visitors from Bretonia, while Liberty guests avoided traveling towards the conflict. This worsened in 822 AS, once the Gallic Royal Navy invaded Cortez with the Carcassonne fleet, enacting the "Starvation Strategy" to sever Liberty's supply lines to the Bretonian front. OS&C was forced to evacuate and then close its resorts, as Gallic battleships loomed overhead. Curacao narrowly avoided occupation through a lack of strategic value, and the expensive bribery of Royal officers. Curacao also earned goodwill by providing impartial medical treatment to pilots wounded in the system. This continued until late 825 AS, when Gallia was repulsed from Cortez through the destruction of the Battleship Betheny.
Upon the war's end, Orbital was forced to carry out a series of expensive renovations, and adjust to the collapse of Bretonian tourism. Matters were further complicated when ambitious Liberty Rogues seized several of Curacao's island resorts in 832 AS, demanding ever increasing tithes as a protection racket. As this unpleasant form of lawlessness was dissuading elite guests from attending, OS&C instead hired a large contingent of Bounty Hunters and mercenaries to run the pirates off. The Rogues have made a point of vindictively targeting Orbital ships in retaliation, with Interspace repeatedly hiking local insurance premiums as a result of increased losses. Despite this, reassured guests have returned, and profits are trending upward once more.
Bribes & Missions Offered
| Bribes |
| Missions |
Commodities
| Exports | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ships sold
| Ship | Class | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Luxury Yacht | Liner | 755,001$ |
| Taurus | Bomber | 89,679$ |
| Dorado | Freighter | 21,726$ |
News
| [835 AS] Interspace voids Coronado Trade Lane policy |
|
SCOTSDALE REFINERY -- 835 -- Ageira Technologies and Deep Space Engineering have threatened to sue Interspace Commerce over an insurance dispute. Interspace provided a loss prevention policy for Coronado’s Trade Lane construction project, however the financial giant says the policy is now void. Describing the Jericho Pulse as an “act of god”, Interspace exercised force majeure clauses to deny compensation claims. Local transports caught in the blast are similarly out of pocket. Liberty itself has yet to comment on the situation, however the prospect of starting over with massively increased risk premiums has thrown the project’s future into question. |
| [835 AS] Coronado disaster sparks panic |
|
YUMA -- 835 -- Public data feeds have lit up with distress calls from Coronado, after a system-wide EMP pulse wreaked havoc. Emergency requests for aid have been issued by the Crayter Republic and IMG, with early reports indicating that the system’s Trade Lane project has been destroyed. Ageira has confirmed that the Jump Gate remains unaffected thanks to post-Blackout safeguards, allowing relief to be delivered from Bretonia and Liberty. Panic erupted on many Liberty worlds after footage was released showing an energy field around the moon Jericho, seeming to indicate another activated alien site. President Hawthorne has called for calm, and reiterated that security forces were moving to contain the situation. |
| [835 AS] Leaks reveal Ontario alien technology |
|
MANHATTAN -- 835 -- The neural net is abuzz with speculation and worry after sensor readings of an active alien facility in Ontario were widely distributed. The datafeed claims the source of an enormous beam of energy is an ancient alien ruin on Planet Sudbury. Inert alien ruins are often discovered in the remote Edge Worlds, enticing adventurers and scientific expeditions. According to professor Johan Miller of the Hammer Institute, the discovery of an active Daam-K’vosh site is “unprecedented”. In an attempt to reduce panic, government officials have confirmed that steps have been taken to secure Liberty’s borders, and reiterated that there is currently no threat to Liberty’s people. |
| [835 AS] Gallic threats raise Tau fears |
|
