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[BerkaZerka]

The Following are Setting Excerpts from Bounty Head Bebop and the Blast Off ship supplement.

[BerkaZerka]

It's Dangerous Out There!

The year is 2073 AD.  Fifty years ago, a strange comet of unknown composition slammed into the Earth’s moon, shattering both the comet and the moon in a cataclysmic explosion that opened an unstable wormhole to the Sun.  Debris from the comet and moon rained down on the world and spread out into orbit, surrounding the Earth in a field of lunar asteroids that, even now, continue to bombardment the Earth on a daily basis.

The devastation caused by the event forced mankind to retreat underground, or to the far north and south, where the asteroids fell with less frequency.  During this time of chaos, pieces of the comet were recovered and found to possess new and amazing energies.  These were christened ‘Gatestones’ in lieu of the wormhole still open above the broken moon.  Intensive study revealed that the energies of the Gatestones could be harnessed in a variety of ways, including the generation of unstable wormholes through space.  Using this knowledge, mankind went into space and created a gate around the wormhole above the moon, allowing them to direct its other end to any point in the Solar System.  A team of brave (and some say insane) scientists then traveled through – their control ship coming out in orbit above Mars.  There they built another gate, finding that a gate at both ends stabilized the wormhole.  It wasn’t long before other gates and wormholes were created and mankind began to spread out into the Solar System, using other technologies developed from the Gatestones to begin terraforming other planets and moons.

Now, with mankind spread across the Solar System and the section-by-section collapse of the former nations following the destruction of Earth’s moon, space has become as lawless as the Wild West of old.  Planets and moons are ruled (some overtly) by the Mega-Corps and Underworld Organizations that financed their colonization.  Only the presence of the SSPB (Solar Systems Policing Bureau) keeps a semblance of order, but corruption and indifference run rampant.  Out in space, hijacking and piracy are the order of the day, where only your wits and a ‘big stick’ will see you safely home again.

[BerkaZerka]

The Hypergate System

The Hypergate system, as the network of stable wormholes is now called, was built by the Gatestone Corporation and links the planets and moons of the Solar System together, allowing quick travel between them, where conventional travel would take much longer.  Just how the gates work is proprietary information guarded closely by the Gatestone Corporation, but generally speaking, they are man-made wormholes between two points that reduce the space in between to 1/250th that of normal.  Powered by the electromagnetic energy of each planet and the gravity of the Sun, the distance between each gate remains constant, regardless of the planets’ current alignment in the Solar System.  Further, objects traveling through the Hypergates (in Hyperspace) do not interact with things in the physical world, allowing safe passage at hypervelocity speeds between each gate without the worry of flying through asteroids, comets, or moons – though two objects both in Hyperspace do interact with each other as normal).  The following table lists the travel time (in hours) between each Hypergate.

...	Mercury	Venus	Earth	Mars	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune	Pluto
Mercury	| 0	4	6	9	30	55	110	170	225
Venus	| 4	0	6	9	30	55	110	170	225
Earth	| 6	6	0	9	30	55	110	170	225
Mars	| 9	9	9	0	30	55	110	170	225
Jupiter	| 30	30	30	30	0	55	110	170	225
Saturn	| 55	55	55	55	55	0	110	170	225
Uranus	| 110	110	110	110	110	110	0	170	225
Neptune	| 170	170	170	170	170	170	170	0	225
Pluto	| 225	225	225	225	225	225	225	225	0

[BerkaZerka]

Information on the current state of the Solar System:
http://www.bountyheadbebop.com/forum/index.php?topic=165.msg1974#msg1974

[BerkaZerka]

The Ceres System; Hive of Scum And Villainy

Twelve years ago, the Terradox Corporation, an excessively rich private venture group, claimed the mining rights to the dwarf planet Ceres and several of the larger asteroids in the surrounding system. 

Terradox believed that there were vast riches to be made mining Gatestones and other resources from the asteroids in the belt – as the Gatestone Comet that crashed into the moon was theorized to have come from the asteroid belt, or at least crashed through it at some point along its way.  Ceres then, would be the perfect location for the Terradox Corporation’s strip-mining operations of the asteroid belt.

