Sabledrake Magazine
February, 2002
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Vulcan, Planet of Romance
A Forgotten Futures setting
Copyright © 2002 By Rik Kershaw-Moore
Surface gravity: 0.24g
Distance from Earth: 59 - 134 million miles
Distance from Sun: 28 million miles
Day: 42.6 Terran hours
Year: 9.5 Terran Years
History
Vulcan is considered by many astronomers to be a ghost, a mythical planet that has claimed more than one scientific reputation including that of Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier. However to a select few Vulcan actually exists.
The story of Vulcan’s discovery goes back to a quiet spring afternoon in the tiny French village of Orgères, about 65 miles from Paris. It was here Dr Lescarbault, a keen amateur astronomer, had his practice.
On the day in question, March 26 1859, Dr Lescarbault entered the small observatory he’d built onto his house and trained his heliostatic-telescope at the sun. As he watched he saw a dot appear near the upper left-hand edge of the sun and move gradually downwards. He was fascinated since, as an experienced solar observer he knew this was no sunspot. Soon afterwards, he was called away to see to a patient but, when he returned, the object was still there moving steadily across the sun. Lescarbault watched the object for several hours until it disappeared.
It was not until December of the same year that Lescarbault realised he may have observed something of great importance, when Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier, France’s leading astronomer published a theory which explained the erratic orbit of the planet Mercury. According to Leverrier, the reason why Mercury did not behave in the manner predicted by Sir Isaac Newton was because some other planet orbiting between it and the sun was disturbing it’s orbit. This theory was not to be discounted because thirteen years earlier, Leverrier had successfully deduced Neptune’s existence by studying the irregularities in the orbit of Uranus.
When Lescarbault read of Leverrier’s theory he realised that the object he had seen travelling across the sun could be the planet Leverrier had described, and as a result Lescarbault dispatched a letter to Paris detailing his March observation. When Leverrier read the letter he at once left for Orgères to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the doctor was either a fraud or a fool.
After the astronomer arrived in Orgères, Lescarbault patiently showed Leverrier his observational notes and calculations, and commented he had not come forward sooner because he had failed to observe the object again. Leverrier, who was satisfied that Lescarbault was neither a fool nor a fraud returned to Paris and announced to the world that he, Leverrier, had discovered a new planet, which he called Vulcan.
No other astronomer, no matter how hard they tried could find evidence of this new planet, and they began to grow uneasy; publicly doubting the very existence of Vulcan. Despite such doubts, Leverrier continued to have faith in his inter-mercurial planet. He claimed that the reason why the planet was so elusive was that its orbit was perpendicular to the normal ecliptic plane of the solar system. Therefore it would only be visible when it crossed the sun.
Then in 1868 almost nine and a half years to the day since Lescarbault first sighting, astronomer Richard Covington from Washington Territory spotted Vulcan moving across the sun once more.
Leverrier, hearted by this sighting published yet another theory about Vulcan stating that it had an orbital period of least 9 years, and was probably composed some kind of optically transparent material such as quartz or diamond which was why it was so hard to spot.
Neither the sighting nor Leverrier’s new theory convinced the scientific establishment and Leverrier died early in 1878 a broken man only scant months before Vulcan’s next predicted appearance.
Nine and a half years later and Vulcan was once again spotted this time by the young George Ellery Hale who published his results in mid-1897. Once again this sighting was ridiculed and dismissed as merely the workings of Hales notoriously over active mind.
Matters were not helped when in 1899 Hale privately published a monograph about Vulcan. In this monograph he claimed that there was a 90% probability that Vulcan was composed of some strange silica diamond mix and that it probably supported life for a kind that was totally alien to anything on earth. Reaction from certain scientific quarters was predicable. Hale was branded a fool and an idiot, and Vulcan was dubbed the planet of romance.
Reality
Vulcan really does exist in this alternative universe, largely through the Observer effect.
Vulcan is slightly larger than Mercury yet less dense. It is inherently geologically stable with no earthquake or volcanic activity evident. While it is true that the planet is composed largely of a matrix of silica and diamond it is by no means transparent.