SCALPAY OUTPOST -- 835 -- The Taus are once more on edge, after Gallia threatens the use of force to retrieve the Tau-23 to Tau-31 Jump Gate. Bretonia constructed the first Jump Gate in the system, which was later annexed during the Gallic War. Bretonia was gifted the current Gallic Jump Gate by Kusari during their invasion of Gallia, and has held it since -- with Gallia formally ceding its Tau claims through the Treaty of Rishiri. Bretonia has historically refused to discuss the Gate’s status until its own demands on the extradition of war criminals and payment of Gallic War reparations are met. The Bretonian government has warned that Gallic aggression or threats “will not be tolerated”. |
| [834 AS] Liberty advises against Sigma vacations |
|
HAWAII -- 834 -- Liberty has issued a formal travel advisory recommending its citizens avoid visiting Sigma-19 for cruise vacations. This comes after the recent destruction of Atka Research Station, and the disappearance of two OS&C shuttles. These incidents have been attributed to Outcast pirates. OS&C spokesman Judith Hillier reassured potential customers that the cruise provider takes passenger safety extremely seriously, and has “invested heavily in escort fleets and corporate security affiliates.” Kusari officials have also raised concerns about the Sigma security situation, expressing “concern and dismay” over the GMG’s handling of the dangerous region. |
| [833 AS] Liberty addresses Gold concerns |
|
LOS ANGELES -- 833 -- While speaking at an industry event, Secretary of Commerce Trombly responded to Interspace’s startling report on the Bretonian Gold Crisis. Liberty has long been reliant on Gold imports for a range of purposes, with the current scarcity causing prices to spike and damaging economic growth. Bretonia’s continued blockade of the Dublin System has so far failed to dislodge the Molly revolutionaries within, while causing further damage to the broader Sirian economy. Trombly confirmed that, “Liberty does not see a viable short-term military resolution to this issue,” and called upon Bretonia to enter into negotiations with the Mollys, offering limited relief on wartime debts as an incentive. |
| [833 AS] Liberty draws down forces in Crayter territory |
|
YUMA -- 833 -- Liberty has announced the end of the Battlecruiser Yellowstone’s tour of Coronado, where it has spent several years targeting drug smugglers in the dangerous Barrier Pass. President Hawthorne has reportedly lost patience with indefinite foreign deployments of Liberty forces, and ordered the ship to be withdrawn to bolster domestic piracy and smuggling suppression in California. A Department of Defense spokesman stated, “we have for many years provided the Crayter Republic with the training and material support needed to police their territory. We have faith they will be up to the task”. The Yellowstone’s withdrawal comes as Deep Space Engineering deepens its own investments in Coronado, with the expansion of the Scottsdale Refinery. |
| [833 AS] LPI commissioner sentenced following Erie probe |
|
PLANET ERIE -- 833 -- Helen O’Shea, Pennsylvania’s former LPI Commissioner, has been sentenced on corruption charges over the mismanagement of Erie’s planetary internment camps. The facilities were constructed to temporarily hold prisoners from the Liberty Insurgency while the courts cleared sentencing backlogs. Following allegations of human trafficking, the LSF launched a major investigation, discovering that as many as 10 percent of inmates were suspected of having been sold to traffickers. O’Shea is the latest and most high profile prosecution to date, and is expected to serve a ten year sentence at a minimum security penitentiary on Planet Los Angeles. |
| [831 AS] Gate corps clash over 'Blackout'! |
|
ABBEVILLE -- 831 AS -- EFL's 'Resilience Taskforce' today reported its findings on The Blackout, claiming to have gathered forensic evidence that proved the cause as Ageira negligence. A spokesperson claimed that the destruction of the Dublin Jump Gate by Molly separatists had created a hyperspace feedback loop that was propagated and amplified through the Ageira gate network. Ageira disputed this finding in their own press release, calling EFL 'fantasists' and countering that their own scientists had narrowed the cause to a rare 'hypernova' stellar event that originated outside the Sirius sector. Both corporations claim that network-wide hardware safeguards have been implemented that would prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Independent researchers have sharply criticized the corporate announcements, accusing both of self-interested misdirection. Professor Sophia Nagel from Heisenberg Research Station called EFL's accusation 'incoherent' and the hypernova explanation 'nonsense' that did not explain the characteristics of the 'Blackout Pulse'. Despite multiple different Pulse recordings being widely disseminated across the neural net, public efforts have so far failed to triangulate its source. |