This was not the first pitch to plunder the supposed riches of the asteroid belt however; which most corporations believed could be astronomical.  The problem though, was convincing investors that the overwhelming costs and logistics of setting up shop in such a remote location would be worth the risk. 

Terradox had a different approach, one that placed a tremendously large portion of the risk on the shoulders of only one man – Terredox owner and CEO, Blake Manheart.  So convinced was he in his scheme to reap the untapped riches of Ceres, that he agreed to put all of his family’s personal fortune on the line; which ultimately was enough to sell the rest of the shareholders on the plan, as (for them at least) the potential for reward now outweighed the initial risk.

Once the plan was fully backed and the funds gathered, Terradox sent long range scout ships and an exploration vessel to Ceres from Mars, loaded with supplies, workers, and technicians.  Once there, they would begin setting up not only a mining colony, but also the construction of a Hypergate over Ceres, linking it to Mars.  This way, material processed and refined on Ceres could then be shipped back to Mars in twenty four hours, rather than the fifty seven days it took to get there in the first place.

In a relatively short time, the Terradox team had constructed a large mining facility with refinery; a ship docking and loading station; housing for all the workers and technicians; plus a plush corporate arcology that one would expect to see in the imperial bureaucracy of Europa, rather than a backwater rock literally out in the middle of nowhere.

Not long after, the Hypergate was completed and operations started moving along.  What the Terradox Corporation quickly found however was that there simply wasn't enough material per asteroid (or even enough asteroid density in the belt itself) to support such a large scale endeavor.  The loss of profits and the cost of maintaining the Ceres colony became too much and Terradox went bankrupt.  Penniless and humiliated on such a grand scale, Blake Manheart disappeared and hasn’t been seen since.  It is rumored that he vented himself out an airlock shortly before he was to board a transport back to Mars – but no body was ever found.

With the abysmal failure of the Ceres project, the colony was abandoned and the Hypergate was shut down.  The Hypergate Corporation in fact, unable to collect its debts from the now bankrupt Terradox Corporation, ‘repossessed’ ownership of the Hypergate and keeps the Mars side offline.  The rights to Ceres were also put up for sale, but due to the Terradox debacle, they sold for pennies on the dollar and have yet to be anything but a legal right to the dwarf planet – as whoever owns them has done nothing to indicate any future plans for the abandoned colony.

From here, the complex fell into obscurity and was eventually forgotten by the system, until about two years ago, when a Gatecrash between Mars and Jupiter occurred, and a group of pirates found Ceres once again.

The group of space pirates known as Jake’s Jackers, had just entered the Mars Gate to Jupiter, when an errant volley of missiles from their SSPB pursuers, struck the Hypergate ring itself and inadvertently caused it to shut down.  The resulting Gatecrash flung the pirate vessel out of the wormhole and into space between Mars and Jupiter, where (after they had slowed the ship to sane speeds), they spotted Ceres and the abandoned mining colony.  They immediately claimed it for themselves and set up shop.  Among the crew was also a particularly bright hacker called ‘Peekaboo Z’, who after serious effort, managed to crack the Gatestone Corporation’s encryption that kept the Ceres Gate locked down.  Additional hacking allowed Peekaboo Z to not only open the Ceres Gate back up, but to also temporarily reroute other operational gates from their original destinations to the Ceres Gate.

This amazing feat of hacking brought what is now known as Gatejacking into being; where whoever controls the Ceres Gate (known as the Gatekeeper) can actually cause ships that think they are going someplace else (like Jupiter for instance) to actually arrive at Ceres – where the pirates are waiting to ambush and shut down the Gate behind them to prevent escape.

For a while, only a small and select portion of the underworld knew about the Gatejacking, as the Ceres pirates controlled the spread of that information with an iron fist.  As far as the general public and SSPB knew, ships started to occasionally disappear while in Hyperspace, but it was unknown why.  The Gatestone Corporation launched a full investigation and diagnostic check of its entire collection of operational Gates – which didn’t include Ceres, because they still believed that it was shut down at the time.  Their checks concluded that nothing was amiss with their Gates.

