# The Pemmican Sector — World Gazetteer *A system-by-system guide to Rupert's Land, the dwarf-galaxy frontier of the Goodwinia Trade Company. Each entry describes a single stellar system and its single most-trafficked world, with the UWP, dominant powers, and the named persons and places a Traveller is most likely to interact with.* **Sector Powers:** - **Goodwinia Trade Company (Gt)** — "The Buyers." Off-sector corporate monopoly. Three enclaves: Edmonton House (west), York Factory (gateway), and Red River (settlement city). - **The Gatherers (Ga)** — Freighters of the West. Métis-led mid-jump hauliers whose ships burn Bryceptor blood. Densest network sits around Edmonton. - **The Sellers (Se)** — Hunters of the North. Cree and Saulteaux nations who run Bryceptor, Dew-urm, and Diefoney hunts across the boreal and midland prairies. - **Children of the Red River (Ch)** — Half-native creole population, rapidly organizing into a nomadic raider/trader faction. The faction quietly responsible for The Incident. - **The Warriors (Wa)** — Once the Rulers of the entire sector. Blackfoot, Lakota, and southern Anishinaabe war bands who lost the trade and now raid it. **The Incident:** The daughter of a major Gatherer leader was murdered the night before her wedding to the Edmonton House Factor. The weapon was an Imperial Blaster pistol — a model not traded into this sector for a thousand years. The Children of the Red River are responsible. No one yet knows. --- # THE BUYERS — HBC ENCLAVES The three corporate enclaves of the Goodwinia Trade Company plus the satellite outposts that fall inside the enclave borders. Every world flagged "Gt" pays its rent in Bryceptor-blood barrels to whichever local faction holds the surrounding territory. --- ## Edmonton House — 0204 (C542567-8) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (Gatherers enclave) | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Cp ### Description The capital of the western trade and the site of The Incident. A cold, dry, half-tainted world — thin atmosphere, salt-pan seas, blue glacial light most of the year. Edmonton House proper is a single fortified company town of about 895,000, ringed by a much larger Gatherer encampment that swells and shrinks with the hunt seasons. Fewer Company employees than York Factory, but a much larger indigenous and Métis population pressing against the palisade. Tension since The Incident is at a knife's edge: Gatherer leadership wants either the HBC or the spacers out, and the Factor cannot prove which one of his men did it. - **Starport Quality:** C – Routine (1D6 × 100 Cr berthing, unrefined fuel, small-craft shipyard, scout & GTC bases) - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G, low-grav) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin, tainted (filter required) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25%, small bitter seas - **Population:** 5 — ~895,000 - **Government:** 6 — Captive Government (HBC-imposed; Gatherer chiefs in actual control of the hinterland) - **Law Level:** 7 — all firearms except stunners banned in town; the Gatherer camp is uncontrolled - **Tech Level:** 8 — Pre-stellar - **Trade Codes:** Ni - **Temperature:** Cold (–51 °C to 0 °C); icy world with extensive ice caps ### Key Locations - **The Factor's House** — fortified stone-and-timber compound at the center of the post; site of the murder - **The Long Hall** — Edmonton's only proper tavern; HBC men drink the north end, Gatherers the south, no one in the middle - **The Trade Counter** — main HBC commissary; everything from rifles to salt comes through here - **The Pemmican Sheds** — long row of warehouses where Gatherers turn in dried buffalo-meat against credit - **The Gatherer Encampment** — the lodges outside the wall; effectively a second town and a no-go zone for armed Company men - **The Forge & Repair Yard** — Pruden's shop, doubles as the de facto starship service bay ### Key People - **Chief Factor John Rowand** — career Company man, hard-drinking, near retirement; convinced one of his own killed the bride and is interrogating his staff - **Eagle-Tail-Feather** — senior Gatherer chief who lost his daughter; coldly courteous, has not spoken to Rowand since the funeral pyre - **Marie-Anne Cardinal** — Métis interpreter and broker; everyone uses her, no one fully trusts her, currently the only person both sides will receive - **John Pruden** — post blacksmith and ship-mechanic; runs the small-craft shipyard out of his forge - **Reverend Robert Rundle** — Sigmarite missionary; runs a small chapel, treats the wounded, listens too well - **Sergeant Henry Birston** — head of the Homeguard; ten men, six rifles, one nervous trigger finger ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company - The Gatherers - Church of Sigmar (small mission) ### Other Info - **Evidence on hand:** holographic reconstruction of the crime scene; ID-card log of every non-resident through the gate that night - **The Factor swears** none of his men own a TGE Imperial Blaster, and ledgers support him — but ledgers can be falsified - **Standing order:** no off-worlder leaves the enclave without a Métis escort --- ## Peace River Post — 0104 (E432310-6) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (Edmonton enclave outpost) | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A frontier landing strip and palisade on the northern edge of the Edmonton enclave. Three hundred souls in a windbreak of stunted pines, half of them Company hired and half Gatherer kin who married in. The world itself is a dry, cold pebble — thin air, a few muddy rivers, never quite warm enough for proper crops. Peace River exists almost entirely because the trail to the dense northwest Gatherer network has to start somewhere. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier landing field - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 3 — ~3,200 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 — Company writ only; the Factor's word is law - **Tech Level:** 6 — pre-industrial space-age - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po - **Temperature:** Cold ### Key Locations - **The Post House** — single long log building serving as office, storeroom, and bunk - **The Snug** — the post's "tavern": one barrel, three benches, no name above the door - **The Lean-To Smithy** — half-roofed forge run out of a cargo container - **The Drying Racks** — open-air pemmican curing field, used as a town square ### Key People - **Junior Factor Alexander Fidler** — twenty-six, ambitious, terrified of failure, reports to Rowand - **Old Marguerite Gladu** — Métis matriarch; effectively co-mayor, brokers every dispute - **Charging-Bull-Calf** — Gatherer hunter-band leader who winters here - **Etienne Lépine** — voyageur boatman, runs supply trips back to Edmonton ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company (junior factor) - The Gatherers (Charging-Bull-Calf's band) ### Other Info - Way station for the Edmonton-Athabasca trail; almost every Gatherer hunting expedition passes through - Has the only working medical autodoc north of Edmonton, scavenged from a wrecked freighter - The post owes the Gatherers two seasons of credit and everyone is pretending not to notice --- ## Buckingham House — 0305 (D433442-7) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (Edmonton enclave outpost) | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A satellite of Edmonton, sitting one jump east on a cold, dry, thin-air world of red-brown badlands. About twenty thousand people split between the Company quarter and a much larger Gatherer-Cree winter village. Buckingham is where the Edmonton ledger gets reconciled with the Sellers' caravans crossing in from the east — a clearing-house with too much money sitting in too small a vault. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor (limited repair, unrefined fuel) - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin, tainted (respirator + filter) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~21,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (a Company-tolerated town council) - **Law Level:** 2 — portable energy and laser weapons banned - **Tech Level:** 7 — Early stellar fringe - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po - **Temperature:** Cold ### Key Locations - **The Counting House** — vault, ledger room, and Factor's office in a single squat blockhouse - **The Three Rivers Inn** — main tavern, decent rye, terrible food - **Cree Town** — the unpalisaded section outside the gate; larger than the Company quarter - **The Powder Magazine** — small bunker, kept locked, a frequent target of rumor ### Key People - **Factor William Tomison** — pragmatic, fair, runs the post like a frontier banker - **Stands-Against-Wind** — local Cree elder; speaks for the village to the Factor - **Joseph Trottier** — head Gatherer caravan boss; in town six weeks of the year, owns half of it - **Sarah Sutherland** — clerk and de facto quartermaster; knows where every bullet went - **"Old Knee" Pierre Marion** — Métis interpreter and gossip; drunk by noon, useful until then ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company - The Gatherers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - Two months' worth of HBC silver currency is reportedly in the vault — common knowledge, dangerous knowledge - The town council has been quietly negotiating with Children agents about going independent - A Sellers' caravan was attacked three hexes east last month; the survivors arrived here last week and have not yet left --- ## York Factory — 3004 (A867744-C) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (gateway enclave) | **Stellar:** F5 V | **Trade Codes:** In, Cx ### Description The sector gateway. The only legal port for cargo moving between Rupert's Land and the Galtran Anchorage in deep space. Roughly twenty-seven million people live on York's icy, ocean-covered world, the bulk of them in the orbital ring and the coastal port-city below. Almost every Bryceptor pelt, every keg of Dew-urm stim, every cargo of Diefoney pearls in the sector eventually crosses this dock. It is the richest, best-defended, and most heavily surveilled place in the Pemmican. - **Starport Quality:** A — Excellent (1D6 × 1000 Cr berthing, refined fuel, full repair & shipyard, Naval, Scout, Research and GTC bases) - **Size:** 8 — 12,800 km (~1.0 G, Earth-sized) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard, Earthlike - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 7 — 66–75%, Earth-like oceans (largely frozen) - **Population:** 7 — ~27 million - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (HBC-chartered borough council under the Factor) - **Law Level:** 4 — light assault weapons and submachine guns banned; cloth, flak, combat, and battle dress banned - **Tech Level:** C — Average stellar (Jump-3, plasma weapons, weather control) - **Trade Codes:** In - **Temperature:** Cold (icy world with extensive caps) ### Key Locations - **The Bayfront** — the great kilometers-long dock-shelf where cargo lighters meet orbital shuttles - **The Octagon** — the Factor's command tower, eight-sided, eight stories - **The Customs Hall** — every cargo manifest in the sector passes through here - **The Anchor & Cross** — TAS-affiliated hostel and pub; rumours sold by the pint - **Naval Yard** — Goodwinia's three frigates and one cruiser berth here when not on patrol - **Homeguard Encampment** — the Factor's two hundred armed retainers - **The Mess Hall** — vast canteen for shore-leave Galtran crewmen, with predictable consequences ### Key People - **Chief Factor Lelita Hargrave** — sharp, watchful, runs York like a city-state and the Factor of the sector by reputation - **Commodore Adrian Cumberland** — head of the Naval base; reports nominally to Hargrave, in practice to the Galtran's Captain - **Anwen Falcon** — Métis dockmaster; signs every manifest, knows every smuggler - **Old Bear-Who-Eats-Twice** — Sellers' factor at the post; the man Hargrave deals with for furs - **Dr. Hieronymus Schaal** — director of the Research base; ostensibly oceanography, actually Bryceptor biology - **Tobias Linklater** — head of the Shipyard; can fix anything, hates everyone ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company (capital) - The Sellers (primary trade partner) - Imperial Sigmarite Mission (small cathedral) ### Other Info - All inbound and outbound goods transit here; the Galtran jump line ends in the system's outer belt at 3102 - Open Factory Faction (balkanisation-leaning) and Corporate Overlords Society (bureaucracy hard-liners) both have visible support - Imperial Law (LL 1) inside the starport itself per company charter; LL 4 elsewhere --- ## Merry's House — 2905 (E564200-5) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (York Factory enclave outpost) | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A satellite outpost two hexes inland from York, built to receive Sellers' caravans before they reach the main port and to siphon off paperwork the dock can't process fast enough. Two hundred residents in a stone post on a cold, dry plain. The "House" is named for an early factor's wife who died here and whose chapel still stands. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard, Earthlike - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~200 - **Government:** 0 — None (Factor's word, then nothing) - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 — industrial - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Merry Chapel** — small Sigmarite shrine; the post's only stone building - **The Long Counter** — combined trade-post and bar - **The Caravan Field** — open ground for Sellers' wagons and skiffs - **The Watch Tower** — single timber spire, manned in summer only ### Key People - **Postmaster James Setter** — quiet, fastidious, keeps better books than York - **Wapanacha** — Cree hunter who winters here with his extended family - **Sister Beatrice Halcrow** — lay sister who runs the chapel and the only clinic ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company - The Sellers ### Other Info - Half the inbound York paperwork is actually filed here first - A small cache of refined fuel is rumored to be hidden in the chapel undercroft --- ## Nelson House — 3104 (C432543-8) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (York Factory enclave outpost) | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description Nelson House sits one hex inland of York, on a thin-atmosphere world named for the river that runs frozen nine months of the year. It's a customs sub-station and warehouse cluster — a hundred and seventy thousand people, half company clerks and half Sellers-affiliated longshoremen, all working the secondary cargo lanes that York can't handle directly. Considerably less surveilled than the main port, which is a feature, not a bug. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 5 — ~170,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 3 — military weapons banned - **Tech Level:** 8 — Pre-stellar - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Secondary Customs Hall** — the bureaucratic spine of the town - **The River Inn** — three-story hostel and tavern catering to short-stay merchants - **Warehouse Row** — twelve long stone sheds for overflow cargo - **The Shunt Yard** — a half-functional small-craft repair and refit yard - **The Black Counter** — unofficial market behind warehouse seven; everyone knows, no one says ### Key People - **Sub-Factor Elizabeth Norquay** — runs the customs hall with relentless precision - **"Big" Jean-Baptiste Parisien** — Métis foreman of the longshoremen - **Old Joseph Spence** — Sellers' factor, retired hunter, holds the local trade contract - **Tim Halcrow** — Sub-Factor Norquay's clerk and probably the most underpaid spy in the sector - **Karl Wedderburn** — Shunt Yard's chief mechanic; will fix any drive if you don't ask where the parts came from ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company - The Sellers - Independent shipping captains (unofficial faction) ### Other Info - Nelson House handles roughly 18% of York Factory's cargo by mass and 30% of its smuggling by value - Sub-Factor Norquay is feuding quietly with Hargrave at York and may be open to alternative arrangements - Two of the warehouses are leased to a "Federation-licensed survey company" no one has ever heard of --- ## Red River — 1725 (B667954-A) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (Children-majority enclave) | **Stellar:** F8 V | **Trade Codes:** Ga, Hi, Cp ### Description The settlement city. The only proper Earth-like garden world in the sector and the only place where the Children of the Red River are legally permitted to live among the Company. A hot, lush, half-clouded world with rolling prairies and broad slow rivers; the largest population in Rupert's Land at roughly 4.5 billion. Red River is what the GTC dreams the rest of the sector might one day become — and is also where The Incident's killers actually live, organize, and laugh quietly with their drinks. - **Starport Quality:** B — Good (1D6 × 500 Cr berthing, refined fuel, spacecraft shipyard & repair, Naval, Scout, Research, and GTC bases) - **Size:** 6 — 9,600 km (~0.7 G, low-grav) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard, Earthlike - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 7 — 66–75%, Earth-like - **Population:** 9 — ~4.5 billion - **Government:** 5 — Feudal Technocracy (the GTC charter, with Children-dominated lower assembly) - **Law Level:** 4 — light assault weapons and submachine guns banned - **Tech Level:** A — Early stellar - **Trade Codes:** Ga, Hi - **Temperature:** Hot (31–80 °C); most water in cloud form ### Key Locations - **Government House** — the Governor's seat, on the bluff above the Forks - **The Forks** — the river confluence at the heart of the city; markets, docks, churches - **The Cathedral of Sigmar's Light** — the largest Sigmarite cathedral in the sector - **The Half-Moon Tavern** — the unofficial Children-faction meeting place, run by a Métis war widow - **The Stone Fort** — Naval base and GTC garrison - **The Children's Council Hall** — recently built, technically a "cultural society," actually a parliament - **The Long Carry Market** — sprawling open-air bazaar where every faction's goods change hands ### Key People - **Governor John Ballenden** — head of the sector government; calm, exhausted, perpetually outmaneuvered - **Chief Factor John Black** — runs the Red River Company operation; old-school HBC, loathes the Children but needs them - **Louis Riel the Younger** — chair of the Children's Council Hall; charismatic, dangerous, knows about The Incident - **Father Albert Lacombe-Strong** — senior Sigmarite cleric; trying to broker peace, increasingly desperate - **Captain Maria Norris** — commodore of the Stone Fort; quietly preparing for an insurrection - **Cuthbert "Cuth" Grant Sayer** — Métis trader and Council enforcer; the man who actually moved the Blaster pistol - **Madame Angélique Lépine** — landlady of the Half-Moon, sees and hears everything ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company (sector capital) - Children of the Red River (majority population) - The Sellers (significant minority) - The Warriors (heavily diminished; raiding parties still strike the outlying farms) - Church of Sigmar - Corporate Overlords Society (notable bureaucratic faction) ### Other Info - Local cultural quirk: **Unusual Customs — Eating.** Formal dinners are the highest social ritual; refusing the host's food is a near-actionable insult. - The Murder weapon — the TGE Imperial Blaster — passed through Red River within the last six months. Provable, if one knows where to ask. - Sector silver currency is minted here; the press is in the basement of Government House. --- ## Oak Lake — 1625 (E543200-5) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (Red River enclave outpost) | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small Children-majority farming and transshipment outpost two hexes south-west of Red River. Two hundred residents, mostly second-generation Métis, on a thin-air world of patchy oak savanna and saline ponds. Oak Lake is on the road from Red River to Brandon House and is the natural choke-point for any caravan moving Children's contraband westward. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin, tainted (filter) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 2 — ~200 - **Government:** 0 — None (informal Métis council) - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Oak Hall** — the post's meeting hall, half tavern, half courthouse - **The Long Barn** — communal storehouse - **The Stand of Oaks** — sacred grove on the lake shore where the Children's elders meet ### Key People - **Postmaster Edward Pritchard** — only HBC employee in residence; tolerated, not respected - **Madeline Dumont** — Children's spokesperson; cousin of Cuth Grant Sayer - **Old Pascal Fleury** — voyageur turned trader; runs the only store ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company (single postmaster) - Children of the Red River (effective government) ### Other Info - The Stand of Oaks is technically Company land, in practice Children's territory; no Company man enters it - A great deal of small-arms ammunition passes through here on its way west --- ## Pembina — 1825 (C565432-8) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (Red River enclave outpost) | **Stellar:** G2 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description The southern arm of the Red River enclave, sitting on the line where Children territory ends and Warrior raiding country begins. A G-star world with cool temperate plains, decent water, and a tense, fortified Company town of twenty thousand. Pembina is where Children Métis families flee when raiding gets bad in the south, and where Warrior bands sometimes appear in the snow with hostages for ransom. