Scabport: Traveller Intro

What you know

You're on the planet Winston which is the only habitable planet in the Winston system.
Winston is very similar to Earth in that it's about the same size (12,000 km diameter), the same gravity (rocky core, 1.05g), the same hydrography (70%), similar air pressure and composition (110 KPa, N, O, Ar, Xe), similar temperatures, and similar day length (23 hours). Axial tilt is 15 degrees, so the seasons are not as strong as Earth.

1 hex = 1000km, so New Zealand would be about two.

Sun and Friend

Winston orbits a much smaller star than Earth's sun (G2V). The "Sun" is a K5V orange dwarf (0.7M☉, 0.17L☉) at only 42 M km (0.28 AU), so the the year is only 72 days long.

And there is a second star orbiting further out at 0.4AU. It is a M5K red dwarf (0.1M☉) and appears in the sky as a bright reddish star that varies in size between 3/4th to 1/8th full-moon size. This is called the "Friend" or "Little Friend". It is thrice as bright as our full moon, and produces big tides.

Planet Winston was probably originally captured from further out in the system. It is now in an orbital resonance with both stars, and it's been stable like this for hundreds of thousands of years*.

* = All years here are "Earth years" to help understand.

But due to this origin, life would not have evolved here. The place was terraformed by the Imperium 350 years ago which took 160 years. It was then given to the Sword World Confederation in a political deal 190 years ago.

The combination of the two suns gives very large tides, and violent weather; hurricanes and tornadoes are common. Orange and red dwarves are more violent stars than Earth's sun, so there are regular solar storms and coronal mass ejections from the Sun and the Friend. The most violent of these force Winston's inhabitants to take cover in bunkers.

Winston Ende

The Winston system and planet was named after its first ruler, Winston Peters Ende. He was a benevolent dictator, or fascist tyrant, depending on who you ask.

Winston Ende had life extension, so was 420 years old when he tragically died in a skyhook accident 20 years ago. The fuel governors on the air-raft thrusters malfunctioned, so all those on board were subject to 25g for a sustained time before the fuel ran out, as the craft looped around and around in a great arc. What came back didn't live long.

Politics

Planet Winston is still in settler mode. It is tech level 6: 1950 plus modern TL10 nick-nacks. The population is currently only 500,000, so there are lots of big farms and rural towns. There is a very "wild west" feel about this, with each town having a local sheriff appointed by the local noble, warlord or crime family. There isn't really a central government. Entrope (the closest system) has stationed a battalion of Sword-Worlder peacekeepers to the biggest town Ravens End to maintain the control of the space elevator and star port, but they don't tend to venture out into the wilds.

Carrying of blades, single-shot projectile weapons and revolvers openly is tolerated, but not grenades, automatic weapons, lasers or energy weapons.

There is one space port orbiting in a geostationary orbit with a space elevator to the ground, connected to Ravens End. It is an E-type "Frontier Star port" plus. There are no ship-building yards here, nor ship repair capacity. But they do sell refined fuel, which is stored in orbit.

When they can get a successful harvest, Winston farms make a lot of food which is exported mainly to the nearest system (and megalopolis hell-hole) Entrope. Space tourism is another big earner.

The Party

The party is a mix of Sword-Worlders and Solomani from Winston and Entrope, and one Daryen from Torment. All are legally freemen and have Winston citizenship.

Belle Ende drinking and flying

Your patrons, the Ende family, live in an impressive estate overlooking the sea and the town of Ravens End. The aging patriarch Sir Ledge and his ageless wife Lady Contessa run the Ende (crime) family.

They have five children: Hoff, Itzy, Belle, Knob and Apres.

Belle Ende, socialite and lush, has come of age and wants to prove herself to her father. So, she, her two brothers Hoff and Itzy, her body-guard Liz Holmes, and her chauffeur Paddy O'Riley have collected a group of ~~malcontents, recidivists and ne'er-do-wells from the local slums, brothels and doss-houses~~ hard-working, loyal, honest advisors and stalwarts: Emerse Gee, Anton Tositova, Spanner Hoang, and Gnostic Hands.