It is hard to keep such a cash cow a secret for long, and eventually word of the Ceres pirates and their Hypergate got out.  This caused a large influx of criminals and underworld types to Ceres, all of which were able to get passage through the Ceres Gate in exchange for agreeing to join the Ceres pirates and live by a Pirate Code while on Ceres.  The Pirate Code is a set of articles that govern the dwarf planet’s populace and include rules for conduct, the handling and exchange of stolen goods, the settling of disputes, and the punishments for breaking the various articles of the Code while on Ceres.

Once it became known that there were Pirates on Ceres, the current owners of Property Rights to Ceres saw it as an investment opportunity.  Instead of going to the SSPB, they signed up with the Pirates and helped to mold them into an even more efficient and corporation-like entity.  Now, Ceres is not only inhabited by Pirates, but also other enterprising individuals, like the syndicate and mega-corporation representatives and agents, all wheeling and dealing for their own cut of the profits; smiling starship salesmen, outfitters, and chop shoppers – ready to sell your own ship back to you if you’re not too careful; smuggles and traffickers of every kind; purveyors of any and all vice; miners hoping to find the big strike the Terradox Corporation couldn’t; and of course the dregs of society that sink to the bottom and just can’t get out no matter what they try.

In spite of the fact that the SSPB now knows about Ceres and its shipjacking operations, the fact that it is so far out of the way and off the beaten path prevents any one faction of the SSPB from wanting to claim jurisdiction.  In fact, there is currently a rather heated bureaucratic dispute between Mars and the Jovian Governments, each claiming it the other’s responsibility to do something about the pirates.  Until a particularly ‘important’ ship is lost to the Pirates’ Gatejacking, it seems neither faction of the SSPB wants the headache of dealing with Ceres.

That, and it seems that the Gatekeeper on Ceres has somehow locked the Gatestone Corporation out from all control of the Ceres Gate, making it impossible for them to reopen a stable wormhole between Mars and Ceres.  If a taskforce were to take on Ceres, it would have to make the long fifty seven day journey to the dwarf planet in conventional space – not something that either of the Mars and the Jovian Governments want to do anytime soon.

Because of this, Ceres has now become an outlaw / smuggler / space pirate paradise – where one can stash and trade illegal contraband or lay low till the heat blows over; so long as they don’t make trouble for themselves while on Ceres.

[BerkaZerka]

The Ceres Gate

Ceres’ Gate is a fairly unique, in that it was licensed by the Hypergate Corporation for the private use of the Terradox Corporation.  When Terradox went into bankruptcy however, the Hypergate Corporation shut down the Ceres Gate and took it off the grid.  This was supposed to lock Ceres down and prevent anyone from accessing the Gate; but as history shows, that was short lived.

Originally, the Gate was placed in a stable synchronous orbit above Ceres, but now that the Pirates have hacked it, they have also done something rather creative to prevent the Gatestone Corporation from opening the Ceres Gate from the Mars end – outfitting the Gate with a set of ship engines, which keep it spinning on its axis like a top when the Ceres Pirates aren’t using it to Gatejack other ships.  The constant spinning motion makes it impossible to open a wormhole to the Gate, instantly collapsing any the moment they are made.  When the Ceres Pirates want to uses the Gate, they stop the spin and the Gatekeeper hacks into another wormhole, allowing travel between the Ceres Gate and wherever they choose to make the other end.

Getting to Ceres therefore, requires knowing which Gate to enter and when, so that one would come out at the Ceres Gate rather than the normally designated side.  Typically, the Ceres Gate is opened for the benefit of the Ceres Pirates and their allies every eight hours, with random Gatejackings occasionally thrown in to actually nab a particularly tempting ship.  Knowing which Gate will be jacked each time the Ceres Gate is opened is a ‘closely guarded’ secret – guarded only so far as the writ’s clear – but in actually is fairly easy to get, if you know the right people.  The Pirates aren’t too worried about the SSPB getting the time and location of any particular opening either, as they monitor the vessels coming through the wormhole and would simply close their end and cause a Gate Crash if they saw an armada heading their way.

Currently the Ceres Gate is controlled by the Gatekeeper (right now this is Peekaboo Z), who also manages the schedule and locations of the regular Gate openings.  Unscheduled Gate use can also be arraigned through the Gatekeeper, though the cost tends to be proportional to the potential gain or need.