Instead the atmosphere, which is made up of inert gases, is filled with billions of microscopic particles of silica and diamond. These particles, which constantly churn and boil in the hot thick atmosphere of Vulcan, trap sufficient light to mask the planet when viewed at anything beyond a couple of million miles or so. What light that does filter down to ground level is a peculiar shade of greenish purple.
Because of Vulcan’s peculiar orbit, the planet has a very wide temperature range, running from +425 degrees during perihelion to a cool +170 at aphelion. It of course goes without saying that human beings cannot walk on the surface of Vulcan unaided. They will need to wear Mercurian Breathing Dress if they are not to boil alive or suffocate.
The Crystal Beings of Vulcan
Given such extremes of temperature it is amazing that life has managed to spring up on the planet at all, but life of the most enigmatic kind does exist. As correctly postulated, the life on Vulcan is indeed based around the silicon molecule. For dotted about the planet are huge elegant crystalline structures that tower into the sky, and in the shadow of these structures strange star-fish shaped beings move slowly across the vitrified landscape.
While crystals and starfish may seem at first glance to be totally unrelated, they are both alive and both are of the same race. The life cycle of the Crystal Beings is slow, lasting many hundreds of thousands of years.
Inside the crystals of the adults, chemical changes cause small nodules to appear on the surface of the crystal facets. These nodules take many hundreds of years to develop and grow until they are generally about a foot across in size. As they grow larger the chemical structure of the linkage between the crystal and the nodule alters till during perihelion, the link melts in the intense heat of the sun’s rays and the nodule falls to the ground and shatters.
From the shattered crystal emerges a small multi-legged starfish like creature that is anything between 4 and 8 inches across and has between 5 and 9 legs. These Larval crystal have the ability to move since their exoskeletons are comprised of many thousands of articulated plates that allow them to roam slowly across the planet looking for a mate. This can take time and many orbits may pass before a suitable mate is encountered. When a mate is found, the larvae will meld with each over and become immobile. Crystal growth starts and the slow process of maturation begins.
In game terms the crystal grow by 2 BODY per Terran year for the first fifteen years and then at the rate of 1 point per five years until the Crystal Beings reach a BODY size of between 50 and 70. The Crystal Beings gain 1 point of MIND and SOUL alternately per 10 year period of life until a maximum of 10 in each is achieved.
When MIND and SOUL have both reached 2 then the crystals begin to become telephonically aware of themselves and their surroundings through the vibrations of their crystal bodies. Shortly afterwards, the Crystal Beings are joined to the group mind that makes up the Crystal Race.
As the crystals continue to mature so do their psychic powers until they will be capable of defending themselves from attack by attempting to match their SOUL against that of their attacker. They can achieve this if the attacker is either in direct contact with the crystal or is less that the crystal’s BODY away in feet. If the attacker’s SOUL is overcome then the attacker must break off the attack and flee the area.
Note: This is a modified form of the psychic attack rules from the Forgotten Futures Worldbook 3 - The Carnacki Cylinders.
The Larval stage can also prove a threat to humanity, since a 5 legged larvae will try to mate with the hand of an explorer foolish enough to pick it up. During mating the Larvae secrete a powerful acid which can easily strip bare flesh very quickly and can eat through a glove within 2 rounds. If such a thing happens then not only will the hand of the victim be badly corroded by the acid but also the suit will be compromised and the person inside it will rapidly suffocate unless the suit can be patched.
Crystal Larvae
BODY [1], MIND [1], SOUL [1]
Acid Attack, Effect 6, Damage A:I B:I C:C/K
Wounds: Any wound kills.
Average Mature Crystal Being
BODY [55], MIND [8], SOUL [7]
Psychic Attack - see above.
Wounds: It needs to be totally destroyed to be killed.