| [831 AS] Pulse phenomenon linked to Blackout |
|
AMES RESEARCH STATION -- 831 -- Independent researchers have announced that a hyperspace pulse of unprecedented strength was detected moments before The Blackout, destroying many of the sector’s most sensitive and finely tuned observatories. Surviving data about 'The Pulse' has been widely shared across the neural net in recent days, prompting mass speculation. Professor Katsuma Oster of Ames Research Station described the signal as “astounding”. “These readings are unprecedented, as if reality itself were struck like a gong.” House authorities have remained tight lipped, refusing to share their own observatories' data. |
| [831 AS] 'Blackout' causes jump network failure |
|
MANHATTAN -- 831 AS -- Two days ago Jump Gates failed simultaneously across Sirius, freezing commerce and neural net access across the sector. When communications resumed 31 hours later, the news broke of Bretonia's loss of the Dublin system. This twin shock has plunged markets into chaos, prompting fears of sector-wide economic recessions. Interspace estimates that the stoppage alone caused billions of credits in losses. Gallia immediately accused Liberty of causing the outage, claiming the destruction of Dublin's Jump Gate instigated a cascading failure in faulty Ageira infrastructure. Ageira has sharply refuted the allegation, claiming such a systemic effect would be physically impossible. |
| [830 AS] Liberty annexes Planet Erie |
|
PLANET ERIE -- 830 -- The Liberty Navy has launched Operation PESTICIDE to annex Pennsylvania, following the collapse of talks between Liberty and Zoner authorities. President Hawthorne declared that Liberty could no longer tolerate a "lawless frontier" within its very core, and that the Zoners had repeatedly refused to extradite criminals and terrorists from the Pennsylvania protectorate. The recent destruction of an LSF satellite was the straw that broke the camel's back. Militias congregating around Planet Erie were routed following the Zoner Carrier Pinnacle’s destruction. The Battleship Alma then secured Erie’s orbit and landed Marines to impose Liberty law on Lake City. Surviving militants have vowed to resist Erie’s occupation. |
| [830 AS] Trouble in paradise on Erie |
|
PLANET ERIE -- 830 AS -- Since the destruction of Williamstown Depot near Planet Tremont, Liberty and Erie's autonomous Zoner government have been locked in a standoff. Liberty has long suspected the Insurgency attack on its logistics station was facilitated by informants on Erie, and has accused the Zoners of allowing Insurgency and Xeno operatives to roam the planet with "impunity". This morning, a missile streaked from Erie's wilderness, shooting down an orbiting LSF satellite that had been tracking "terrorist activities". Liberty has accused Zoner militias of the attack, and ordered Erie authorities to hand over the perpetrators, and all Insurgency affiliates. Zoners have denied responsibility, calling the attack a “Liberty false flag”. |
| [828 AS] Cortez cleanup begins after delays |
|
CURACAO -- 835 -- DSE has accepted a cleanup and salvage contract to address war debris in Cortez. The Aruba Debris Field has long been a cause for complaint by Orbital Spa and Cruise, over concerns that the unsightly wreckage would blight local tourist attractions. The site does not obstruct traffic, so clearance has been of low priority to both Bretonia and Liberty. This appears to have changed following a significant Orbital contribution to a clean-up fund. DSE was appointed as the primary contractor, as preferred subcontractor ALG does not have capacity for the job. The Rheinland group is facing manpower constraints following the Rheinland Civil War, and exploding demand for battlefield salvage across the sector. |
Rumors
| Orbital Spa & Cruise |
|
| Bretonia Armed Forces |
|
| Bounty Hunters Guild |
|
| Border World Exports |
|
| Cryer Pharmaceuticals |
|
| Gateway Shipping |
|
| Liberty Navy |
|
| Universal Shipping |
|