Conventional Space Travel Between Mars and Ceres takes 57 days at its shortest point; while Gatejacking from Ceres Gate to the other Gates themselves takes (in Hours) –

Gatejacking From Ceres To    

Mercury	15
Venus	15
Earth	15
Mars	24
Jupiter	36
Saturn	61
Uranus	116
Neptune	176
Pluto	231

[BerkaZerka]

The Ceres Colony

As noted above, the failed Ceres mining colony was reborn as a pirate hideout; a waypoint of sorts; a place for underworld types to pay out the goods, before heading out again.  It did not take long after word of its existence leaked out however, for it to become more than just a private pirate cove.  Today Ceres is a bustling and vibrant City-State in its own dark right, with its own code of conduct, a strong ‘service based economy’ and a unique three tiered society, as will be described below.

The Ceres facility itself is a completely sealed complex with minimal access to the outside environment of Ceres.  The only access points to the surface are on the ground levels of the Slums (see below) and those are both guarded and kept under lock.  With limited gravity and practically no atmosphere to speak of, the dwarf planet is almost as hostel to humans as the Jovian moon Io.  One small consolation of Ceres nature however, is that dry landing a ship built for water landing on Ceres isn’t a problem due to the incredibly light gravity of the dwarf planet.  While gravity generators are used to replicate Earth gravity in all inhabited areas, the natural Ceres gravity of 0.028 G’s, is maintained at the docking stations and allows water landing ships to set down in special ‘dry docks’ without risk of damage to their hulls.

There are three distinct Districts of the Ceres facility, each inhabited by a particular tier of the Ceres society: Uptown, Marketplace, and the Slums.  Uptown is named for its location literally in height.  The top thirty floors of the Central Tower as well as the top ten floors of the four surrounding towers are all a part of Uptown.  The Central Tower’s next twenty floors, as well as the rest of the four surrounding towers, house the Marketplace and four major landing bays.  Below all these are what is known as the Slums – the lowest part of Ceres, literally.  While the upper levels house the powerful and the rich of the underworld, the Slum’s of Ceres is where the real work gets done.  Dark out of sight corners and hallways hide the real intent of those who wander the lost complex of Ceres.

Uptown
Uptown starts at floor thirty of the taller buildings and is where the influential come to play.  It’s like an even shadier version of Venus Vegas here, though not as glamorous.  Only the most powerful players and rich pirates frequent the lofts and offices of the former corporate arcology that the Terradox Corporation left behind.  The chief among these being Treyvion Wilson, a representative of the current Ceres Property Rights holder, who has already outlived most of his partners since they purchased Uptown from the original pirate band of Jake’s Jackers.

Treyvion runs the Uptown like a high rent apartment complex with full service amenities.  He even rents by the hour if needed.  Many criminal organizations choose to meet under Treyvion's rules of conduct, which are the Pirate Code of Ceres – and he as the most influential arbitrator of what exactly those rules are and how they are applied.  However, while Treyvion owns a large portion of Uptown, he does not come close to owning all of it; there are just too many interested parties for any one man to hold it all.  Even so, Treyvion has been very adept at balancing his share of wealth and power with the bull’s eye that comes with it. 

Uptown is also unique in that many of the larger apartments have private hangers for their guest’s personal ships to land unhindered by the docking fees and hustle and bustle of the four major landing bays.

Marketplace
Running from floors fifteen to thirty of all the building on Ceres, the Marketplace this is probably the largest section of Ceres.  This is a one-stop swap meet of anything your little heart desires.  This is the end all for any fence worth his weight in writ to move items.  Rare and definitely hot items can be found here, as well as your standard fare of parts and other services.  The biggest difference here, is that the items you need are probably as much, if not more than, the items you want.  That is the nature of the Marketplace. 

Of note here is Runner Inc., which holds an entire floor within the Marketplace.  If you’re in the area, stop on by.  The Runner’s have an extensive collection of the most unique items to be found on Ceres – or anywhere else for that matter.