The Expedition
Following the discovery of R-Graviton technology in 1900, George Ellery Hale has begun to organise an expedition to Vulcan during its next predicated appearance on 23rd August 1906. Coincidentally this is the date that the Romans held the feast of Vulcanalia, an irony that is not lost on the astronomer. Hale has begun to raise a public subscription to fund an expedition, as he wants this adventure to be untainted by the callous wants of the diamond houses.
Hale has commissioned the Smeaton works to build him an Astrostat, called The Hephaistos (the Greek name for Vulcan), which is to be capable of navigating the dangerous inter-Mercurial zone.
However George Ellery Hale is not destined to have everything for himself, for the great-grandson of Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier, Monsieur Auguste Leverrier has let it be known that he intends to reach Vulcan before the American. Leverrier has the backing of the French Government who have felt they have lost their traditional lead in matters of the air. Leverrier’s Astrostat is called the Enclume.
The Hephaistos
Scientific Research Vessel
Shipyard: Smeaton works Yorkshire.
Laid Down: 1903, Launched 1905.
Crew: 20
Hull Design: cigar-shaped, water-jacketed standard plate design temperature +500 degrees.
Max. Acceleration: 6g
Endurance: 4 weeks
Crystal Life: 19 months
Max. Atmosphere Speed: 96.4 MPH, Difficulty Modifier -2
Total Mass: 300 tons
BODY: 90
Total Build Cost: £ 868,568
Military Control Room, 50 cubic yards Research Space, 20 x 2nd Class Cabin, 2 x Air Locks, Supplies (8 Weeks), 5 x Tons Cargo Space 1 x Pneumatic cannon, 2 x Maxim Guns, 1 x MK I Navigation Engine, 3 pair atmospheric engines, 4 pair Redgrave Standard Developing Engines, 4 x searchlights, 1 x telescope, 1 x Helioscope, 12 x augmented Mercurian Breath dresses.
The Hephaistos is a mammothly over designed cigar shaped Astrostat capable of withstanding the strong gravitational tidal pull of the Sun. It has a water jacketed hull designed to stop the crew from cooking to death.
George Ellery Hale (slightly manic astronomer)
BODY [2], MIND [7], SOUL [3], Babbage Engine [7], Business [7], Psychology [5], Scientist [9]
Quote: “Look if we had a 200 inch reflecting telescope we could see it as plain as day and we wouldn’t need to go Whirling off into the stars to find it!”
Equipment: Brown Serge Suit, Chalk, Notebook, Slide Rule, Notepad & Pencil, Telescope
Notes: Born in Massachusetts in 1878, Hale is a brilliant young astronomer of great promise whose nerves are not really up to the mark. Besides a generally excitable manner, Hale is prone to violent headaches, physical prostration and a sense his mind is whirling out of control, a condition he called Whirligus. He also has the nasty habit of sticking both arms out sideways and starring into the middle distance for long periods of time. In times of great stress, his subconscious translates the Whirligus into a small elf that comes and gives him advice. When he gets back from Vulcan he wants more than anything to build the biggest telescope he can.
Adventure Ideas
Protect the Ship
Through his contacts in the Foreign office, Lord Redgrave has learnt that the French Government has dispatched a number of saboteurs to try to disrupt progress on The Hephaistos. The characters are hired by Lord Redgrave to ensure the ship and its owner doesn’t come to any harm.
The Expedition
With The Hephaistos finished, the characters are hired by Hale to act as part of the crew for this voyage of discovery. However unknown to everyone else, there are representatives of the leading diamond houses and agents of the French government on board. The diamond agents are there to ensure that should The Hephaistos find Vulcan, and it is diamond rich, that information doesn’t go into general circulation. The French government agents simply are determined to stop The Hephaistos from returning first.
The Crystal Invasion
The expedition is a resounding success, and The Hephaistos returns to earth with a number of Larvae, two of which are compatible. These two somehow manage to escape and mate successfully. Since life on earth is less harsh than that on Vulcan, the crystal grows at an accelerated rate and within weeks it has put forth nodules. Can the characters stop the planet earth from being over run with by these strange crystalline entities?