The Slums
The Slums are the twisted collection of lower floors and underground areas of the old complex, including some of the mines dug out by the Tarradox Corporation.  Rundown and cheap, this area of Ceres is where you can find cheap lodging and even cheaper company for your stay on Ceres.  It’s the low rent hostels, brothels, clubs and bars that meet any and all of your needs, but if you’re not made of money, you stay in the Slums – literally.  The Slums are where those who can’t make it (or go bust) on Ceres end up; many with no means or hope of ever leaving the dwarf planet – Ceres having become to them a trap from which they cannot escape.

[BerkaZerka]

A Little About The Ships Of The Day
In the world of Bounty Head Bebop, not everyone and his mother owns a spaceship; there aren’t competing starship manufacturing companies churning out endless models on assembly lines; and those fortunate enough to have a ship face incredible operational expenses that make owning a starship more of a liability than an asset. 

Typically, only the various governments, SSPB, transport companies, mega-corporations, syndicates, and super rich can afford them – and the companies that actually do manufacture them are lucky to roll a hundred and some ships out each year.  But then the characters of Bounty Head Bebop are anything but typical – they are the brave and intrepid souls capable of pulling it off, making a living at whatever they choose to do – their ships just the indispensable tools of their trade.  Or to some, the only friend they’ve ever known.

Generally, ships are also equipped with a ship’s computer and a variety of sensors, such as radar, signal trackers, infrared, and magnetic detection.  These tools allow the ship to identify itself to other ships (presuming the feature isn’t turned off) and to detect and track far distant targets.  Unfortunately, technologies have not yet advanced far enough to allow shipboard sensors that can actually see inside another ship, detect how many life forms are onboard, and tell you things like what kind of armaments they carry.  Something very near to this does exist however, and has been in use by the Gatestone Corporation for decades.  Essentially, every Hypergate is a like a giant CAT scan, using advanced X-Ray technologies to scan ships that pass through – allowing them to see inside, detect how many life forms are onboard, and tell them things like what kind of armaments you carry.  Nevertheless, the gate-scans can be defeated by certain forms of shielding and electronic trickery, such as hacking the gates while one passes through them (MTN 10 Computers roll).

Most of the larger ships (Huge sized or greater) also have an artificial gravity generator that maintains an Earth-like gravity aboard each vessel.  Turn it off and it’s a zero-G party – unless it was pirates that shut it down…  Other systems control and regulate the ship’s interior temperature, water supply, and airflow.  It should also be noted that all ships use oxygen scrubbers to recycle the air onboard – important to know, should someone get the bright idea of venting the entire ship to kill all the rats in the hold.  No air to scrub means no air to breath…  Because of this, most ships also incorporate a series of airtight doors throughout the vessel to preserve its airtight integrity.  In the event that any one section is damaged and decompressed, the remaining sections would be sealed off and continue to hold their air.  As far as a ship’s backup air supply goes – say hello to my little friend, the vac suit.  When it comes to space travel, don’t leave home without one!

As noted in the Core rules, ships with an active ship computer only need one person to crew.  If the need arises to operate and maintain a ship manually, then a full crew is needed, as determined by the size or type of the ship as follows: One person for Freighters and any ship smaller than a Frigate; A crew of four is required for Frigates, Transports, or Gigs; and a crew of eight for Capitol Ships.

So, what do these ships run on?  A non-cryogenically liquinated hydrogen-methane infusion (LHM) called Hydrometh, sold commercially at your local sky ports, orbiting transfer stations, and Hypergate outposts under such brand names as ‘Double Jet Fuel’, ‘Solar Diesel’, and ‘Jovian Propulsives’ – and a bargain at only 100 writ per gallon.  Of course, your typical ship burns 100 gallons of fuel each day, so it tends to add up fast.  Better get jumping on that next bounty!

To determine how many gallons of fuel it takes to fill up your ship’s tanks, simply multiply its Range in Days by 100.  For example a Fighter’s tank holds 300 gallons, a Frigate holds 2100 gallons, and a Capitol Ship holds 3000 gallons.  A Robot Ship on the other hand, which can only operate for an hour, holds about 5 gallons.

[BerkaZerka]

The Junker’s Guild
Gypsies, vagabonds, canny businessmen, scum; all words that describe the Junker's Guild – a motley assortment of men, women, and children collectively known as ‘Junkers’ who travel the solar system collecting your trash, and secrets.

The Junkers Guild has been in existence for over a hundred years; its roots reaching back to the Earth, even before the mass exodus following the destruction of the moon.  These enterprising scavengers have always found what they need from other people's refuse.  Now they ply the space ways keeping their old traditions alive, living by the motto ‘One man’s trash is Junker’s treasure’.
 
A little over a year ago, the Junker’s Guild took up residence in the Asteroid Belt, claiming a number of the larger asteroids not too far from the Pirate moon of Ceres.  There, they set up a ragtag collection of dwellings on the surface of the asteroids; actually fusing most of them together with the superstructure of the haulers they had originally used to carry them into the stars and a massive capitol ship they had found derelict and floating empty through space.

The Guild, as they like to call themselves, is a group of vagabonds and wanderers.  They are made up of numerous families, some related, others adopted into the Guild.  In the past, they did not have a safe haven to call their own and lived on their numerous haulers, each family owning their own, and each hauler housing up to three generations of scavengers.

Gathering yearly, they would swap tales, goods, and information at organized reunions.  This lifestyle left many families wanting to settle down and grow some roots; a place to call home and raise their children, store their databases, and just rest their feet after a long trip.

Having found out about the Ceres Pirates and knowing that their particular skills could be of use to them (as well as having a nearby place to sell and trade goods), the Guild decided that the Asteroid Belt was the place to plant themselves.  So, gathering resources, they made arrangements with the Pirates to get through the Gate and set up a colony on the larger asteroids in the beltway.  Now each family has its own set of apartments, and even though they are cramped, they are still considered ‘home’.  Ironically, now that they have a place to call home, most Junkers, not willing to give up their means of making a living, hardly stay there for any real length of time.

A Guild Master runs the Guild; currently this is a grizzled, one-eyed spacer, that goes by the name of ‘Keeper’.  It was under Keeper’s management that the Guild has found its current claim to fame – Information Brokers.  In their wanderings, the Junkers pick up all sorts of trash and casually discarded items.  Lots of interesting information can be gleaned from this trash (especially corporate trash and old hard drives).  The Guild’s databases are filled with tid-bits of information; nobody is safe, planetary officials, the rich and famous, even normal citizens.  The Guild collects it all.

While the Guild doesn't advertise this fact, word of mouth spreads quickly.  If you’re seeking out dirt on somebody, go talk to the Junkers.  Unless you can get to Ceres however, the only way to talk to them is to find them in their wanderings.  They typically don't stay in one place for long, so in order to get their attention, potential customers leave messages in bars, coffee houses, or any other place the Junkers might frequent.  Sometimes it can take months for them to get your message and contact you, but once they do, they’ll set up a rendezvous (ensuring they are adequately covered in case the meeting is a double cross).

Guild members are traditional wandering vagabonds, even taking up the flamboyant garb of the Gypsies of Old Earth.  They have reputations as happy go lucky people, always joking and willing to trade barbs with any they encounter.  Their outgoing behavior and wandering lifestyle have not endeared them to most of the system’s populace however.  Most people that know of them don't trust them and keep an eye on their junk – and their children – when one is around.  Many a young son or daughter has disappeared into the night, adopted into the Guild.  New blood is always welcome to the Guild and helps keep the families pure.

The Guild’s beat up-looking haulers, also known as Heaps, are really wolves in sheep clothing.  On the surface they appear as large rundown and cluttered cargo haulers, but under the surface, they are bristling with weapons.  Guild members are always prepared to defend themselves and the valuable cargoes their carry.  Many a pirate has failed to head a Junker's warning to back off and leave them alone, only to lose their ships, and their lives, in the ensuing conflict.  Even the youngest members of a Junker’s family are able to man the guns on a Heap ship.

While not aggressive in and of themselves, Junkers are always willing to defend their ships, their families, and cargo.  Most will give numerous warnings however, before attacking, and only the truly foolish ignore them.  In the Asteroid Belt, most residents know to back off and leave them alone when things start to get serious.  Otherwise, they readily take advantage of the Junker’s services, for both parts to repair their ships and equipment, and to get choice information on a target they are gunning for.