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 4 — ~21,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy (a small Métis-Company council) - **Law Level:** 2 — portable energy and laser weapons banned - **Tech Level:** 8 — Pre-stellar - **Trade Codes:** Ni - **Temperature:** Temperate ### Key Locations - **The Pembina Stockade** — the timber-and-ferrocrete town wall; rebuilt three times - **The Buffalo Hump** — main tavern; carved wood Bryceptor head over the bar - **The Refugee Field** — open ground east of town for incoming Children families - **The Trade Counter** — Company commissary - **The Watch House** — small militia barracks of fifteen ### Key People - **Factor Norman MacGillivray** — youngish, fast-talking, balances Children pressure and Warrior threats by being relentlessly cheerful - **Madeline "Madsy" Sayer** — head of the local Métis council; sister of Cuth Grant Sayer in Red River - **Crow-Going-Home** — Warrior emissary who comes in under truce twice a year - **Sergeant Owen Inkster** — head of the Watch House; veteran of three raids - **Father Ignatius Beauchemin** — itinerant Sigmarite priest; runs a school for the refugee children ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company - Children of the Red River - The Warriors (under truce; tense) ### Other Info - The Stockade has a fully armed turret that has never been fired; everyone knows the magazine is half-empty - A small ferrous-aluminum refinery on the edge of town processes Bryceptor bone-dust for the Gatherers - The last hostage exchange ended badly; two Métis women are still missing --- ## Galtran Anchorage — 3102 (A000898-F) **Allegiance:** Goodwinia Trade Company (off-sector) | **Stellar:** F0 V (binary; deep-space anchorage) | **Trade Codes:** As, Hi, In, Cx ### Description Not a world. A twelve-kilometer ship floating in the outer dark of the York Factory system — the Goodwin's Promise, the Galtran that put the GTC in business and that still carries every soul and every kilo of cargo in or out of Rupert's Land. Eight hundred million people live aboard, in a city of decks, ducts, and chapels, and have for generations. It is the highest-tech site in the sector by an enormous margin: TL F, the only A-class port outside York itself, and the actual top of the Company hierarchy regardless of what Red River's Governor is told. - **Starport Quality:** A — Excellent - **Size:** 0 — Asteroid/orbital complex (12 km vessel) - **Atmosphere:** 0 — Vacuum (interior pressurized) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — None natural - **Population:** 8 — ~800 million - **Government:** 9 — Impersonal Bureaucracy - **Law Level:** 8 — all bladed weapons, stunners, and visible armour banned - **Tech Level:** F — Highest stellar - **Trade Codes:** As, Hi, In, Cx - **Temperature:** Climate-controlled ### Key Locations - **The Captain's Bridge** — sealed forward command deck; mythological among most residents - **The Bursar's Hall** — Company HQ; this is where Rupert's Land is actually run - **The Long Promenade** — twelve-kilometer arcade running the length of the ship, packed with shops and shrines - **The Sigmarite Basilica** — the largest religious building on the ship - **The Forecastle Slums** — Deck 14; where players' Galtran-born NPCs grew up - **The Sigil & Sextant** — TAS Hostel; first stop for every inbound Traveller - **Drydock Alpha** — the only place in the sector that can refit a frigate ### Key People - **Captain-Director Marius Goodwin VI** — head of the Company; descendant of the original ship's captain; never leaves the Bridge - **Bursar-General Antonia Hardisty-Mowat** — runs the day-to-day Company; the most powerful person any player will plausibly meet - **Master-at-Arms Cyrus Pruden** — head of ship security; controls who boards - **Reverend-Captain Maximilian Strang** — head of the Sigmarite mission to Rupert's Land; assigned the Edmonton mission specifically - **"Aunty" Genevieve Letendre** — Galtran-born Métis woman; the lost mom whose son is the player quest target - **Sigrid the Smuggler** — the smuggler whose deal the players may have taken - **The Rival's Agent** ("Mr. Calder") — recruits players for the Quest 2 destabilization op ### Key Groups - Goodwinia Trade Company (its actual seat) - Church of Sigmar (sector mission HQ) - The Federation's nominal authority (rarely enforced) - Multiple rival corporations operating discreetly aboard ### Other Info - The Galtran is the only ship in the sector with a void drive capable of reaching the rest of Egkia Dwarf - Boarding requires Company papers; players begin here and may not return without earning them back - Quest 4's "son" is somewhere in Rupert's Land and has not been heard from in over a century --- # THE GATHERERS — FREIGHTERS OF THE WEST The Gatherers are the great middlemen of the western trade. Métis-led freighter clans whose ships burn Bryceptor blood as fuel and whose pilots navigate micro-jumps by snorting aluminum extracted from Bryceptor bones. Their network is dense around the Edmonton enclave and thins as it stretches into the foothills, the badlands, and the Athabasca March. They are larger and more dispersed than the Sellers, and far more dependent on the GTC for the manufactured goods they cannot make themselves. --- ## Fort Mountain — 0101 (E310100-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M4 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Description The far western outpost of the Gatherer network and the last refueling stop before the empty hexes of the Athabasca March. A barren, dry, no-atmosphere world with the post built into a crater rim and a handful of pressurized domes for the hundred-odd residents. The "Mountain" of the name is a sheer escarpment of basalt that hides the post from the prevailing solar wind. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 3 — 4,800 km (~0.25 G) - **Atmosphere:** 1 — Trace (vacc suit) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert world - **Population:** 1 — ~10 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Dome** — single pressurized habitat housing the entire population - **The Pad** — exposed bare-rock landing field - **The Cache** — buried fuel and supply bunker ### Key People - **"Old" Antoine Boucher** — Gatherer dome-keeper; thirty years on station - **Sister Mary Hodgson** — Sigmarite anchorite who chose this post specifically for the silence - **Bull-Stands-Alone** — Blackfoot hunter who winters in the dome's spare bay ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Church of Sigmar (one anchorite) ### Other Info - Last refueling point before the empty hexes; every western caravan tops off here - A wrecked Bryceptor seed-bearer was recovered from the crater floor last year and is still in the cache --- ## High River — 0103 (E434210-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A thin-air world of cold gravelly plains and a single long braided river that gives the post its name. About a hundred residents — mostly Blackfoot and Métis families wintering together. The post itself is a sod-roofed long-house and a fuel depot. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation (Gatherer caravan-clan) - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Long House** — main building; trade counter, kitchen, bunk room - **The Ford** — the river crossing where caravans pause - **The Smokehouse** — pemmican production ### Key People - **Adrien Carrière** — Gatherer post boss; senior of the clan that owns this fuel station - **Calf-On-The-Hill** — Blackfoot elder; co-organizes the winter camp - **Brigitte Daniels** — clan trader and Adrien's daughter; runs the books ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (Carrière clan) - Local Blackfoot band ### Other Info - Junction point for two Gatherer trails; sees more traffic than the population would suggest - The Smokehouse produces the best pemmican on the western circuit, sold under the clan's mark --- ## Rocky Mountain House — 0106 (E431443-6) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description One of the older Gatherer posts and the closest thing to a town the western reaches have outside Edmonton. A thin-atmosphere world of red badlands and dry seasonal lakes; the post itself is a four-cornered stockade with a working forge, a chapel, and about twenty thousand people scraping a living from buffalo herds and small Bryceptor hunts. The mountain in the name is a single huge weathered shield-volcano visible from anywhere on the dayside. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 1 — Dry world - **Population:** 4 — ~21,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (clan council) - **Law Level:** 3 — military weapons banned - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Stockade** — central wooden fort, repurposed every generation - **The Mountain Inn** — three-story timber tavern, the best beer west of Edmonton - **The Forge** — Anderson's smithy; works iron, repairs landers - **The Buffalo Yard** — open killing-ground and tannery, smell carries for kilometers - **The Old Chapel** — abandoned Sigmarite chapel; now a meeting hall ### Key People - **Postmaster Donald Cameron** — only HBC representative; runs a small commissary - **Marie-Claire Beauchemin** — Gatherer clan-mother; chair of the council - **Iron-Shirt** — Blackfoot war-chief living quietly here in retirement - **Tomas Anderson** — blacksmith; the only certified lander mechanic for four hexes - **"Father" Patrick Logan** — defrocked Sigmarite priest who runs the Old Chapel as a moot ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (council majority) - Local Blackfoot band - Goodwinia Trade Company (single postmaster) ### Other Info - Gatherer council secretly negotiating with both HBC and Children agents about whose protection they'd prefer - Two of last season's Bryceptor hunts went catastrophically wrong; the council blames Sellers' interference - Has a working small-craft repair facility — rare for a post this size --- ## Bow River Post — 0108 (D554321-7) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a thin-air, half-dry world named for the slow muddy river that loops around the town. Several thousand residents in a mixed Blackfoot–Métis camp. The post specializes in tanning and bone-meal processing — every Bryceptor that comes through here leaves as fuel-grade blood, plasma-grade marrow, and aluminum-grade bone-dust. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy (clan moot) - **Law Level:** 1 — poison gas, explosives, undetectable, WMD banned; battle dress banned - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Tannery** — the largest building in town, smell to match - **The Bone Mill** — converts Bryceptor bone to aluminum-laced powder - **The Bow Tavern** — modest pub run by a retired voyageur - **The Boat Landing** — river dock for caravans - **The Clan Lodge** — meeting hall; whitewashed buffalo skull over the door ### Key People - **Joseph Dumas** — Gatherer post-master and clan elder - **Stone-Calf** — Blackfoot trader; sells most of the Bryceptor that ends up here - **Yvette Fleury** — runs the Bone Mill; quietly the richest person in town - **"Slim" Pierre Pelletier** — barkeep; ex-pilot, encyclopedic memory for ship trouble ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (Dumas clan) - Local Blackfoot bands - The Sellers (small itinerant population) ### Other Info - Bone Mill production accounts for ~12% of the sector's aluminum supply for navigators - A Sellers' faction is trying to buy in; Dumas refuses to sell - A wrecked Espalto carcass washed up on the river last winter; pieces are still being scavenged --- ## Milk River — 0112 (E565210-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A backwater post on a thin-air world named for the chalky-white river that bisects it. A hundred residents, mostly one Métis extended family and a rotating cast of Blackfoot hunters. The post is one building with a beacon on the roof. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Post** — one building, ground floor commerce, upper floor housing - **The Beacon Tower** — landing beacon - **The White Ford** — the river crossing ### Key People - **Marie Vandal** — Gatherer postmistress and matriarch of the resident clan - **Walking-Coyote** — Blackfoot hunter; semi-permanent resident - **"Young" Tomas Vandal** — Marie's son, learning to pilot ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (Vandal clan) ### Other Info - The post has been in the Vandal family for four generations - Marie's husband died in a Sellers raid; she will not speak to anyone in green --- ## Dunvegan — 0202 (E564210-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate, half-wet world of mossy hills and shallow lakes. About a hundred residents, all members or affiliates of the McLeod clan, one of the older Gatherer families. The post is named for an ancestral home no one alive has seen. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The McLeod Hall** — clan lodge; trade counter on the ground floor - **The Mossy Field** — landing strip - **The Boat House** — lake dock ### Key People - **Archibald McLeod** — clan patriarch and de facto factor - **Hélène McLeod-Cardinal** — his daughter-in-law; runs the books - **Walks-On-Stone** — Cree hunter who lives in the post's spare room ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (McLeod clan) ### Other Info - The McLeods have served the Gatherer freight network for four generations and have an unusual number of contacts on the Galtran - A Bryceptor seed-creature was killed in the post's potato cellar two winters ago; the cellar is now sealed --- ## Fort Augustus — 0206 (D433342-7) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description An older, decaying post on a thin-air world of cold, mineral-rich badlands. About twenty thousand residents, the population shrinking each decade as the Bryceptor herds move further west. The post still maintains a small landing pad and limited repair facility. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~21,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 — poison gas, explosives banned - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Augustan Hall** — main meeting and trade building - **The Repair Bay** — limited-repair landing facility - **The Empty Quarter** — abandoned tenement rows on the post's east side - **The Smokehouse** — pemmican production - **The Crow's Foot** — small tavern named for the Blackfoot chief who burned the previous post ### Key People - **Postmaster Andrew Munro** — fatalist; expects the post to be empty in twenty years - **Bertrand Letendre** — local Gatherer caravan boss - **Crow-Foot-The-Younger** — descendant of the post's burner, now its biggest client - **Old Annie Sutherland** — runs the Crow's Foot; has been here longer than anyone ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Goodwinia Trade Company (one postmaster) - Local Blackfoot bands ### Other Info - The Empty Quarter is a known squat for runaway Galtran crew - Munro keeps an off-books cache for "emergencies"; everyone knows about it --- ## Oldman River — 0208 (D554231-6) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A thin-air post on the bank of a fast cold river that floods every spring. Several hundred Blackfoot and Métis live here in a mixed camp around the old log-built post. The local Blackfoot consider this region sacred and the company tolerates a fair amount of irregularity in exchange for access to the herds. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~300 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy (elder council) - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Old Lodge** — post building and council chamber - **The Standing Stones** — Blackfoot sacred site on the river bluff - **The Ferry** — rope ferry over the river - **The Drying Field** ### Key People - **Pierre Trottier-Heavy-Shield** — Gatherer post boss; Métis-Blackfoot, related to half the council - **Many-Spotted-Horses** — eldest Blackfoot elder, presides over the council - **Sister Théodora Norris** — itinerant Sigmarite anchorite, runs a small school ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (mixed caravan presence) - Local Blackfoot bands (effective government) - Church of Sigmar (small mission) ### Other Info - The Standing Stones are off-limits to anyone without an elder's blessing - The river floods badly every third spring; the lodge has been rebuilt seven times --- ## Chinook Belt — 0210 (D554432-7) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** G5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A G-star world with unusual warm winter winds — the "Chinook" — that make this one of the more pleasant postings in the western reach. A mixed Métis-Cree town of twenty thousand stretches along a south-facing valley. The post serves as the regional veterinary hub for Bryceptor hunters; the wind keeps the smell of the rendering plant downwind of the residential quarter most of the year. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Rendering Plant** — converts Bryceptor remains to fuel and aluminum stocks - **The Warm Wind Inn** — main tavern - **The Vet Yard** — open ground for inspecting incoming live or dying Bryceptors - **The Sunward Hall** — town meeting hall, southern exposure - **The Wind-Cracked Stones** — Blackfoot ceremonial site east of town ### Key People - **Bernadette Falcon** — town speaker, Métis, fourth-generation Chinook resident - **Dr. Henri Riel-Welsh** — the post's veterinarian and de facto biologist; cousin of Louis Riel the Younger - **Standing-In-Sunlight** — Cree elder; lobbies for stricter Bryceptor hunting quotas - **Caleb Strang** — Gatherer caravan-master; passes through every six weeks ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - Dr. Riel-Welsh is quietly collecting Bryceptor reproductive data; the Children of the Red River want this data - Twice this decade a Bryceptor outbreak among the herd has nearly destroyed the town; the third time may be next --- ## Fort Augupunwat — 0301 (E310231-6) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Description A near-airless outpost on a barren stone world, kept open mostly to claim the territory. A few hundred people in pressurized prefab habs. Named after a mistranslation; nobody is sure of what. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 3 — 4,800 km (~0.25 G) - **Atmosphere:** 1 — Trace (vacc suit) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 2 — ~300 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Hab Cluster** — four pressurized domes in a square - **The Pad** — open-rock landing field - **The Boneyard** — accumulated wreckage of three failed Bryceptor extractions ### Key People - **Foreman Wilhelm Heriot** — Gatherer technician; runs the cluster - **Walking-In-Frost** — Cree hunter on long-term contract - **Madame Évangéline Gariépy** — the only commercial cook in the cluster; effectively in charge ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (small extraction crew) ### Other Info - The Boneyard contains intact pieces of Bryceptor unmolested for years; potential research goldmine or biohazard - Atmosphere is degrading slowly; nobody wants to be the one to raise the issue --- ## White Mud House — 0303 (E433200-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small thin-air post on a world of white clay flats and dry lakes; the clay gives everything a chalky cast. About two hundred residents, mostly one Métis trading family and their Cree affines. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 2 — ~200 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Mud House** — the post building, white-washed in clay - **The Lake-Bed Field** — landing strip on a dried lake - **The Smokehouse** ### Key People - **"Old" Pascal Cardinal** — Gatherer postmaster, semi-retired - **Sings-Loud** — Cree elder, married into the Cardinal family - **Hélène Cardinal** — Pascal's granddaughter; learning the trade ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (Cardinal family) - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The clay flats are an excellent emergency landing surface; smugglers know - Pascal claims to have an authentic Forerunner artifact; nobody has seen it --- ## Tail Creek — 0308 (E564211-6) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A creek-side post on a temperate world of long grassland. Around a hundred residents at a small wood-and-sod station. Bison-like grazers blanket the prairie for fifty kilometers in every direction in summer. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Creek House** — single trade building - **The Grazing Field** — open landing ground - **The Drying Stage** — meat-curing racks ### Key People - **Pierre-Olivier Dumas** — postmaster; cousin to the Bow River Dumas - **Long-Tail-Of-Dust** — Cree band leader; uses the post as winter camp - **Madeleine Dumas** — Pierre-Olivier's wife; runs the books ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (Dumas clan, junior branch) ### Other Info - One of the most reliable bison-equivalent hunting grounds in the sector - Caravans take on dried meat here when running short on pemmican --- ## Pelly River — 0310 (E565100-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A cool temperate world with extensive river systems. Population is a dozen — a single Métis family living at the post and trading occasionally with passing Cree bands. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 1 — ~10 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Cabin** — combined post, home, and barn - **The Pelly Ford** - **The Lookout Knoll** ### Key People - **Henri Pelly** — postmaster, lives here with his family - **Madame Suzette Pelly** — his wife; runs everything that isn't the books - **Old-Crow** — Cree elder who winters in the spare room ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (Pelly family) ### Other Info - The Pelly cabin is on every Gatherer caravan-master's list of safe houses - The family has reason to be nervous about visitors who ask too many questions --- ## Cypress Hills — 0312 (E565210-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A pleasant temperate post on a wooded plateau world. About a hundred residents in a Métis-Cree mixed settlement. The post does double duty as a respite for caravans coming up from the southern raiding country — wounded men and exhausted teams stop here to rest. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Cypress Lodge** — post and infirmary - **The Long Camp** — open ground for caravans - **The Spring** — fresh-water source that gives the post its strategic value ### Key People - **Catherine Gladu** — postmistress; trained medic - **Walking-Bear** — Cree elder, healer; works with Catherine - **Brother Anselm Christie** — Sigmarite friar who treats Warrior raid casualties without asking questions ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Local Cree band - Church of Sigmar (one friar) ### Other Info - Anyone with a fresh combat wound can pay double rates here and get no questions - The post received four wounded Sellers caravanners in the last month — Warrior raids are intensifying nearby --- ## Fort Vermilion — 0402 (D320342-7) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M2 V | **Trade Codes:** De, Lo, Ni ### Description A trade post on a hot, near-airless desert world; the vermilion is the colour of the iron-rich sand that gets into everything. About twenty thousand people live under partial atmospheric domes and in deep cave systems carved out of the bluffs. Despite the harsh conditions, this is one of the best worlds in the sector for Dew-urm hunting. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 3 — 4,800 km (~0.25 G) - **Atmosphere:** 2 — Very thin, tainted (respirator + filter) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 4 — ~21,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** De, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Sandfall Hall** — under-bluff main meeting hall - **The Dew-urm Rig** — orbital-deployed extraction platform; the post's main asset - **The Red Tavern** — pub carved out of the cliff face - **The Stim Vault** — fortified storage for processed Dew-urm droppings - **The Drilling Yard** — open ground for the heavy equipment ### Key People - **"Iron-Eyes" Henri Letendre** — Gatherer post boss; runs the rig - **Sand-Walker** — Cree hunter who tracks Dew-urm movement underground - **Madeleine Lussier** — Stim Vault keeper; controls the post's most valuable asset - **Dr. Yvette Decoteau** — Dew-urm xenobiologist; knows things even the Company doesn't - **Sergeant Marcus Calder** — the post's lone GTC liaison; not popular ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Goodwinia Trade Company (light presence; wants this rig) ### Other Info - The Dew-urm extracted here is exceptional quality and the Company knows it - Letendre is being courted by Children agents offering better terms than the GTC - A Dew-urm broke containment last year and is still loose somewhere under the sand --- ## Island House — 0404 (E543200-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small post on an actual island in a large shallow lake, on a thin-air world of cold rocky islands and brackish water. About two hundred residents. The island provides natural defense and the lake provides fresh-ish water; otherwise the world is uninviting. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin, tainted (filter) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 2 — ~200 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Island Hall** — central log building - **The Causeway** — narrow stone bridge to shore, deliberately easy to defend - **The Drying Beach** ### Key People - **Postmistress Margaret Sinclair** — Gatherer; ex-Galtran, never speaks of it - **Crooked-Spear** — Cree elder; uses the island in winter - **"Young" Tom Sinclair** — Margaret's adopted son; suspects he's actually a Warrior orphan ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (Sinclair holding) ### Other Info - The island has been raided three times in living memory and never taken; the causeway is mined - Margaret is the only known surviving witness to a long-ago Espalto attack on a Galtran tender --- ## Buffalo Lake (Athabasca) — 0407 (D433432-7) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description The first of two "Buffalo Lakes" in the sector (the other is in Sellers' territory). A thin-air world of cold rolling hills around a large dirty-brown shallow lake; about twenty thousand residents in a hodgepodge of Métis trading families, Cree winter camps, and Company contractors. A working repair facility makes this a key stop for any Gatherer ship needing service west of Edmonton. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~21,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Athabasca Hall** — post and council chambers - **The Lake-Front** — boat landing and freight dock - **The Repair Yard** — small-craft shipyard, three landing pads - **The Buffalo's Head** — large tavern, terrifying taxidermy - **The Drying Field** ### Key People - **Postmaster Walter MacKay** — long-tenured Gatherer factor; respected - **Calf-Of-Many** — Cree band leader who winters his people here - **Sophie Trottier-MacKay** — Walter's wife, daughter of Joseph Trottier of Buckingham - **Hans Kirschbaum** — shipyard's master mechanic; says little, fixes everything - **"Long" Étienne Saulteaux** — barkeep; ex-pilot, lost a leg in a micro-jump accident ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Local Cree band - Goodwinia Trade Company (modest) ### Other Info - The Repair Yard can do drive overhauls — the only such facility outside Edmonton in this quadrant - Kirschbaum is rumored to have a stash of pre-Federation parts; verifiable, but he won't talk about it --- ## Lesser Slave Lake — 0503 (E565300-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A temperate world dominated by a single huge freshwater lake. The post is a long boathouse on the lake's south shore. About a thousand residents, mostly Cree fishermen and a small Gatherer trading outfit. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 3 — ~1,000 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Boathouse** — post and main dock - **The Fish Yard** — drying racks along the shore - **The Lake Lodge** — Cree band meeting hall ### Key People - **Postmaster Tomas Marion** — Gatherer; fourth-generation lake resident - **Yellow-Sun** — Cree elder; head of the fishing council - **Maman Catherine Marion** — Tomas's mother; runs the books and the kitchen ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (Marion family) - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The lake's fish provide most of the protein for the western Gatherer network - Yellow-Sun's grandfather signed the original land-share with the Marions; there is a treaty stone at the lodge --- ## Hand Hills — 0508 (E564100-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate world of hilly grassland. A dozen residents. The "Hand Hills" are a series of five low ridges that look, from the air, like a spread palm; sacred to the local Blackfoot, who tolerate the post on sufferance. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 1 — ~10 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Post** — single cabin - **The Palm Stones** — Blackfoot sacred site - **The Landing Notch** ### Key People - **Old Hugh Birnie** — Gatherer postmaster; lives here alone - **Stands-On-The-Palm** — Blackfoot elder; visits monthly ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (one factor) - Local Blackfoot band (effective owners) ### Other Info - Birnie is the second-oldest known postmaster in the sector - The Palm Stones are off-limits to outsiders without exception --- ## Fort Plegan — 0510 (E434543-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air post on a cold world named for an early Blackfoot war-leader. About thirty thousand residents in a sprawling Métis-Cree-Blackfoot settlement. The post sits at the confluence of two old Gatherer trails and is a major exchange point. Frequently confused with Fort Piegan (0431) in Warrior territory. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 5 — ~340,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Confluence Hall** — central trade and council building - **The Cross-Roads** — open caravan ground - **The Plegan Inn** — three-story tavern, rough but cheap - **The Watch Tower** — old wooden lookout, now mostly ceremonial - **The Chapel of Saint Sigmar of the Plains** — Sigmarite mission ### Key People - **Mayor-Factor Charles Lépine-Trottier** — elected head; Métis, balances all three native bands - **Walking-In-Snow** — Cree elder - **Bull-Calf-Bellows** — Blackfoot elder; only senior Warrior-affiliated person tolerated here - **Sister Adelaide Norris** — runs the Chapel and the only school - **Antoine Charette** — head of the local caravan masters' association ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (majority) - Multiple Indigenous bands - Church of Sigmar (modest mission) ### Other Info - Mayor-Factor Lépine-Trottier is the only Métis leader who has met with both Children and Warrior emissaries this year - The Plegan Inn has hosted four secret peace negotiations; none have held - Fort Plegan is the most likely place for a sector-wide diplomatic summit to ever occur --- ## Red Deer River — 0602 (D564342-7) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A temperate world with broad river valleys and stands of dark conifer. The post sits at a sharp bend in the eponymous river, used as a portage point by every Gatherer who runs water-borne freight. About a thousand residents. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Portage Hall** — post and meeting hall at the river bend - **The Boat Yard** — small-craft repair facility - **The Crossing Inn** — tavern overlooking the rapids - **The Drying Field** - **The Old Stone** — Cree ceremonial marker on the river bluff ### Key People - **Postmaster Roderick MacGregor** — Gatherer, runs the boat yard - **Red-Deer-Standing** — Cree headman; takes his name from the same river - **Marie-Pierre MacGregor-Falcon** — Roderick's wife; postmistress - **"Loup" Augustin Fleury** — caravan-master; lives here three months a year ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The Boat Yard repairs water-craft as well as small landers; rare combination - An ancient Bryceptor cairn was found on the river bluff last summer --- ## Frog Lake — 0604 (E564210-6) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate world with a shallow lake and a great deal of frog noise. About a hundred residents. The post has had four factors in five years; nobody seems to want it. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Frog Hall** — one-room post building - **The Reedbeds** — landing strip carved through the marsh - **The Old Smoking House** ### Key People - **Postmaster Edmund Fraser** — current factor; nine months in, already wants to leave - **Sings-To-The-Marsh** — Cree elder; the only constant in the post's life - **"Mama" Eulalie Pelletier** — runs the post's kitchen and de facto inn ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (rotating staff) - Local Cree band ### Other Info - Three of the last four postmasters have resigned, vanished, or died in unclear circumstances - The frogs are a real and persistent problem and not metaphorical --- ## Fort Pitt — 0606 (D433342-7) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A regional Gatherer hub on a thin-air world of cold mineral plains. About twenty thousand residents in a fortified Company-and-Gatherer town. Fort Pitt has an actual military base; it sits on the main HBC trunk between Edmonton and the rest of the sector, and the Gatherer council that runs the town also keeps a small armed force of its own. Tense relations with the Company; tense relations with everyone else. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~21,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po - **Notes:** Military base present ### Key Locations - **The Pitt** — central fortified compound, military base and council chamber both - **The Trunk Road** — paved landing strip leading directly to Edmonton's traffic lane - **The Pit-Stop** — tavern just outside the Pitt's main gate - **The Long Magazine** — armory; impressive contents - **The Caravan Field** ### Key People - **Council-Captain Étienne McKenzie-Crow** — Métis, elected head; runs the Pitt - **Sergeant-Major Walking-Beaver** — Cree; head of the council's armed company - **Factor Donald Hodgson** — GTC liaison; reports to Rowand at Edmonton - **Yvette Setter** — runs the Long Magazine; has the only complete inventory in writing - **"Whisper" Pierre St-Germain** — known smuggler and information broker; pays the council not to notice ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (council government, with its own militia) - Goodwinia Trade Company (significant presence) - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The Long Magazine has 200+ rifles and a working autocannon; the council does not fully trust the Company - Etienne McKenzie-Crow is being quietly courted by all three major factions - Pitt is a likely choke-point in any sector-wide conflict --- ## Vermilion River — 0608 (E564210-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate world with iron-red rivers. About a hundred residents. The river is the easy water route between Fort Pitt and the eastern Gatherer outposts; the post functions mostly as a relay. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The River Post** — single building, river-side - **The Crossing** - **The Beacon** ### Key People - **Postmaster Joseph Linklater** — Gatherer; quiet and dependable - **Iron-Fish** — Cree fisher; near-permanent resident - **Anne Linklater** — Joseph's sister; runs the books ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (Linklater family) ### Other Info - The river is unusually high in iron; a possible — and unstudied — Espalto residue - The post is a known relay point for Gatherer messages bypassing Fort Pitt --- ## Neutral Hills — 0710 (E100100-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Description A barren near-airless world; the "neutral" of the name refers to a long-broken peace agreement between Blackfoot, Cree, and Sioux groups that supposedly happened on these hills. Two pressurized habs and a beacon are the only signs of human presence. About ten residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 1 — 1,600 km (~0.05 G) - **Atmosphere:** 0 — None (vacc suit) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 1 — ~10 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Two Habs** — old, decaying pressurized cans - **The Cairn** — the original peace marker; stones piled high - **The Pad** ### Key People - **"Old" Robert Tanner** — last permanent resident, Métis; tends the cairn - **Sleeps-In-Stone** — Blackfoot pilgrim; visits every spring ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (one outpost-keeper) - Multiple Indigenous pilgrim traditions ### Other Info - The cairn is sacred to three different nations; nobody dares disturb it - The habs are failing; Tanner refuses to leave --- ## Horse Guard — 0712 (E100100-7) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Description A barren near-airless rock with a single fortified observation post. Ten residents — a permanent Gatherer scout team. Horse Guard's name predates the post; old Blackfoot lore claimed the system was a hiding place for stolen war-horses, and the system's outer belt does in fact hide a great many small bodies. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 1 — 1,600 km (~0.05 G) - **Atmosphere:** 0 — None (vacc suit) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 1 — ~10 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Bunker** — sunken observation post - **The Belt** — outer rock field, full of hidden cargo caches - **The Listening Post** — high-gain antenna array ### Key People - **Captain Geneviève Charette** — Gatherer scout-team commander; one of the best in the sector - **"Owl" Henri Marion** — lead listener; rumored to never sleep - **Sees-Through-Clouds** — Blackfoot pilot attached to the team ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (scout cadre) ### Other Info - The belt has caches dating back to the founding of the Gatherer freight network - Horse Guard hears virtually every transmission in the western sector - A previous garrison disappeared in unclear circumstances; the bunker has been resealed three times --- ## Manito Lake — 0808 (E564300-5) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A temperate world with a large bitter-saline lake that local Cree consider a manitou's resting place. About a thousand residents in a mixed Cree-Métis settlement. The post itself is unobtrusive; the lakeshore is sacred. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~1,000 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Manitou Stone** — sacred site on the lakeshore - **The Trade Lodge** — combined post and Cree council building - **The Drying Beach** ### Key People - **Postmaster Robert Sutherland** — Gatherer; defers to Cree elders on lakeshore matters - **Stone-Sleeps** — chief Cree elder; keeper of the Manitou stories - **Madame Cécile Dorion-Sutherland** — Robert's wife; oversees the lodge kitchen ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Local Cree band (effective authority on most matters) ### Other Info - The lakeshore is off-limits to outsiders without elder accompaniment - The lake's water is undrinkable but its salts are valuable; a small extraction operation is permitted --- ## Chesterfield House — 0810 (C555542-8) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** G8 V | **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Description The largest Gatherer-controlled town outside the immediate Edmonton enclave and a major regional capital. A G-star world with proper Earth-like weather, good soil, and a thriving farming-and-trading economy. About 340,000 residents in a mixed Métis-Cree-Blackfoot town that runs on agriculture, Bryceptor processing, and the regular HBC caravan from Edmonton. Chesterfield House is the working capital of the Gatherer faction; if the Gatherers have a "speaker," they're here. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 5 — ~340,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (Gatherer Council of Speakers) - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Speakers' Hall** — central council chamber; the most important Métis political building in the sector - **The Long Market** — sprawling open bazaar - **The Chesterfield Inn** — proper three-story hostel and tavern - **The Bryceptor Yards** — large processing facility (blood, bone, marrow, fur) - **The Repair Yard** — small-craft and limited spacecraft maintenance - **The Cathedral of Sigmar's West** — the largest Sigmarite cathedral outside Red River - **The Outer Field** — agricultural belt visible from the landing pad ### Key People - **Speaker-General Marguerite Riel-Lépine** — head of the Gatherer Council; younger sister to Louis Riel of Red River, estranged from him - **Iron-Bow** — senior Blackfoot war-chief and Council member - **Bear-Cloud-Standing** — Cree elder, Council member - **Postmaster Edward Hardisty** — sole GTC representative; deeply respected - **Father Gérard Beauchemin** — head of the Cathedral; runs the only fully-staffed clinic outside the enclaves - **Capitaine Henri Falcon** — head of the Council's militia (200 trained, 800 levy) - **"Madame" Antonia Fleury** — owns the Chesterfield Inn; runs the most reliable courier service in the west ### Key Groups - The Gatherers (capital) - Goodwinia Trade Company (modest, respected presence) - Multiple Indigenous bands - Church of Sigmar (significant mission) ### Other Info - The Council of Speakers is the closest thing the Gatherers have to a parliament - Marguerite Riel-Lépine and her brother Louis have not spoken in five years; the schism shapes Gatherer-Children relations - Chesterfield's grain feeds half the western posts; a bad harvest here is a sector-wide crisis - The Repair Yard is the only place outside the enclaves that can re-line a jump-drive --- ## Fort George — 0905 (C555542-8) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** G8 V | **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Description A G-star agricultural world and one of the older Gatherer foundations. About 340,000 residents; Fort George is a near-twin of Chesterfield in size and economy, but more conservative and more closely tied to the GTC. Where Chesterfield argues, Fort George trades. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 5 — ~340,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Key Locations - **The George Hall** — town council building - **The George Market** — covered market hall - **The Crown Inn** — three-story hostel with HBC contract - **The Repair Yard** — small-craft yard, less capable than Chesterfield's - **The Stone Chapel** — small Sigmarite chapel - **The Granary** — massive central grain storage ### Key People - **Speaker William Norquay-Cardinal** — head of the town council; Métis; pro-Company moderate - **Bull-Plume** — Blackfoot elder; senior council member - **Postmaster Harriet Sutherland** — long-tenured GTC representative - **Captain Pierre Decoteau** — head of the militia (small, professional) - **"Saint" Cathérine Welsh** — runs the Crown Inn; called Saint for reasons nobody quite remembers ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Goodwinia Trade Company (strong presence) - Local Blackfoot and Cree bands ### Other Info - Norquay-Cardinal is widely expected to be the next Speaker-General if Marguerite Riel-Lépine resigns - Fort George has provided more HBC officers (by adoption) than any other Gatherer town - The Granary is jointly owned by the Council and the Company — a near-unique arrangement --- ## Turtleford — 0908 (D432321-7) **Allegiance:** The Gatherers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air post on a cold world named for a stretch of river where caravans crossed on the backs of unusual native reptiles. About two hundred residents at a small Métis-Cree settlement. The eponymous "turtles" — eight-meter armored amphibians — still come up out of the river twice a year and the locals make a market of it. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Turtle Hall** — post building; great river-turtle shell mounted over the door - **The Crossing** — the wide muddy ford - **The Turtle Market** — open ground for the biannual sale - **The Long Hut** — Cree winter lodge ### Key People - **Postmistress Anne Inkster** — Métis; runs the post and the market - **Mud-Walks** — Cree band leader - **Lucien Charette** — caravan-master; biggest buyer at the turtle market ### Key Groups - The Gatherers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The river-turtles are unique to this world; the Children of the Red River have approached the post about taking eggs to ranch elsewhere - Mud-Walks's people consider the turtles spirit-relatives; this argument is unresolved --- # THE SELLERS — HUNTERS OF THE NORTH The Sellers are the hunting nations of the northern boreal and the midland prairies. Predominantly Cree (Plains and Woods), with significant Saulteaux/Ojibwe populations, the Sellers run the great organized Bryceptor hunts, the Dew-urm extractions in the few desert worlds of the northern reach, and the Diefoney harvests in the cold seas. Better armed than the Gatherers, on the whole, though dispersed across more territory. The Sellers supply York Factory directly and are the GTC's longest-standing trading partner. Recently weakened by Warrior pressure in the southwest of their range. --- ## Manchester House — 1004 (E675433-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** G5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Description A pleasant G-star agricultural world in the eastern Gatherers borderlands. About thirty thousand people in a sprawling Cree-Saulteaux farming and trading town. Manchester is one of the older Sellers' settlements and one of the few with a deep enough population to support proper crops. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 6 — 9,600 km (~0.7 G) - **Atmosphere:** 7 — Standard, tainted (filter) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 4 — ~21,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy (elders' council) - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Long Council Hall** — central building, elders' meeting place - **The Manchester Granary** — town stores - **The Sun Pole** — Cree ceremonial center - **The Six-Birch Inn** — only proper tavern; HBC-imported beer - **The Drying Field** ### Key People - **Speaker Yellow-Sky** — head elder of the Sellers' council here - **Marie-Ange Decoteau-Sky** — Métis trader, Speaker's daughter-in-law; primary HBC contact - **Bear-Walking-Slow** — chief hunter; coordinates the regional Bryceptor expeditions - **Postmaster Jonathan Heriot** — GTC representative; respectful relations - **"Auntie" Maggie Norris** — runs the Six-Birch; widow of a Galtran officer ### Key Groups - The Sellers (significant elder council) - Goodwinia Trade Company (small presence) - Local Cree band ### Other Info - Speaker Yellow-Sky's grand-niece was at the wedding party in Edmonton; she has not returned home - The Granary supplies a significant fraction of the western HBC trunk's flour --- ## Battleford — 1008 (D564542-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A regional Sellers' hub on a cool temperate world; the post sits between two rivers, a natural meeting point for caravans coming north out of Cumberland and Carlton. About 340,000 residents in a mixed Cree-Saulteaux-Métis town with a real economy. The "Battle" in the name refers to a Cree–Blackfoot fight a century ago that left the river running red for a week. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 5 — ~340,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Battlefield Hall** — town council building, names of dead from the original fight engraved on every wall - **The Confluence Market** — large open market at the river junction - **The Red Water Inn** — main tavern - **The Sellers' Yard** — Bryceptor processing facility - **The Cathedral of Sigmar of the Plains** — modest Sigmarite cathedral - **The Bone Mill** ### Key People - **Mayor Pîhêw-êskanihk ("Long-Spear")** — elected head; respected war veteran - **Madame Hélène Lacombe-Pelletier** — head of the Sellers' Yard and de facto economic boss - **Postmaster Walter Wedderburn** — GTC liaison - **Father Henri Marion** — head of the Cathedral; runs a clinic and a school - **Captain Standing-Black-Wolf** — head of the town militia - **"Tall" Pierre Saulteaux** — caravan-master; runs the routes to Cumberland and Carlton ### Key Groups - The Sellers (regional capital tier) - Goodwinia Trade Company - Multiple Indigenous bands - Church of Sigmar ### Other Info - One of the most reliable Bryceptor processing centers in the sector - Mayor Long-Spear is widely considered the most credible Sellers' candidate for a sector-wide spokesperson - The town has openly discussed joint defense pacts with the Gatherers; the Children are not invited --- ## Bad Hills — 1012 (E100100-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Description A near-airless rock with no atmosphere and a single buried beacon-station. Ten residents huddled in a sunken hab. The name predates the post; the hills are radiation-glazed and possibly artificial. Nobody has surveyed them properly. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 1 — 1,600 km (~0.05 G) - **Atmosphere:** 0 — None (vacc suit) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 1 — ~10 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Buried Hab** — single underground habitat - **The Glass Hills** — fused-rock formations; presumed artifact - **The Beacon Mast** ### Key People - **Postmaster "Old" Gabriel Pruden** — Sellers-affiliated; lone keeper - **Sister Bernadette Logan** — Sigmarite anchorite, occasional resident ### Key Groups - The Sellers (one keeper) ### Other Info - The Glass Hills appear in no pre-Federation surveys; possibly a Forerunner or Precursor relic - Pruden refuses all relief; rumors of treasure-fever --- ## Hudson House — 1104 (D564342-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small Sellers post on a temperate well-watered world; not associated with Hudson Bay despite the name. About a thousand residents in a mixed Cree-Saulteaux camp around a stone trading house. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Stone House** — central post - **The Long Lodge** — Cree band hall - **The Stocks** — disused punishment posts, still standing ### Key People - **Postmaster Robert Hodgson** — Sellers' factor; long-tenured - **Black-Plume** — Cree headman - **Maman Suzette Pelletier** — runs the kitchen; everyone's auntie ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The Stone House has stood three hundred years - Hodgson is being quietly recruited by Children agents — he has refused so far --- ## Cut Knife — 1108 (E434100-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small thin-air post on a cold, dry world; the post is named for a famous Cree war-chief whose grave is said to be in the nearby hills. About ten residents, all Cree. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 1 — ~10 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Knife's House** — single building, all functions - **The Grave Hill** — the war chief's reputed burial site - **The Beacon** ### Key People - **Keeper Brown-Hawk** — Cree elder, Sellers-affiliated; lives here alone - **Walking-To-The-Grave** — Cree pilgrim; visits twice yearly ### Key Groups - The Sellers (one keeper) ### Other Info - The Grave Hill is sacred; off-limits to outsiders - A small but persistent group of Children scholars have requested permission to excavate; permission has been refused --- ## Eagle Hills — 1112 (E564210-6) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate world named for the local raptors that nest on the chalk bluffs. About a hundred residents, half of them Cree and half a Métis trading family. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Eagle Hall** — combined post and lodge - **The Bluff** — chalk cliff with eagle nests - **The Landing Strip** ### Key People - **Postmaster Henri Lépine** — Métis Sellers-affiliated - **Walking-Eagle** — Cree elder - **"Madame" Cécile Lépine** — Henri's wife; the actual authority in the household ### Key Groups - The Sellers (Lépine family) - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The bluff eagles are considered sacred by both Cree and Métis here - Henri once shot down a Children scout-craft mistaking it for a Bryceptor; the incident is officially closed --- ## Cumberland House — 1205 (B210544-9) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** De, Ni ### Description The Sellers' political capital and one of the most important stops on the HBC main trunk. A desert world with a thin atmosphere — but with a major B-class port, a near-A-tier government, and a population of ~340,000 sustained by extensive subsurface caverns and Dew-urm extraction. Cumberland is where the Sellers' inter-band council sits and where the GTC negotiates the season's hunt quotas. It is also where the recent Warrior pressure has been felt most sharply; the council is grieving and angry. - **Starport Quality:** B — Good (1D6 × 500 Cr berthing, refined fuel, spacecraft shipyard & repair) - **Size:** 2 — 3,200 km (~0.15 G; near-microgravity for many functions) - **Atmosphere:** 1 — Trace (vacc suit) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 5 — ~340,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (the Sellers' Grand Council) - **Law Level:** 4 — light assault weapons and submachine guns banned - **Tech Level:** 9 — Early stellar - **Trade Codes:** De, Ni - **Temperature:** Cold ### Key Locations - **The Grand Council Hall** — sunken under the surface; the most important Sellers political building in the sector - **The Cumberland Yards** — proper spacecraft shipyard - **The Long Refinery** — Bryceptor blood and bone-meal processing on industrial scale - **The Vacuum Market** — main trade hall, pressurized; everything in the sector eventually passes through here - **The Sellers' Armory** — fortified weapons depot - **The Northern Cathedral of Sigmar** — large cathedral; tense relations with the council - **The Hostel of the Setting Sun** — primary HBC visitors' accommodations ### Key People - **Grand Chief Mistawasis-The-Younger** — head of the Sellers' Grand Council; Plains Cree; grieving the loss of three war parties - **War-Chief Stands-In-Black-Smoke** — head of the Sellers' organized militia (small but well-armed) - **Madame Geneviève Falcon-Welsh** — Métis Sellers' merchant; runs half the Long Refinery - **Postmaster Charles Mowat** — senior HBC factor; reports to Hargrave at York - **Engineer-in-Chief Ada Setter** — head of the Cumberland Yards; has built a working frigate from scratch - **Father Boniface Pelletier** — head of the Northern Cathedral; tense relationship with Mistawasis - **"Doc" Robert Fidler** — Hostel proprietor; secret information broker ### Key Groups - The Sellers (capital) - Goodwinia Trade Company (significant presence) - Church of Sigmar (well-established but politically isolated) - The Cumberland Engineers' Guild (independent) ### Other Info - The Cumberland Yards built two of the four frigates in the sector that are not GTC-owned - Mistawasis-The-Younger lost his nephew and his half-brother to Warrior raids in the last six months; he is increasingly willing to talk to the Children about a joint response - The Sellers' Armory contains TGE-pattern weapons. None of them are Imperial Blasters. - A Federation diplomatic mission attempted to land here last year; the council turned them back --- ## The Elbow — 1208 (E432310-6) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A bend-in-the-river post on a cold thin-air world; the eponymous Elbow is a sharp turn in the local river that forces caravans to portage. About three hundred residents, mostly Cree and a small Métis trading family. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Bend Lodge** — central post - **The Portage Trail** — well-worn track around the river bend - **The Elder's Stone** — large lichen-covered boulder, ceremonial use ### Key People - **Postmaster Madeline Marion** — Métis Sellers-affiliated - **Stone-That-Sings** — Cree elder - **"Young" Henri Marion** — Madeline's son; learning the trade ### Key Groups - The Sellers (Marion family) - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The Elbow is impassable in summer flood; caravans must wait or detour - Madeline runs the most reliable mail-drop on the route to Cumberland --- ## Pine River — 1302 (D433210-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small Sellers post on a thin-air world of cold pine forest. About three hundred residents in a Cree-Saulteaux mixed camp. The pines are an unusual subspecies whose resin is used in Bryceptor blood processing. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 2 — ~300 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Pine House** — central post and resin store - **The Drying Sheds** - **The Sap Camp** — Saulteaux work camp during resin season ### Key People - **Postmaster Joseph Inkster** — Sellers-affiliated; runs the resin trade - **Long-Pine-Man** — Saulteaux harvesting boss - **Sister Mary Birston** — itinerant Sigmarite; tends a small chapel-cabin ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Local Saulteaux band - Church of Sigmar (one anchorite) ### Other Info - The pine resin is critical to multiple Bryceptor refining operations; demand exceeds supply - A previous resin-camp was attacked by Children scouts last season; relations are tense --- ## Moose Woods — 1308 (E564300-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A temperate forest world; the "moose" in the name refers to a six-legged Cree-named ungulate the size of a small van. About a thousand residents in a Cree-led hunting and skinning settlement. Excellent hides come from here. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~1,000 - **Government:** 0 — None - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Skinning Hall** - **The Tannery** - **The Hunters' Lodge** — central meeting hall ### Key People - **Headman Big-Antler** — Cree elder, hunt-leader - **Madeline Anderson-Antler** — Métis hide trader, married into the band - **"Sad" Robert Stuart** — Sellers' factor; quiet man, runs the books ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The hides from Moose Woods are the third-most-valuable product in the eastern Sellers network - A breeding pair of the six-legged moose was illegally exported to Red River three years ago and the band wants them back --- ## Touchwood Hills — 1406 (E565210-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A temperate world of dry hills covered in pale, dry, easily-flammable "touchwood" — local punkwood used as tinder across the sector. About a hundred residents in a Cree-Métis camp. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Tinder Yard** — main touchwood processing - **The Post House** - **The Fire-Bell** — communal alarm; wildfires are constant ### Key People - **Postmaster Suzanne Norris** — Sellers' factor - **Smoulder-Smell** — Cree band leader - **"Old" Jacob Cocking** — fire-warden, twenty-year resident ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - Touchwood from this world is shipped sector-wide; small product, huge volume - Two wildfires destroyed half the post in living memory --- ## Last Mountain — 1508 (D564431-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A long-lake post on a temperate world; the "Last Mountain" is a solitary peak visible from the lake, said to be the last mountain on a southward journey. About fifteen hundred residents in a Cree fishing settlement with a real shipyard for small craft. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~1,500 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **The Boat Yard** — small-craft and lander repair - **The Long Lake Inn** - **The Mountain Trail** — pilgrimage path to the summit ### Key People - **Speaker Three-Hawks** — Cree elder, elected head - **Anne Falcon-Hawks** — Métis daughter-in-law; quartermaster - **Postmaster Frederick Linklater** — HBC liaison - **Boat-Master Pierre Welsh** — runs the yard ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (small) - Local Cree band ### Other Info - The Mountain Trail is sacred; pilgrims from across the sector make the climb - The boat yard recently turned away a Children buy-out offer worth twice the annual revenue --- ## Birch Hills — 1510 (D564310-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate world of birch-like trees. About three hundred residents in a Cree-Métis settlement. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~1,000 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Birch Lodge** - **The Bark Yard** — bark-cloth and canoe construction - **The Old Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Henri Beauchemin** — Sellers' factor - **Birch-Walking** — Cree elder - **"Aunty" Marie Beauchemin** — runs the tavern; sister to Henri ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - Birch Hills canoes are prized across the sector for water-trade - A small heretical Sigmarite sect is reportedly active here --- ## Pine Island — 1604 (D432342-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air island world — the "Pine Island" is a single large continent in a shallow brackish sea. About twenty thousand residents in a long stretched coastal town. Specialty: salt and dried fish. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 4 — ~21,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Salt Works** — coastal salt-pan complex - **The Drying Beach** — fish processing - **The Council Hall** - **The Salty Dog** — main tavern; nautical motif ### Key People - **Speaker White-Spruce** — Cree-Saulteaux elder - **Madame Jeanne Sayer-Spruce** — head of the salt works - **Postmaster Owen Pruden** — HBC liaison - **Captain "Old Sailor" Henri Trottier** — best ship captain on the inner sea ### Key Groups - The Sellers (long-established) - Goodwinia Trade Company ### Other Info - Sells salt to half the eastern sector - The Saulteaux on this world consider themselves the senior people; some friction with mainland Cree leadership at Cumberland ## Isle-a-la-Crosse — 1702 (C555432-8) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** G2 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A pleasant temperate world at a major crossroads — the name comes from an old game played at the trade fairs here, a sort of running stickball that the Cree taught the early Métis. About thirty thousand inhabitants spread across a chain of three large lake-continents. The post is a critical mid-route stop between Cumberland House and the deep northern Sellers worlds. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 4 — ~30,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Cross-House** — round multi-purpose council and warehouse - **The Field of the Cross** — open trade-fair ground, used twice a year - **The Sellers Yard** — small-craft yard; can re-fit a free-trader - **The Crosse-Stick Inn** — favored by visiting captains; the game is still played out back ### Key People - **Chief Speaker Walking-Bear** — Cree elder; long-serving, semi-retired - **Vice-Speaker Adelaide Cardinal-Bear** — Métis; running the actual administration - **Yard-Master Robert Fidler-Sutherland** — half-Scots HBC veteran, runs the yard under Sellers' charter - **Father Henri Marion** — Sigmarite priest; has been here for forty years and speaks Cree better than most Cree - **"Two-Times" Henriette Trottier** — best smuggler in the eastern sector; the local Speaker turns a blind eye ### Key Groups - The Sellers (regional hub) - Goodwinia Trade Company (small enclave at the yard) - Sigmarite Mission (long established) ### Other Info - The trade-fairs in spring and autumn draw Gatherer, Seller, Child, and even a few Warriors-under-truce traders - Isle-a-la-Crosse considers itself the spiritual heart of the Sellers, in genteel rivalry with Cumberland's political weight - A recent Children embassy has tried, twice, to court the Vice-Speaker into "consultative" alignment; both times she has politely declined --- ## Nut Lake — 1708 (E564210-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small woodland post named for the abundant native nut-trees, which the locals press for oil and trade-feed. About a hundred and fifty residents in three extended Cree-Saulteaux families. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier (clearing only) - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~150 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Press-House** — nut-oil press, the only mechanism worth mentioning - **The Long Lodge** - **The Old Yard** — clearing only ### Key People - **Postmaster Yellow-Sky** — Cree elder; runs the post - **Adèle Trottier-Sky** — Métis daughter-in-law; trades on behalf of the families - **Brother Boniface Pelletier** — Sigmarite hermit; lives in a cabin and tends the trees ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Local Saulteaux band (three families) ### Other Info - Nut Lake oil is sold across the eastern sector for cooking and lamp-fuel - A Children courier passed through last quarter; he was politely fed and sent on his way --- ## Green Lake — 1710 (D564431-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A modest woodland post on the shore of an unusually green-tinted lake — algal bloom from an oddly metalliferous soil. About forty thousand residents in a series of riverine villages. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 4 — ~22,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Green Council Lodge** - **The Press-Yard** — algae press for dyestuffs and food paste - **The Old Boat Yard** - **The Green Tavern** — water-themed; serves a strong algal beer ### Key People - **Chief Speaker Stands-Against-Wind** — Cree elder, well-respected - **"Aunty" Marie Saulteaux-Wind** — runs the tavern and most other useful businesses - **Postmaster Cecil Hodgson** — HBC liaison - **Doctor Sarah Welsh-Wind** — local physician and amateur biologist ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (small) ### Other Info - The green-algae dye is a luxury item across the sector; Doctor Welsh-Wind has begun licensed export - A small Bryceptor outbreak two seasons ago was contained, just barely --- ## Shoal River — 1804 (E564100-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A frontier post on a shallow, braided river system. Twenty residents, mostly Cree fishermen. The HBC abandoned the post fifty years ago; the Sellers re-occupied it. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 1 — ~20 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Old Post** — half-collapsed HBC structure, partly re-occupied - **The Fish Smokery** - **The Clearing** ### Key People - **Elder Three-Hawks** — eldest of the band - **Marie Three-Hawks** — Métis daughter; trades down-river ### Key Groups - The Sellers (informal) ### Other Info - Shoal River whitefish, smoked, is a delicacy at the trade fairs - Recent Gatherer contact has been friendly, including a marriage exchange --- ## Montreal Lake — 1812 (E565200-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A waterlogged frontier world named by an early Quebec-born trader after his homeland's island. About a hundred residents on a single large lake-continent. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lake Lodge** - **The Old Trading Cabin** ### Key People - **Elder Bear-Cloud-Standing** — Cree - **"Old Quebec" Henri Letendre** — last living grandchild of the namesake trader; speaks better French than Cree ### Key Groups - The Sellers (informal) ### Other Info - A Gatherer caravan visits annually - Old Quebec keeps a hand-copied book of Quebec hymns; nobody else can read it --- ## Buffalo Lake — 1904 (D433432-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-atmosphere world with an enormous central lake fed by a single river. Twenty thousand residents on the shoreline; specialty is dried lake-meat and bone tools. Not to be confused with the Gatherer-allied Buffalo Lake (0407). - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~25,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Shore Council Lodge** - **The Bone Yard** — bone-tool workshop; finest in the sector - **The Smoking Sheds** - **The Buffalo Inn** ### Key People - **Chief Speaker Long-Pine-Man** — Saulteaux elder - **"Aunty" Catherine Sayer-Pine** — Métis; runs the inn and most other things - **Postmaster Henry Fidler** — HBC liaison - **Master Carver "Bone-Hands" Pierre Carrière** — fashions ritual and trade pieces ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (small) ### Other Info - The bone-tool craft tradition is centuries old and zealously guarded - A Children's agent recently tried to buy out three carvers; all three turned the offer down --- ## Torch River — 1912 (D433210-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air, poor-soil world named for its frequent grass fires. About a hundred and fifty inhabitants, mostly trappers and dew-urm hunters. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 2 — ~150 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Torch Lodge** - **The Dew-urm Pens** — capture and holding facility - **The Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Iron-Bow** — Cree elder; quietly heads the dew-urm trade - **"Trapper Jack" Jacques Daniels** — Métis; the best in the sector at catching dew-urm - **Brother Adolph Welsh** — Sigmarite hermit; tends a small chapel ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - Dew-urm droppings (the stim drug) from Torch River fetch top price at Cumberland and York - Trapper Jack is wanted on Edmonton House for an outstanding debt; he never goes west --- ## Frog Portage — 2005 (E100231-6) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo ### Description An airless rock-world that serves as a portage between two N-Space lanes. About a hundred residents in a single pressure-domed station. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier (landing pad) - **Size:** 1 — 1,600 km - **Atmosphere:** 0 — None (vacuum) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo ### Key Locations - **The Dome** — pressure habitat with everything inside - **The Pad** — landing pad with a fuel-cache - **The Common-Room** — bar, mess, and rec all in one ### Key People - **Station-Master Three-Hawks-of-the-Dome** — Cree-Métis; born here - **"Engineer" Ada Inkster** — Métis; keeps everything running - **"Sister" Marie Sayer** — Sigmarite lay-sister; sees to morale ### Key Groups - The Sellers (station charter) - Independent traders (transient) ### Other Info - A small but profitable refueling operation for craft on the Cumberland–York lane - A Children-affiliated freighter "shorted" the station's fuel-debt last quarter and is still on the bad-list --- ## Carrot River — 2008 (E564210-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small agrarian frontier post with a healthy garden world and a tiny Cree population. The "carrots" are an edible native tuber, not the Terran vegetable. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Tuber House** - **The Lodge** ### Key People - **Postmaster Charging-Smoke** — Cree elder - **Marie Beauchemin-Smoke** — Métis trader ### Key Groups - The Sellers ### Other Info - The Carrot River tuber is a staple in the eastern Sellers' diet - A bumper harvest two seasons ago has people hoping for a good year --- ## Pasquia Hills — 2208 (E564100-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small hill-country post known for its hill-grown cedar-like wood. Thirty residents in a single lodge community. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 1 — ~30 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Cedar Lodge** - **The Mill** — small lumber operation ### Key People - **Elder Standing-In-Cedar** — Cree - **"Lumberjack" Jean Trottier** — Métis foreman ### Key Groups - The Sellers (informal) ### Other Info - Pasquia cedar is a top-quality wood; pieces are sent to the Cumberland yards - A small Gatherer caravan trades twice a year for dried bryceptor and seasonings --- ## Norway House — 2212 (B555631-9) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** G0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ri ### Description The chief depot of the eastern Sellers, named for an old Scandinavian boat-builder who built the first long-haul Sellers freighters here three generations ago. A pleasant temperate world with a chain of large interconnected lakes — about three million people, most of them clustered along the inner-sea coast. Norway House is the wealthiest world in the Sellers' territory after Cumberland itself, and it competes directly with York Factory for the Sellers–HBC trade. Where York is HBC corporate, Norway is Sellers corporate. They watch each other across the lane like two old cats sharing a fence. - **Starport Quality:** B — Good (refined fuel, spacecraft yards) - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 6 — ~3,000,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 9 - **Trade Codes:** Ri ### Key Locations - **The Council House** — a long, low, varnished-wood building that the Sellers' senior Speakers occupy when in the east - **Norway Yards** — the second-largest yard in Sellers territory; can build a full free-trader; specializes in Bryceptor-hauler refits - **The Long Pier** — a single titanic pier that runs straight out into the inner sea, with starport pads at the inland end - **The Old Norwegian** — vast smoky tavern with a stuffed long-ago freighter captain at the door, name of "Gunnar" - **St. Knut's Mission** — the Sigmarite chapter house for the east; small but well-funded - **The Children's Quay** — an entire dock dedicated to Children of the Red River shipping; tolerated but watched - **Yard-Office of the Goodwinia Trade Company** — small but well-appointed, handles HBC liaison ### Key People - **Grand Speaker Many-Tongues Falcon-Norquay** — Cree-Métis; the senior Sellers official east of Cumberland; in her sixties, sharp as flint, speaks five languages - **Yard-Master Andrew "Andy" Setter** — Métis; cousin to Ada Setter at Cumberland; runs the yards - **Captain "Long" Olav Christensen-Sayer** — the senior Sellers freighter captain in the east; descendant of the original Norwegian - **Bursar Marie-Louise Decoteau** — Métis; runs Sellers finance in the east - **Brother-Abbot Maximilian Welsh** — Sigmarite, runs St. Knut's - **Mr. Calder** — the Goodwinia Trade Company's resident agent; nominally a "liaison," practically a spy; the same Calder mentioned at York Factory - **Madame Adèle Lépine** — Children's "consul," officially a freight broker; sister of Madame Angélique Lépine at Red River - **"Gunnar's Ghost"** — the bartender at the Old Norwegian, who is named Pierre Fleury but answers to Gunnar; knows every captain on the lane ### Key Groups - The Sellers (regional headquarters) - Goodwinia Trade Company (substantial enclave; commercial rival) - Children of the Red River (small but growing diplomatic mission) - Sigmarite Order (Eastern Chapter) ### Other Info - The famous Norway-Yard refit upgrade — adding a fourth bryceptor-blood tank — is patented by the Setter family and unavailable anywhere else - The HBC has, in the last two years, made three formal offers to buy a controlling interest in the yards; all three were declined with notable politeness - The Children's "consul" Madame Lépine has been observed meeting Mr. Calder twice in the last quarter; both deny anything but social acquaintance - A small Bryceptor herd is maintained in the inner sea — Norway's specialty refit needs live tissue --- ## Jack River — 2404 (D433432-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air river-valley world named for an early trader called Jack Sutherland who is buried here. Twenty thousand residents along the upper river. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~25,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **Jack's Grave** — small fenced cairn; offerings are left - **The River Yard** — small-craft repair - **The Tavern of Jack** ### Key People - **Chief Speaker Three-Hawks-of-the-River** — Cree elder - **"Aunty" Marie Sutherland-Hawks** — descendant of Jack; runs the tavern - **Postmaster Owen Linklater** — HBC liaison ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (small) ### Other Info - Jack Sutherland's grave is a minor pilgrimage site for HBC veterans - The local boat-yard has built one freighter in living memory and will not stop bragging about it --- ## Mossy Point — 2410 (E100100-6) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Description An airless point on the Sellers–York lane; a small refueling station. Twelve residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier (landing pad) - **Size:** 1 — 1,600 km - **Atmosphere:** 0 — None (vacuum) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 1 — ~12 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Dome** - **The Pad** ### Key People - **Station-Master Walking-Bear-of-the-Dome** — Cree-Métis - **"Engineer" Sarah Spence** — keeps the fuel cells running ### Key Groups - The Sellers ### Other Info - One of three fuel stops on the long Cumberland–York route - A Warriors raid two years ago was repelled by a passing HBC patrol ship; the station still owes the HBC for the favor --- ## Oxford Lake — 2504 (E100100-6) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Description Another lane-side airless rock with a small dome. Named, of course, after a Cambridge-born HBC trader who insisted on the joke. Ten residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 1 — 1,600 km - **Atmosphere:** 0 — None - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 1 — ~10 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Dome** - **The Common-Room** ### Key People - **Station-Master Adelaide Linklater-Bear** — Métis - **"Old Mike" Michael Hodgson** — keeps the still going ### Key Groups - The Sellers ### Other Info - The Oxford Lake still produces a notorious clear spirit shipped under-the-counter to Norway House - A Children-affiliated freighter sometimes overnights here; no one asks questions --- ## Knee Lake — 2506 (D433210-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air poor world named for the lake's distinctive bent shape. About a hundred and fifty residents, mostly Cree trappers. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 2 — ~150 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Knee Lodge** - **The Pelt-Yard** - **The Bent Knee Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Long-Walking** — Cree elder - **"Trapper Adèle" Adèle Daniels** — Métis; best trapper in the area - **Postmaster's Wife "Aunty" Marie Fidler-Walking** ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - Knee Lake fur is highly prized at York Factory - A local Bryceptor was killed last winter; the body is preserved in the icehouse for sale --- ## Oxford House — 2603 (D433342-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air world with a midsized population — about two thousand — built around an inland sea. Specialty is freshwater pearl-analogue (a mollusc secretion). - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,500 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Council House** - **The Pearl-Beds** — mollusc farms - **The Pearl-Yard** — small finishing workshop - **The Pearl Tavern** ### Key People - **Speaker Pearl-Sky** — Cree elder (named for the trade) - **"Aunty" Marguerite Cardinal** — runs the tavern and the pearl-finishing - **Postmaster Adam Christie** — HBC liaison - **Master Pearl-Diver "Old Joe" Joseph Welsh** — best diver alive ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (small) ### Other Info - Oxford House pearl is sold as luxury jewelry at Red River and Galtran - The pearl-bed monopoly is jealously guarded; foreign divers have been refused twice in living memory --- ## Echimamish — 2608 (E100100-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Description Another lane-side airless rock with a small refueling dome. Eleven residents. The name is an old Cree word meaning, roughly, "the river that flows both ways." - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 1 — 1,600 km - **Atmosphere:** 0 — None - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 1 — ~11 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Dome** - **The Fuel-Cache** ### Key People - **Station-Master "Two-Ways" Pierre Saulteaux** — gets the name from the world - **"Aunt" Marie Norquay** — runs the dome's common-room ### Key Groups - The Sellers ### Other Info - A small chapel-shrine in the dome is dedicated to safe transit - A wrecked Children-marked smuggler ship is parked behind the dome; nobody talks about it --- ## Playgreen Lake — 2610 (E100231-6) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo ### Description A small airless lane-stop maintained jointly by the Sellers and the Goodwinia Trade Company — one of the few places where HBC fuel is officially available on a Sellers-run dome. About a hundred residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 1 — 1,600 km - **Atmosphere:** 0 — None - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo ### Key Locations - **The Joint-Dome** — split into HBC and Sellers halves with a common bar in between - **The Common-Room of Both** — the bar; surprisingly genteel - **The Pads** — two pads, side by side ### Key People - **Sellers Station-Master "Aunty" Mary Three-Hawks** — long-tenured, much-loved - **HBC Postmaster Erasmus Pruden** — younger Pruden, cousin to John Pruden of Edmonton; serves a four-year tour - **"Mother" Marie Letendre** — Métis cook in the common-room; reputedly the best on the lane ### Key Groups - The Sellers (charter) - Goodwinia Trade Company (joint operation) ### Other Info - Playgreen Lake is the recognized halfway point on the eastern long-lane; many freighter captains plan their rest stops here - The famous "Both-Sides Stew" is served only here; the recipe is secret --- ## Gods Lake — 2704 (E320100-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M2 V | **Trade Codes:** De, Lo, Ni ### Description A desert world with a single small saline lake. Named in respectful Cree style — "the lake of the gods" is held to be a place of vision, where elders go on quest. Forty residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 3 — 4,800 km - **Atmosphere:** 2 — Very thin (tainted, respirator + filter) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 1 — ~40 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** De, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lake Shrine** — a stone cairn at the lakeshore - **The Quest-Lodge** — for elders on vision-quest - **The Trading Cabin** ### Key People - **Elder Walks-In-Dust** — Cree; oldest of the band - **"Aunt" Mary Cardinal-Dust** — Métis; runs the small post ### Key Groups - The Sellers (informal) ### Other Info - A famous vision-quest pilgrimage; off-worlders are not permitted to approach the lake - A Children's anthropologist was turned away last year; the Elder will not say more --- ## Cedar Lake — 2708 (C320542-8) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M2 V | **Trade Codes:** De, Ni ### Description A desert-and-saltflat world with a vast central lake that gives the world its name — though "cedar" here refers to a tall reed-tree that grows in the saltflats, not the Terran tree. About a hundred thousand residents in shoreline towns; specialty is cedar-fibre rope and clothing, prized across the sector. Cedar Lake is one of the established eastern Sellers cores, and the local Speaker holds a permanent seat on the Cumberland council. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 3 — 4,800 km - **Atmosphere:** 2 — Very thin (tainted, respirator + filter) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert (one large lake) - **Population:** 5 — ~100,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** De, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Cedar Council Lodge** — a large building made entirely of woven cedar-fibre over a wooden frame - **The Yards** — small-craft repair yard; Cedar Lake free-traders are known for their durability - **The Cedar Market** — large covered market; everything from rope to wedding-cloaks - **The Long Cedar** — main tavern; long, low, smelling of the namesake fibre - **The Sigmarite Chapel** — small but well-tended; the resident priest is locally born - **The Schoolhouse** — Cedar Lake operates one of the few formal schools in Sellers territory ### Key People - **Chief Speaker Many-Spotted-Cedar** — Cree elder; senior, holds the Cumberland seat - **Vice-Speaker Henriette Letendre-Cedar** — Métis; manages day-to-day administration; widely expected to succeed - **Yard-Master Robert Norquay** — Métis; runs the yards - **Master Weaver "Aunty" Marie Falcon-Cedar** — head of the weaver's guild; the legacy of her loom is several generations old - **Father Pierre-Louis Trottier-Cedar** — Sigmarite priest; locally born and very popular - **Teacher Madame Anne Setter-Cedar** — runs the schoolhouse; trained at Cumberland - **"Long Tom" Thomas Welsh** — best ship captain on the lake-coast trade ### Key Groups - The Sellers (eastern core) - Goodwinia Trade Company (small enclave at the yards) - Cedar Weavers' Guild (powerful local body) ### Other Info - Cedar-fibre cloaks are a status item across the sector; a "Cedar Lake wedding-cloak" is a major gift - The schoolhouse is one of three formal schools in Sellers territory; many Cumberland officials' children spend a year here - Cedar Lake has been quietly resisting Children's diplomatic overtures for nine years; the Vice-Speaker keeps a careful distance --- ## Swampy Lake — 2804 (E100100-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Description An airless lane-side rock with a small refuel dome. Eight residents. The name "Swampy" comes from a famous old Cree band, not from any swamps. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 1 — 1,600 km - **Atmosphere:** 0 — None - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 1 — ~8 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ba, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Dome** - **The Pad** ### Key People - **Station-Master "Old Sam" Samuel Hodgson** — Métis, in his seventies, has been here longer than anyone remembers - **"Aunt" Marie Hodgson** — his wife; cooks for visitors ### Key Groups - The Sellers ### Other Info - The Swampy Cree are the original people of much of the eastern Sellers territory - "Old Sam" has a fine collection of trade beads dating back four generations --- ## Poplar River House — 2806 (D564310-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A modest post on a forested river world. About fifteen hundred residents. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~1,500 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Post Lodge** - **The Sawmill** - **The Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Many-Trees** — Cree elder - **"Aunty" Anne Linklater-Trees** — Métis; runs the tavern - **Sawyer Owen Welsh** — Métis; runs the mill ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (small) ### Other Info - Poplar River lumber is sent to the Cumberland yards for ship-frames - A small Children consulate was rejected last year; the postmaster said simply, "no" --- ## Deer Lake — 2810 (E564210-6) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small woodland post on a temperate lake. About a hundred residents, mostly subsistence hunters. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Deer Lodge** - **The Smoke-House** — venison processing ### Key People - **Postmaster Standing-Deer** — Cree elder - **"Hunter" Marie Trottier-Deer** — Métis, best hunter in three sectors ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Local Cree band ### Other Info - Deer Lake smoked venison is a winter staple at Cumberland House - A Warriors hunting-band came through last winter under a parlay; they took six deer and left a token of thanks --- ## Severn House — 2902 (D543442-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A thin-air world named for the Severn-like river that meanders across its continent. About thirty thousand residents in valley towns. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin (tainted, respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~30,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Severn Council Hall** - **The River Yard** — small-craft and lander repair - **The Old Severn** — large tavern, riverside ### Key People - **Speaker Walking-Beside-The-River** — Cree elder - **Vice-Speaker "Aunty" Madame Genevieve Pruden-River** — Métis; runs the yard - **Postmaster Andrew Hargrave** — HBC liaison; cousin to Chief Factor Hargrave at York Factory - **Captain "Severn Sam" Samuel Trottier** — leading riverine captain ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (small) ### Other Info - Severn House supplies the eastern lane with riverboats and small-craft hulls - The Hargrave family has cousins at York and Severn — local advantage for the HBC --- ## Trout Lake — 2908 (E565100-5) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a cold lake-world; specialty is trout-analogue smoking. Thirty-five residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 1 — ~35 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Smokehouse** ### Key People - **Elder Stone-Sleeps** — Cree - **"Aunt" Anne Marion-Sleeps** — runs the smokery ### Key Groups - The Sellers (informal) ### Other Info - Trout Lake smoked fish is sold at York Factory's officers' mess - A small Bryceptor outbreak in the lake was contained two years ago --- ## Gordon House — 3006 (D432321-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air, poor outpost on the York–Norway lane. Two hundred residents; HBC-Sellers joint post. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Joint Council Hall** - **The Yard** — small-craft maintenance - **The Crossroads Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Gordon Hodgson** — HBC; the post bears his grandfather's name - **Speaker "Aunty" Marie Cardinal-Gordon** — Sellers' senior representative - **Doctor Henri Welsh** — half-Métis physician ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (joint) ### Other Info - Named for HBC Factor Robert Gordon, who died here in a Warriors raid a generation ago - The wreck of his shuttle is still on the eastern slope; the locals leave offerings --- ## Rock House — 3008 (D433210-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small thin-air post on a rocky world. A hundred residents. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Stone Lodge** — literally built of local stone - **The Quarry** — small ornamental-stone operation ### Key People - **Postmaster Standing-Stone** — Cree elder - **"Aunty" Marie Christie-Stone** — Métis; runs the quarry ### Key Groups - The Sellers ### Other Info - Rock House ornamental stone is sent to the wealthier worlds for facing - A small Sigmarite shrine carved from the local stone is unique to the sector --- ## Churchill River — 3106 (D554321-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A modest post on a temperate, lake-dotted world. Two hundred residents in three small villages; named after a famous HBC factor of a previous century. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,500 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **The Old Churchill Pier** - **The Tavern of Churchill** ### Key People - **Speaker Three-Hawks-of-Churchill** — Cree elder - **"Aunty" Mary Hargrave-Hawks** — Métis; runs the tavern - **Postmaster Daniel Christie** — HBC liaison ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (small) ### Other Info - The original Churchill's diary is held at the post; a major HBC historical relic - The Sellers are gentle about naming the world after the HBC factor — it's a small gesture of good faith --- ## Martins Falls — 3110 (D433432-7) **Allegiance:** The Sellers | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air world with a series of spectacular waterfalls along its main river. Twenty thousand residents. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~22,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Falls Council Lodge** - **The Hydro-Station** — small turbine generator - **The Falls Yard** — small-craft repair - **The Mist Tavern** ### Key People - **Chief Speaker Iron-Bow** — Cree elder - **"Aunty" Anne Setter-Bow** — runs the tavern and the hydro-station - **Postmaster Henry Pruden** — HBC liaison - **Engineer "Old Wires" Marcus Inkster** — keeps the turbine running ### Key Groups - The Sellers - Goodwinia Trade Company (small) ### Other Info - The hydro-station is one of the only working turbine plants in Sellers territory - A Children-affiliated engineer recently offered to upgrade the turbine; Old Wires politely declined --- --- # THE CHILDREN OF THE RED RIVER > *Spread across the eastern parklands and the great inland seas; rising; ambitious; not yet at war and yet preparing for one. A people half-Cree, half-Saulteaux, half-Scots, half-French, and entirely their own. The Children call themselves a Nation. Everyone else hesitates to.* The Children of the Red River are the youngest of the Pemmican Sector's five great powers, and the one growing most quickly. A century ago they were a few thousand mixed-blood settlers around Red River and Portage La Prairie, tolerated by the HBC, accepted by the Cree and Saulteaux, dismissed by the Blackfoot. Today they hold a wedge of forty-odd worlds stretching from the eastern Sellers' borders to the Warriors' lane-routes, with three major capitals and a population estimated at over ten million. They are *not* a single coherent state. The Children's official structure — the People's Assembly at Winipic, the Provincial Councils, the Speakers — sits over a deep network of family lines, parish councils, freight clans, smuggler rings, and (now everyone suspects) a paramilitary "Volunteer" wing. The Lépine, Sayer, Welsh-Riel, Tanner, Decoteau, and Boucher families weave through the structure on every level. The Children are the prime suspects behind "The Incident" at Edmonton House — the murder of the Gatherer speaker's daughter the night before her marriage to the HBC factor, with a weapon that has not been traded into the sector for a thousand years. Nobody can prove it. Several worlds in this section are quietly building toward something. The HBC knows. The Gatherers suspect. The Sellers are watching. The Warriors are waiting to see what falls. ## Swan River — 1115 (D432432-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description The westernmost Children outpost — pressed up against Gatherer territory and the Warriors' L-shaped frontier. A thin-air river world with about twenty thousand residents in three valley towns. Swan River was founded as a Sellers post, but the population shifted Children's-way over two generations, and the Sellers' factor at Cumberland politely conceded the world about fifteen years ago. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 4 — ~25,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Provincial Hall** — three-story stone-and-wood meeting house - **The Swan Yard** — small-craft repair - **The Riverbend Inn** - **The Old Sellers Lodge** — now a museum, a careful nod to the previous occupants - **St. Boniface Chapel** — Sigmarite, but locally-pastored ### Key People - **Provincial Speaker Étienne Tanner-Welsh** — Métis; the senior Children official in the west - **Vice-Speaker Madame Sophie Lépine-Tanner** — Étienne's wife; sister to Madame Angélique at Red River - **Yard-Master Joseph "Big Joe" Boucher** — runs the yard; very large, very quiet - **Father Henri Decoteau** — Sigmarite priest; locally born and very loyal to the Children's cause - **Captain "Swan" Adèle Falcon-Welsh** — leads the local freighter family ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (provincial capital of the western Children) - The Lépine Family (controlling) - Sigmarite Order (locally-pastored) - Gatherer trading delegation (small) ### Other Info - Swan River sits on the Children's western marches; the Provincial Speaker's words carry to both Gatherer and Warrior diplomats - A "Volunteer" militia muster was held last spring on the pretext of a Warriors raid that never materialized - Madame Sophie Lépine-Tanner has been seen carrying her sister's correspondence; the family network is in active operation --- ## Alexandria — 1117 (E564442-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A pleasant agricultural world named (with characteristic Children grandeur) after a Terran city. Twenty thousand residents in stone-built farming towns; the Children's agricultural showpiece in the west. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 4 — ~25,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Common-House** — town hall, library, school all in one - **The Granaries** — the world's pride; stone-built, with an iron weathervane - **The Alexandria Hotel** — main inn, two stories; proud of itself - **The Schoolhouse** — Métis schoolhouse, recently expanded ### Key People - **Mayor Adèle Sayer-Decoteau** — Métis; widely respected, ambitious - **Schoolmaster Joseph Welsh-Tanner** — runs the schoolhouse; trained at Red River - **"Aunty" Marie Boucher** — runs the Hotel; widow of a Children courier - **Father Maximilian Logan** — Sigmarite priest; quietly an HBC informant ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (settler core) - The Sayer Family (local heads) - Sigmarite Order (with quiet HBC contact) ### Other Info - Alexandria grain feeds Red River and Portage; a key supplier - Father Logan's quiet correspondence with York is the HBC's best window into Children affairs in the west - A recent crop failure was averted only by emergency Gatherer trade; the Children are not advertising the dependency --- ## Carlton House — 1215 (D675433-8) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** G5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Description A garden-class world, formerly an HBC post on the main Cumberland–Red River trunk lane. The Children took possession of Carlton House twenty years ago in a peaceful "Cession of the Trunk" — the HBC agreed to retreat to its core enclaves in exchange for Children guarantees of safe passage along the lane. The world is intensely cultivated, with about twenty thousand residents on three large continents. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 6 — 9,600 km (~0.55 G) - **Atmosphere:** 7 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 4 — ~30,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Old HBC Factor's House** — preserved as a museum of "the cession" - **The Provincial Council Hall** — the Children's regional administration - **The Trunk Yards** — handles lane traffic; small-craft and freighter maintenance - **The Carlton Inn** — large coaching inn-style tavern; tradition of hosting HBC captains under the cession - **The Sigmarite Mission** - **The Volunteer Drill-Yard** — official "ceremonial," practically a militia training ground ### Key People - **Provincial Speaker "Aunty" Madeleine Welsh-Riel** — Métis; senior; cousin to Louis Riel the Younger - **Yard-Master Pierre "Cousin Pierre" Decoteau** — Métis - **Postmaster Wallace Christie** — HBC; sole remaining HBC official, treated with elaborate courtesy - **Captain "Trunk-Sam" Samuel Tanner-Welsh** — runs the lane traffic - **Drill-Master Henri Marion** — runs the "ceremonial" volunteers; veteran of an off-sector war ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (trunk-lane administration) - The Welsh-Riel Family (controlling) - Goodwinia Trade Company (single courteous postmaster) ### Other Info - The "Cession of the Trunk" is a Children's diplomatic triumph; Carlton House is the showpiece - Drill-Master Marion is rumored to have brought back imperial weapons-training; the militia is more capable than its "ceremonial" status suggests - A Gatherer agent was quietly turned away last month; the Speaker would not say why --- ## Montée Post — 1217 (E543321-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M4 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a thin-air, mostly desert world. Two thousand residents in a single fortified town. The Children took it from a Warriors raid-band twelve years ago. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin (tainted, respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Fortified Lodge** — walls and a gun-tower - **The Old Warriors' Camp** — preserved, used as a school - **The Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Charles Tanner** — Métis veteran of the retaking - **"Aunt" Marguerite Boucher-Tanner** — runs the tavern - **Drill-Sergeant Alain Welsh** — trains local militia; takes the job seriously ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River - Local Métis settler families ### Other Info - The retaking of Montée is a Children's source of pride - A Warriors raid two seasons ago was repelled; tensions remain high - A small arms-cache reportedly exists in the fortified lodge; rumored, not confirmed --- ## Shell River — 1315 (D320231-6) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M2 V | **Trade Codes:** De, Lo, Ni ### Description A desert world with seasonal river-valleys. The "shells" are fossils of an ancient marine fauna. About a hundred and fifty residents at a small archaeological-trade post. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 3 — 4,800 km - **Atmosphere:** 2 — Very thin (tainted, respirator + filter) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 2 — ~150 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** De, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Shell Museum** — fossils, both displayed and quietly for sale - **The Lodge** - **The Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Adèle Decoteau-Shell** — Métis; runs the trade - **"Doctor" Marcus Welsh** — self-styled scholar of the fossils ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River - A small Sigmarite shrine (with shell mosaic) ### Other Info - Shell River fossils are sold at Red River as luxury curiosities - A Gatherer scholar visits annually; the Children allow it --- ## Fort Qu'Appelle — 1318 (C675433-8) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** G5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Description One of the four named Children cores — the agricultural and military training capital of the rising Children Nation. A garden-class world with about thirty thousand permanent residents and (officially undisclosed) a further two to four thousand "Volunteer" cadets in residence on rotation. Fort Qu'Appelle has been the Children's drill-ground for fifteen years, and the rifle-fire from its valleys is loud enough that Sellers captains routing north by the lane joke about "the Children practicing for nobody knows what." Everyone knows what. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 6 — 9,600 km (~0.55 G) - **Atmosphere:** 7 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 4 — ~35,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ag, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Fort** — the original timber-and-stone HBC trading fort, now the Children's military headquarters east of Red River - **The Drill-Valleys** — three long valleys outside the town, used for live-fire training - **The Provincial Council Hall** — formal government - **The Officers' Mess** — wood-panelled, where the cadres dine; a major social hub - **The Voyageur Hotel** — main inn; large and impressive - **The Yards** — small-craft and lander repair; can rebuild a lifter - **The Armoury** — officially a sporting-rifle warehouse; practically a major weapons stockpile - **St-Florent Chapel** — Sigmarite, but the priest is locally loyal ### Key People - **Provincial Speaker "Colonel" Joseph Welsh-Riel** — Métis; senior Children officer in the east; nephew of Louis Riel the Younger - **Vice-Speaker Madame Marguerite Lépine-Welsh** — Joseph's wife; cousin to Madame Angélique at Red River - **Drill-Master General Henri "the Lieutenant" Tanner** — runs the Volunteers; veteran of an off-sector imperial conflict; the suspected acquirer of the off-sector blaster used at Edmonton - **Yard-Master Adèle Boucher-Welsh** — runs the yards - **Captain Sarah Saulteaux-Riel** — leads the local freighter squadron - **Father Michel Decoteau** — Sigmarite priest; fully loyal to the Children's cause - **Quartermaster "Old Pierre" Pierre Welsh** — keeps the armoury; trusted absolutely ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (military headquarters) - The Welsh-Riel Family (controlling) - The Volunteers (Children's paramilitary) - Sigmarite Order (locally loyal) ### Other Info - Drill-Master Tanner is the prime intelligence target for both HBC and Gatherer agents - The Armoury reportedly holds something the HBC desperately wants located; rumours of "off-sector" weapons are widespread - A Gatherer delegation came to demand answers about the Incident; they were given hospitality and no answers, and left - Joseph Welsh-Riel's correspondence with his uncle Louis at Red River goes by courier, never by tightbeam --- ## Fort Ellice — 1419 (C433543-8) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description Another of the four named Children cores — a fortified outpost on a thin-atmosphere world that serves as the Children's diplomatic interface with the Warriors. Fort Ellice is the only Children's world where Warriors envoys are formally and continuously hosted, and the only one where the Warriors maintain a permanent embassy of their own. About forty thousand residents. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 5 — ~50,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Fort** — formal Children government building - **The Warriors' House** — long, low, ceremonial; the only permanent Warriors enclave in the Children's territory - **The Yards** — small-craft repair and lander outfitting - **The Ambassadors' Inn** — diplomatic-grade accommodation, the discreet meeting place - **The Old Tavern** — for the common trade - **The Volunteer Barracks** — discreet but substantial - **The Sigmarite Mission** ### Key People - **Provincial Speaker "Diplomat" Adèle Tanner-Sayer** — Métis; the Children's most senior diplomat; fluent in three Plains tongues - **Warriors Ambassador Calf-On-The-Hill** — Blackfoot war-chief and elder; permanent resident; respected - **Vice-Speaker Henri "Quiet" Lépine** — Métis; runs day-to-day administration; reportedly the Children's senior spymaster east of Red River - **Yard-Master Joseph Decoteau-Welsh** — Métis - **Captain "Talker" Marie Welsh-Sayer** — leads the diplomatic-courier squadron - **Father Boniface Marion** — Sigmarite priest; speaks Blackfoot ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (diplomatic core) - The Warriors (permanent embassy) - The Tanner-Sayer Family (controlling) - The Volunteers (substantial) ### Other Info - Fort Ellice is the only place in the sector where Children's-issue Warriors-rifle ammunition can be obtained - Ambassador Calf-On-The-Hill is widely rumored to know who is supplying the Children with Warriors-pattern arms; he is not telling - The Children's quiet long-game with the Warriors is here — Fort Ellice is preparing the ground for a future Children–Warriors compact against the HBC --- ## Birdstail Creek — 1422 (E543100-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a thin-air dry-stream world. Thirty residents. Founded twenty years ago to claim the hex. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin (tainted, respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 1 — ~30 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Cabin** — a single bunkhouse - **The Pad** ### Key People - **Postmaster Étienne Welsh** — Métis homesteader - **"Aunt" Marie Welsh** — his sister; only other permanent resident ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (claim-post) ### Other Info - Founded as a claim-marker; the world is mostly unimproved - The hex shows up on Children maps in heavy ink; it is symbolic territory --- ## Fort Esperance — 1518 (D322432-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air desert-and-poor-soil world; the name ("hope") was a settler's wishful gesture three generations back. Twenty thousand residents in a single fortified town. The Children's secondary military and supply post for the southern Warriors-front. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 3 — 4,800 km - **Atmosphere:** 2 — Very thin (tainted, respirator + filter) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 4 — ~25,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Fort** — walls, gun-towers - **The Volunteer Barracks** - **The Supply Yards** — military depot - **The Hope Tavern** - **The Mission** ### Key People - **Provincial Sub-Speaker "Major" Joseph Decoteau-Welsh** — Métis; reports to Fort Qu'Appelle - **Drill-Captain Sarah Tanner-Lépine** — runs the local Volunteers - **Quartermaster "Old Henri" Henri Boucher** — runs the supply yards ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River - The Volunteers (substantial) ### Other Info - Fort Esperance is the Volunteers' second-largest supply depot - A Warriors raid two seasons ago was repelled; casualties higher than admitted - Quartermaster Boucher is suspected of skimming; the Speaker has not yet acted --- ## Brandon House — 1520 (D555621-6) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** G0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A temperate, pleasant agricultural world with about three million residents — the Children's second-largest population, after Winipic. Brandon House is the Children's "respectable" face: prosperous, orderly, mostly farming, with a well-developed civil society. The Volunteer drilling is more discreet here than at Fort Qu'Appelle. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 6 — ~3,000,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Provincial Hall** — large stone building, civic-grand - **The Brandon Market** — the largest open market in Children's territory - **The Brandon Coaching Inn** — main hostelry; respectable - **The Yards** — small-craft repair - **The Schoolhouse** — large Métis academy; sister institution to the Red River one - **The Sigmarite Mission** ### Key People - **Provincial Speaker "Father Brandon" Pierre Sayer** — Métis; elder statesman, sober and respected - **Vice-Speaker Madame Hélène Welsh-Sayer** — Pierre's daughter-in-law; runs the academy - **Yard-Master Joseph Tanner-Boucher** — Métis - **Captain "Sailor" Adèle Decoteau-Sayer** — leads the freighter squadron - **Father Henri Logan** — Sigmarite priest, widely respected, locally born - **Madame Marie Lépine-Sayer** — Pierre's niece; quietly runs the Brandon Volunteers ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (population core) - The Sayer Family (controlling) - The Volunteers (discreet but substantial) - Sigmarite Order (locally loyal) ### Other Info - Brandon House grain feeds Red River and Winipic - The Volunteer presence is real but quiet; "respectable" politics is the local style - A small Goodwinia Trade Company office operates from a back-street; tolerated, watched --- ## Fort Souris — 1522 (E443543-6) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air mid-population world; about fifty thousand residents in scattered river valleys. Souris means "mouse" — the local fauna is dominated by rodent-analogues. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin (tainted, respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 5 — ~50,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Provincial Hall** - **The Mouse-Yard** — small-craft repair; named for the local fauna - **The Souris Inn** - **The Pelt Market** — rodent-fur trade; surprisingly profitable - **The Volunteer Barracks** ### Key People - **Provincial Sub-Speaker Joseph Tanner-Welsh** — Métis - **Vice-Speaker Madame Anne Sayer-Tanner** — runs the pelt market - **Yard-Master "Cousin Henri" Henri Decoteau-Boucher** - **Drill-Captain Marguerite Welsh-Sayer** — runs the local Volunteers ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River - The Tanner-Welsh Family (locally controlling) - The Volunteers (substantial) ### Other Info - Souris pelt-fur is sold at Red River for winter clothing; surprisingly competitive - The Volunteers here recently conducted a "spring exercise" that involved the entire militia mustering and marching to Fort Esperance and back --- ## Montagne à la Bosse — 1618 (C555432-8) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** G2 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A pleasant rolling-hill world with a distinctive central plateau (the "bosse" or "hump"). About thirty thousand residents. Settled by Métis homesteaders four generations ago. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 4 — ~30,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Hump Lodge** — provincial council - **The Yards** — small-craft and lander repair - **The Bosse Inn** - **The Plateau Observatory** — small but functional astronomical observatory - **The Sigmarite Chapel** ### Key People - **Provincial Speaker Adèle Boucher-Decoteau** — Métis; ambitious, courteous - **Yard-Master Joseph Welsh-Boucher** — Métis - **Observer "Doctor" Marie Tanner-Lépine** — runs the observatory; trained at Red River - **Father Maximilian Decoteau** — Sigmarite priest ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River - The Boucher Family (locally controlling) - The Observatory (small civic body) ### Other Info - The Plateau Observatory has identified what may be an inbound free-trader convoy; the Children's intelligence services are interested - A small Volunteer detachment trains here; lower profile than at Fort Qu'Appelle --- ## Riding Mountain — 1818 (E434100-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small post on a hill-country world; mostly hunters and trappers. Forty residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 1 — ~40 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Trapper's Cabin** ### Key People - **Postmaster Étienne Sayer-Mountain** — Métis homesteader - **"Aunt" Marguerite Welsh** — his sister ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Riding Mountain trapping yields high-quality winter pelts - The post is so remote that the Speaker at Brandon has not visited in five years --- ## Bas de la Rivière — 1923 (C78A655-9) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** G2 V | **Trade Codes:** Wa ### Description A water world — over ninety percent ocean, with a single shallow archipelago bearing the small population. The Children's "river" here is a tidal current as wide as a continent. About four million residents on the floating and pillar-built towns of the archipelago, supported by aquaculture and fish-protein. Bas de la Rivière is the Children's most unusual world and produces an unreasonable quantity of edible biomass. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 7 — 11,200 km (~0.7 G) - **Atmosphere:** 8 — Dense - **Hydrographic Percentage:** A — 96%+ - **Population:** 6 — ~5,000,000 - **Government:** 5 — Feudal Technocracy - **Law Level:** 5 - **Tech Level:** 9 - **Trade Codes:** Wa ### Key Locations - **The Floating Hall** — the Provincial Council, on a great pontoon - **The Pillar-City** — the main population center, on driven pylons - **The Fish-Markets** — vast covered markets on floating piers - **The Tidal Yards** — small-craft repair on pontoons; specialized in sea-craft - **The Drowned Cathedral** — a partly-submerged Sigmarite shrine, very famous - **The Salt Tavern** — large floating tavern, anchored ### Key People - **Lord-Speaker "Admiral" Henri Lépine-Sayer** — Métis-creole; the senior Children figure at sea; styled "Admiral" though he commands no real navy - **Lady Vice-Speaker Madame Sophie Welsh-Lépine** — Henri's wife; runs civil administration - **Master-of-Tides Captain Adèle Tanner-Sea** — leads the fishing-fleet - **Yard-Master "Old Salt" Pierre Boucher-Sea** — runs the tidal yards - **Bishop-Father Maximilian Marion** — Sigmarite; presides at the Drowned Cathedral ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (sea-province) - The Lépine-Sayer Family (controlling) - The Fishing-Fleet (effectively a navy) - Sigmarite Order (high-profile) ### Other Info - The Lépine-Sayer dynasty rules Bas de la Rivière as a quasi-feudal sea-state under Children's law - The fishing fleet is the largest organized maritime force in the sector; if the Children ever build a real navy, it will start here - A Diefoney pod was reportedly sighted in the deep ocean recently; the Lord-Speaker would like to discuss this with Edmonton House but cannot openly --- ## Three Rivers — 1928 (C554742-8) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** G5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ag ### Description A pleasant agricultural world with three major continental rivers feeding a central lake. About twenty-five million residents — the third-largest Children's population, after Winipic and Bas de la Rivière. Three Rivers is the granary of the eastern Children. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 7 — ~25,000,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ag ### Key Locations - **The Provincial Capitol** — large domed building, the Children's grandest civic architecture outside Winipic - **The Granary-Towers** — visible from orbit; the world's pride - **The Three Rivers Hotel** — a four-storey hostelry, by any standard a substantial building - **The Yards** — full small-craft and lander repair - **The Schoolhouse** — the second-largest Métis academy in the sector - **St-Joseph Cathedral** — Sigmarite, the largest in the Children's territory ### Key People - **Provincial Speaker "Statesman" Joseph Tanner-Welsh** — Métis; senior politician; widely tipped as a future Grand Speaker at Winipic - **Vice-Speaker Madame Adèle Sayer-Tanner** — runs the academy - **Yard-Master Henri Decoteau-Welsh** - **Mayor of Three Rivers City "Aunty" Marguerite Boucher-Welsh** — civic head - **Bishop-Father Pierre-Louis Marion** — senior Sigmarite cleric in the Children's territory ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (granary-province) - The Tanner-Welsh Family (controlling) - Sigmarite Order (regional headquarters) ### Other Info - Three Rivers grain feeds half the Children's population; a critical strategic commodity - The Provincial Speaker is, by all accounts, more moderate than the Winipic leadership and not entirely happy with the direction of Children policy - A discreet HBC envoy met the Speaker last quarter; subject of the meeting unknown --- ## Portage La Prairie — 2024 (B565754-A) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** F8 V | **Trade Codes:** Ag ### Description The third of the four named Children cores — the agricultural and industrial showpiece of the Children Nation. About thirty million residents, with a B-class starport and a tech level of 10. Portage La Prairie was the original Métis homestead-belt before the founding of Red River, and the families here trace their pedigrees back to the first settlement. The world is intensely cultivated, with a sprawling open-field economy and a notably strong manufacturing sector. If the Children have a "modern" world, this is it. - **Starport Quality:** B — Good (refined fuel, spacecraft yards) - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 7 — ~30,000,000 - **Government:** 5 — Feudal Technocracy - **Law Level:** 4 - **Tech Level:** A (10) — fusion plants, advanced electronics - **Trade Codes:** Ag ### Key Locations - **The Provincial Capitol** — the seat of the Children's Western Province - **Portage Yards** — the largest yard in Children's territory; can build a complete free-trader, and (rumour) has begun work on something heavier - **The Long Granary** — a kilometer-long stone granary, the world's monument - **The Industrial District** — fusion plants, electronics shops, machine-tool works - **The Officer's Club** — the Volunteers' senior officers' hangout - **The Portage Hotel** — large, well-appointed - **The Schoolhouse** — Métis academy with a serious engineering wing - **The Volunteer Drill-Yard** — quietly the largest military training ground in Children's territory - **St-Eustache Cathedral** — Sigmarite, very old ### Key People - **Grand Provincial Speaker "the Governor" Maximilien Welsh-Riel** — Métis; senior; cousin to Louis Riel the Younger; widely seen as the practical heir to the Winipic leadership - **Lady Vice-Speaker Madame Anne Lépine-Welsh** — Maximilien's wife - **Yard-Master Joseph "the Engineer" Boucher-Welsh** — Métis; runs the yards; brilliant designer - **Drill-Master General Adèle Tanner-Welsh** — runs the Portage Volunteers — the largest organized armed force in Children's territory - **Industrial Master "Doctor" Pierre Decoteau-Lépine** — runs the industrial district - **Captain "Long" Henri Sayer-Welsh** — leads the freighter fleet - **Bishop-Father Boniface Marion** — Sigmarite ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (Western Province capital) - The Welsh-Riel Family (controlling) - The Volunteers (largest concentration in the Nation) - Sigmarite Order (substantial) ### Other Info - Portage Yards' new build (currently classified) is rumored to be an armed freighter or a small corvette — the first Children-built warship - The Volunteers at Portage now exceed two regiments by some estimates; this is by far the largest organized military force in the Children's territory - A Goodwinia Trade Company commercial agent operates here under heavy surveillance - Joseph Welsh-Riel of Fort Qu'Appelle is Maximilien's nephew; the family network runs the Children's military wing --- ## Fairford — 2115 (D432321-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small thin-air post; about a hundred and fifty residents. A modest trading station for nearby trapping bands. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 3 — ~150 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Étienne Boucher-Fair** — Métis - **"Aunty" Marie Welsh-Fair** — runs the tavern ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Fairford pelts trade through Carlton House - The recent Children's census found the world had fewer residents than expected; emigration to Portage --- ## Hecla — 2120 (E434211-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a hill-country world; named by an early Icelandic immigrant after a famous volcano. Twenty residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 1 — ~20 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Old Stone Cabin** — Icelandic-style turf-and-stone construction - **The Pad** ### Key People - **Postmaster "Old Iceland" Gunnar Sigurdsson-Welsh** — Icelandic-Métis homesteader - **"Aunt" Adèle Sigurdsson-Welsh** ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - One of the few non-Métis-named Children worlds; the Icelandic descendant lineages keep distinctive traditions - Hecla wool-analogue is sent to Winipic for high-end weaving --- ## Rainy Lake — 2126 (C543667-8) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air mid-population world with a perpetually wet climate. About five million residents on the lake-girt main continent. Rainy Lake is the Children's secondary industrial center, after Portage. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin (tainted, respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 6 — ~5,000,000 - **Government:** 6 — Captive Government (under Winipic) - **Law Level:** 7 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Captive Hall** — local administration, reports directly to Winipic - **The Industrial Yards** — second after Portage; specializes in lifters and small-craft engines - **The Rainy Inn** — main hostelry, well-built - **The Schoolhouse** - **The Volunteer Barracks** — substantial - **The Sigmarite Cathedral** ### Key People - **Captive-Governor "Colonel" Joseph Lépine-Welsh** — Winipic appointee; firm hand; cousin to Madame Angélique at Red River - **Yard-Master "Engineer" Adèle Tanner-Lépine** — runs the industrial yards - **Drill-Captain Henri Boucher-Welsh** — runs the local Volunteers - **Bishop-Father Pierre Marion** — Sigmarite ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (captive subprovince) - The Lépine-Welsh Family (controlling) - The Volunteers (substantial) ### Other Info - Rainy Lake's "captive" status was imposed by Winipic five years ago after a local autonomy movement; tensions remain - The Industrial Yards have produced most of the Volunteer-issue rifles in current circulation; Rainy is the Children's small-arms manufacturer - A local underground movement still resents the Winipic takeover; an HBC contact has been quietly tracking it --- ## Berens River — 2218 (D564310-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A modest post on a forested river world. About fifteen hundred residents. The Children's eastern parkland frontier. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~1,500 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The River Yard** — small-boat construction - **The Berens Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Henri Boucher** — Métis - **"Aunty" Marguerite Welsh-Boucher** — runs the tavern - **Boat-Master Adèle Decoteau-Berens** — runs the yard ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Berens River canoes are the standard small-craft for Children riverine trade - The boat-master has a Saulteaux mother; deep family ties to the Sellers across the border --- ## Portage de l'Isle — 2224 (D210442-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** De, Ni ### Description A small desert world with a portage station between two N-Space lanes. About thirty thousand residents in domed colonies. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 2 — 3,200 km - **Atmosphere:** 1 — Trace (vac suit) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 4 — ~30,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** De, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Dome Hall** — provincial administration - **The Yards** — small-craft and lander repair - **The Dome Inn** — large, multi-level - **The Volunteer Barracks** — small ### Key People - **Speaker Henri Decoteau-Isle** — Métis - **Vice-Speaker Madame Adèle Welsh-Isle** — runs the dome's civic council - **Yard-Master "Vacuum Joe" Joseph Boucher** — best vacuum-yard hand in Children's territory ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Portage de l'Isle is a critical lane-stop on the Red River–Albany route - The Vacuum-Yard's signature outer-hull patch is famous across the sector for durability --- ## Grand Rapids — 2315 (C432543-8) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air mid-population world named for the white-water river running through its main continent. About fifty thousand residents. The northern terminus of the Children's Cumberland-trade lane. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 5 — ~50,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Provincial Hall** - **The Rapids Yards** — small-craft repair - **The Grand Rapids Inn** - **The Schoolhouse** - **The Volunteer Barracks** ### Key People - **Provincial Speaker Joseph Sayer-Rapids** — Métis - **Vice-Speaker Madame Marie Welsh-Sayer** — runs civic administration - **Yard-Master "Cousin Pierre" Pierre Boucher-Decoteau** - **Drill-Captain Étienne Tanner-Sayer** — runs the Volunteers ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River - The Sayer Family (locally controlling) - The Volunteers (substantial) ### Other Info - Grand Rapids is the Children's northern trade-front - A Sellers delegation visits annually; relations are formally correct, practically cool --- ## Winipic — 2321 (C678954-A) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** F5 V | **Trade Codes:** Hi, Wa ### Description The capital of the Children of the Red River. A water world — eighty percent ocean, with one major continent and a scatter of large island-chains. Population over four hundred million, the largest single population in the sector outside York and Galtran's combined HBC enclaves. Winipic is the seat of the Children's Grand Council, the People's Assembly, the High Court, the Grand Cathedral, the Volunteer General-Staff, and the Lépine clan's ancestral house — and these institutions occupy the same five city blocks, which is exactly the point. The Children's revolution, if it comes, will be planned in this city. The world has a C-class starport — the Children have repeatedly declined HBC offers to upgrade it, on the grounds that they prefer to control whom they let land. Tech level 10 — fusion plants, advanced electronics, locally-built lifters and small-craft. The Cathedral is the largest building in the Children's territory and the second-largest in the sector after the Grand Cathedral at Red River (which is older). - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 6 — 9,600 km (~0.55 G) - **Atmosphere:** 7 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 8 — 76–85% - **Population:** 9 — ~400,000,000 - **Government:** 5 — Feudal Technocracy - **Law Level:** 4 - **Tech Level:** A (10) — fusion, advanced electronics - **Trade Codes:** Hi, Wa ### Key Locations - **The People's Assembly Hall** — vast, domed, theatrical; the public face of the Children's government - **The Grand Council Chamber** — much smaller, much quieter, where decisions are actually made - **The Lépine House** — the family's ancestral compound; effectively a private fortress - **The Volunteer General-Staff** — military headquarters; officially "the Office of Civic Order" - **The Grand Cathedral of Winipic** — second only to Red River's - **The Winipic Yards** — small-craft repair; refuses HBC-pattern parts - **The University of the Red River** — the Children's flagship academic institution - **The Officers' Club** — Volunteer senior officers - **The Hotel St-Boniface** — the senior diplomatic hostelry; where off-world visitors are politely housed and politely watched - **The Old Cobblestones Tavern** — the political tavern; if you want to overhear something useful, here - **The Sayer Counting-House** — Cuthbert Grant Sayer's family bank; one of the wealthiest commercial institutions in the sector ### Key People - **Grand Speaker "the President" Anne-Marie Lépine-Riel** — Métis-creole; the Children's senior political figure; cousin to Louis Riel the Younger at Red River; widely considered the most powerful figure in the eastern sector outside the HBC - **Lady Vice-President Madame Adèle Sayer-Welsh** — runs daily administration - **Grand Marshal "General" Henri Welsh-Riel** — head of the Volunteers; Louis Riel the Younger's brother-in-law - **Chief Justice "the Judge" Pierre Tanner-Lépine** — head of the High Court; quietly the senior intelligence officer - **Madame Sophie Lépine** — matriarch of the Lépine clan; sister to Madame Angélique at Red River; widely understood to be the senior policy maker in the Children's leadership - **Rector-Bishop Boniface Marion** — senior Sigmarite cleric in Children territory - **Master Cuthbert Grant Sayer ("Old Cuth")** — family patriarch; the same name as the suspected accomplice in the Incident; the public face is grandfatherly, the private one is not - **Rector "the Professor" Madame Marie Decoteau-Welsh** — head of the University - **Captain Madame Adèle Welsh-Lépine** — leads the People's Yacht (a discreet armed pleasure-craft used for diplomatic missions) ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (national capital) - The Lépine Family (controlling) - The Sayer Family (financial) - The Welsh-Riel Family (military) - The Volunteers (General Staff) - Sigmarite Order (regional headquarters) - The University Council (academic and informal political body) ### Other Info - The Incident at Edmonton: Old Cuth Sayer is widely (privately) believed by HBC intelligence to have arranged the supply of the off-sector blaster; he is also widely believed to be untouchable politically - The Grand Council recently authorized "preparation of contingency plans" for HBC withdrawal from the trunk lanes; the contingency plan is reportedly more advanced than the Council itself realizes - A Gatherer diplomatic mission has stood outside the Lépine House for nine months demanding "honest answer" about the Incident; the family has politely declined to receive them - The University maintains a unique archive of pre-HBC Cree and Saulteaux oral histories, painstakingly transcribed; a major cultural asset - The Sayer Counting-House is rumored to hold reserves sufficient to underwrite a major military expansion --- ## Whitemud River — 2328 (D564231-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** G5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate world with white-clay riverbanks. About a hundred residents. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Clay Yard** — pottery and clay-brick works - **The Old Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Henri Welsh-Whitemud** — Métis - **"Aunt" Marie Boucher-Whitemud** — runs the tavern - **Master Potter Sarah Sayer-Whitemud** — heads the clay-works ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Whitemud pottery is sold at Red River as functional and decorative ware - A Sigmarite shrine here uses fired Whitemud tiles in its altar --- ## Reindeer Lake — 2515 (E564300-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate lake-world; the "reindeer" are a herding-mammal analogue. Two hundred residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~250 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Pen-Yard** — herding pens - **The Tavern** ### Key People - **Elder Three-Hawks-of-the-Herd** — Cree-Métis herd-master - **"Aunt" Adèle Welsh-Hawks** — runs the tavern - **Herd-Master Pierre Decoteau-Hawks** — Cree-Métis ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River - Local Cree band (assimilated into Children community) ### Other Info - Reindeer Lake meat is sold to Winipic for winter trade - The local Cree are full Children's citizens and resent Sellers' claims to be the senior Cree authority --- ## Lac du Bonnet — 2520 (E564321-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate lake-world. Two thousand residents in a single town. A retreat town for the Winipic elite. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Retreat Houses** — small private cottages owned by Winipic families - **The Bonnet Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster "Aunt" Madeleine Welsh-Bonnet** — Métis - **Father Henri Lépine** — Sigmarite priest, retired; a cousin of Madame Angélique's - **"Cottage-Keeper" Pierre Boucher** — looks after the elite cottages ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - The Winipic elite holiday here; many private negotiations happen in cottage parlors - Father Henri's retreats are reputedly where the most sensitive Children's policy is discussed off the record --- ## Red Lake — 2526 (E210342-6) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M3 V | **Trade Codes:** De, Lo, Ni ### Description A small desert world with iron-rich red dust. About thirty thousand residents in domed colonies. A small but profitable iron-mining operation. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 2 — 3,200 km - **Atmosphere:** 1 — Trace (vac suit) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 0 — Desert - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** De, Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Dome Hall** - **The Iron-Mine** — surface and subsurface operation - **The Red Lodge** — main tavern in the dome - **The Smelter** — small but functional ### Key People - **Speaker Joseph Sayer-Red** — Métis - **Mine-Master "Iron" Henri Welsh-Red** — runs the mine - **Smelter-Master Marie Boucher-Red** — runs the smelter ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Red Lake iron is sent to Rainy Lake and Portage for the manufacture of Volunteer rifles - A small but growing dispute over royalty payments has the local Speaker increasingly cool toward Winipic --- ## Island Lake — 2715 (E543200-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small post on a thin-air lake-world. A hundred residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin (tainted, respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Pad** ### Key People - **Postmaster Étienne Welsh-Island** — Métis - **"Aunt" Anne Sayer-Island** ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Island Lake is on the Winipic–Albany lane - A Children courier ship rests here weekly --- ## Cat Lake — 2722 (E434100-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A small post; thirty residents, named for the local feline analogue, a small forest predator. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 1 — ~30 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Cabin** - **The Pelt-Shed** ### Key People - **Postmaster "Cat-Marie" Marie Decoteau-Cat** — Métis trapper - **"Old Hunter" Étienne Welsh-Cat** — her brother ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Cat Lake pelts are a luxury item at Winipic - A Warriors raid five years ago killed the previous postmaster; the current one is armed --- ## Poplar River — 2815 (D564310-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A modest post on a forested river world. About fifteen hundred residents. Not to be confused with Poplar River House (2806) in Sellers territory. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~1,500 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Mill** — small lumber operation - **The Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Henri Tanner-Poplar** — Métis - **"Aunt" Madeleine Boucher-Poplar** — runs the tavern - **Sawyer Pierre Welsh-Poplar** — heads the mill ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Poplar River lumber feeds the Winipic yards - Confusion with Sellers' Poplar River House is constant; the Children have offered to rename, but the locals refuse --- ## Lac Seul — 2825 (E434321-6) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a lake-world; about two thousand residents. The name ("alone lake") commemorates the founder's solitary first winter here. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Yard** — small-boat construction - **The Solitaire Tavern** ### Key People - **Speaker Adèle Sayer-Seul** — Métis - **"Aunt" Marie Welsh-Seul** — runs the tavern - **Boat-Master Henri Decoteau-Seul** ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Lac Seul boats are sold to Rainy Lake and Albany - A small but determined Sigmarite hermitage operates on a nearby island --- ## Big Trout Lake — 2918 (E565100-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate lake-world; about thirty residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 1 — ~30 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Smoking Shed** ### Key People - **Postmaster Joseph Welsh-Trout** — Métis - **"Aunt" Anne Sayer-Trout** ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Trout smoked here are sent to Albany Fort - A wandering Sigmarite hermit lives in a hut nearby; the postmaster brings him bread --- ## Osnaburgh House — 2925 (D554432-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** G5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A modest temperate world named after a town in Lower Saxony; about twenty thousand residents. A pleasant settler-belt world. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 4 — ~22,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Provincial Hall** - **The Yards** — small-craft repair - **The Osnaburgh Inn** - **The Schoolhouse** ### Key People - **Speaker "Aunty" Madame Sophie Welsh-Decoteau** — Métis - **Yard-Master Joseph Boucher-Welsh** - **Schoolmaster Adèle Sayer-Welsh** ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River - Sigmarite Order (small) ### Other Info - Osnaburgh House is on the Albany lane; a useful waystation - The schoolhouse hosts twenty children from nearby settler families --- ## Split Lake — 3015 (E564200-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a lake-world with an unusual U-shaped main lake. About a hundred residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~100 - **Government:** 0 — No government - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Old Tavern** ### Key People - **Postmaster Marie Tanner-Split** — Métis - **"Old Joe" Joseph Welsh-Split** ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Split Lake is a quiet outpost on the Winipic–Albany lane - A Children courier service runs through monthly --- ## Marten Falls — 3028 (D433432-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air world with several waterfalls. About twenty thousand residents in small valley villages. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~22,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Provincial Hall** - **The Falls Yard** — small-craft repair - **The Falls Tavern** - **The Mission** ### Key People - **Speaker Henri Sayer-Falls** — Métis - **Vice-Speaker "Aunt" Adèle Welsh-Falls** — runs the tavern - **Yard-Master "Falls" Joseph Decoteau** ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Marten Falls is on the Children's far eastern frontier, neighboring Albany Fort - A Sigmarite shrine near the largest waterfall draws regional pilgrims --- ## Glouster House — 3115 (E564321-5) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A small post on a temperate world; about two thousand residents. The name is local English-language sloppy for "Gloucester." - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Lodge** - **The Tavern** ### Key People - **Speaker Joseph Boucher-Glouster** — Métis - **"Aunt" Marie Welsh-Glouster** — runs the tavern ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Glouster House sits between Children and Sellers worlds; a small Sellers delegation visits annually - The local mill produces a particular variety of trade-grain that is fashionable at Winipic --- ## Henley House — 3120 (D675321-7) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** G8 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A modest pleasant world; about a hundred and fifty residents in three small towns. A traditional stop on the Albany–Winipic lane. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 6 — 9,600 km (~0.55 G) - **Atmosphere:** 7 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 3 — ~150 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **The Yard** — small-craft maintenance - **The Henley Inn** ### Key People - **Postmaster Adèle Welsh-Henley** — Métis - **"Aunt" Marie Tanner-Henley** — runs the inn - **Yard-Master Joseph Sayer-Henley** ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River ### Other Info - Henley House is a popular overnight stop on the Albany run - The Welsh-Henley family claims direct descent from one of the original HBC Henley factors; the genealogy is disputed --- ## Albany Fort — 3125 (C543667-8) **Allegiance:** Children of the Red River | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description The fourth and easternmost of the named Children cores. A thin-air mid-population world that serves as the Children's eastern terminus — and as their official trading interface with the off-sector beyond the Pemmican Sector itself. About five million residents. Albany Fort was the eastern outpost of HBC presence sixty years ago; the cession of Albany to the Children was, like Carlton, peaceful, but more grudging. The Children built it up as their off-sector gate, and now Albany rivals York Factory in lane-traffic. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin (tainted, respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 6 — ~5,000,000 - **Government:** 6 — Captive Government (under Winipic) - **Law Level:** 7 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Fort** — the original HBC structure, preserved as the Children's seat of administration - **The Albany Yards** — second-largest yards in Children's territory after Portage; handles incoming off-sector traffic - **The Off-Sector Berths** — six dedicated landing pads for non-Pemmican-sector ships - **The Customs House** — the Children's only formal off-sector customs facility - **The Volunteer Garrison** — substantial; this is where the Children watch for off-sector intervention - **The Albany Inn** — large, well-appointed; where off-world traders are politely housed - **The Stranger's Tavern** — main rough-trade tavern; mixed off-world and local clientele - **The Schoolhouse** - **St-Anne's Cathedral** — Sigmarite, oldest in the eastern Children's territory ### Key People - **Captive-Governor "Admiral" Henri Lépine-Welsh** — Winipic appointee; the senior Children figure on the eastern frontier; reports directly to the Grand Speaker - **Customs Chief Madame Marie Sayer-Albany** — runs the off-sector customs house - **Yard-Master Joseph "the Builder" Decoteau-Welsh** — runs the yards - **Drill-Master General Sarah Tanner-Lépine** — runs the Albany Volunteers - **Captain "Off-Sector" Pierre Boucher-Sea** — leads the freighter squadron that operates beyond the sector boundary - **Bishop-Father Maximilian Marion** — Sigmarite; senior eastern cleric - **"Old" Madame Henriette Tanner** — informal matriarch of the Albany customs network; quietly the most powerful merchant on the world ### Key Groups - Children of the Red River (eastern frontier capital) - The Lépine-Welsh Family (controlling) - The Volunteers (substantial garrison) - The Off-Sector Merchants (small but influential) - Sigmarite Order (eastern chapter) ### Other Info - Albany Fort is the Children's window onto the wider universe — and the only Children-controlled port through which off-sector goods (and information) reliably flow - The Customs House is rumored to have intercepted, but not disclosed, a recent off-sector inquiry regarding "imperial-pattern small arms" — the same kind of weapon used at the Incident - The Volunteer garrison here is heavier than the population justifies; the Children expect that if off-sector intervention ever comes, it will come through Albany first - "Old" Madame Tanner's smuggling network handles most of the under-the-counter off-sector trade in the sector; everyone knows, no one acts --- --- # THE WARRIORS > *"We were here before the trader, and we will be here after. The Buyer's hand is heavy on the prairie. The Warrior is patient." — attributed to Crow-Foot the Elder, c. 200 years ago* The Warriors are not a single nation but a war-confederacy: Blackfoot, Piegan, Blood, Lakota, Mandan, Anishinaabe, and several smaller bands, bound together by treaty fires and by a common purpose — to retain what land they hold and, if the chance comes, to retake what was taken. Two centuries ago the Warriors were "the Rulers" — the entire sector was theirs, with HBC tolerated only as a trading partner. The Cession of the Trunk, the founding of Red River, the rise of the Children, the formal demarcation of the prairie reserves: all of these were defeats. The Warriors remember. Their territory today forms an L-shape — the south-western nine columns plus the entire southern row-strip — comprising the prairie hunting grounds, the boreal lakes, and the southern fortified mountain belt. The Warriors maintain four formal capitals: Fort Union (the heart of the Lakota-Mandan), Fort William (the senior diplomatic capital, where the confederacy fires are kept), Grand Portage (the eastern trade-and-arms depot), and Sault Ste. Marie (the eastern terminus and shipyard). The Warriors trade — selectively, and on their own terms. They raid — selectively, and with calculated political effect. They watch the Children's Volunteer build-up with grim interest, and the suspected Children's role in the Incident has been quietly noted at every confederacy fire in the past year. If the Warriors and the Children ever ally, the HBC will need to reckon with a force it has not seen in sixty years. ## Maria's River — 0130 (D543442-7) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Piegan-Blackfoot band) | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A thin-air valley world with a long arable river — Piegan country, the westernmost reach of the Warriors' L-shape. About thirty thousand residents in scattered river-camps and a single small fortified town. The "Maria" was an early Quebec trader who married into the Piegan and is honored to this day. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 4 — Thin (tainted, respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 4 — ~25,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (Council of Chiefs) - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** — the senior Piegan band meeting house - **The Wintering-Camp** — fortified town, occupied seasonally - **The Yard** — small-craft and lander repair - **The River Trading-Post** — neutral ground for outsider traders - **Maria's Cairn** — small shrine to the world's namesake ### Key People - **Chief Iron-Shirt** — Piegan war-chief; senior elder; in his sixties, slow to anger, fast to act when angered - **Sub-Chief Many-Spotted-Horses** — younger; widely expected to succeed - **Trade-Speaker "Aunt" Marie Tanner-Riverstone** — Métis half-blood; the only formal trade intermediary - **Yard-Master "Uncle" Joseph Welsh-Riverstone** — Métis half-blood; runs the small yard - **Medicine-Woman Calf-On-The-Hill-The-Younger** — Piegan healer and ritual specialist ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Piegan band) - The Métis Trader-Intermediaries (small, very privileged) ### Other Info - Maria's River is one of two formal trading-posts on the Warriors' western marches; outsider traders may trade here under the chief's protection - A Children agent recently arrived and was given hospitality; she was permitted to leave but only after surrendering an off-sector small-arm to Chief Iron-Shirt - The Piegan here are watching Edmonton House with care; the wedding the Incident interrupted would have made an HBC factor a Piegan in-law --- ## Teton River — 0232 (E564342-5) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Lakota band) | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A river-valley world with a small Lakota population — about two thousand residents — and a tradition of horse-husbandry. The local horses are renowned across the Warriors' territory. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (Council of Chiefs) - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **The Horse-Camps** — three separate band-camps, each with its own herd - **The Trading-Post** — small, on the western edge ### Key People - **Chief Charging-Bull-Calf** — Lakota war-chief - **Sub-Chief Black-Elk-of-the-Teton** — younger - **Master-Horseman "Old" Walking-Wolf** — keeps the herds - **Trade-Speaker Pierre Welsh-Teton** — Métis half-blood ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Lakota band) - Métis Trader-Intermediaries (very small) ### Other Info - Teton horses are the prized cavalry mounts of the Warriors' light-cavalry doctrine - A Children agent attempted to purchase twenty horses last year; she was refused and politely escorted off-world --- ## Fort Piegan — 0431 (E434543-5) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Piegan capital) | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air world that serves as the Piegan band's senior council seat in the southwest. About fifty thousand residents in a single fortified town and its surrounding camps. Fort Piegan is the Piegan capital, and the Piegan are the senior of the Blackfoot Confederacy. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 5 — ~50,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (Council of Chiefs) - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Great Council Lodge** — the Piegan senior council, a long timber-and-hide structure - **The Wintering-Camp** — fortified, with stone walls and gun-towers - **The Yards** — small-craft repair; rough but functional - **The Trading-Post** — outsider trading allowed under treaty - **The Warrior-Society Lodges** — six separate societies; men's and women's - **The Sun-Pole Ground** — the seasonal sacred-ground ### Key People - **Senior Chief Bull-Plume** — Piegan war-chief and senior speaker of the Blackfoot Confederacy - **War-Chief Charging-Bull** — senior military leader; younger and bolder - **Sun-Priestess Calf-On-The-Hill-Sky-Walker** — senior ritual specialist - **Trade-Speaker "Aunty" Madeleine Welsh-Bull** — Métis half-blood; intermediary, well-trusted - **Yard-Master "Uncle" Henri Tanner-Bull** — Métis half-blood; runs the yard ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Piegan capital, senior Blackfoot) - Métis Trader-Intermediaries (privileged) ### Other Info - Fort Piegan is the senior Blackfoot capital and Bull-Plume's word carries the entire Confederacy - An HBC trade-delegation visits annually; Edmonton House sends a senior factor with a substantial gift - A formal Children embassy was rejected last quarter; Bull-Plume said only that "the Children must answer for the wedding-day" — a reference to the Incident --- ## Fort Benton — 0434 (E564442-5) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Blackfoot-Blood band) | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A temperate world held by the Blood, the Blackfoot Confederacy's middle nation. About thirty thousand residents in three river-valley settlements. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 4 — ~25,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **The Wintering-Camp** — fortified - **The Trading-Post** - **The Warrior-Society Lodges** ### Key People - **Chief Red-Crow** — Blood war-chief - **Sub-Chief Iron-Bow-Standing** — younger - **Trade-Speaker "Aunty" Anne Beauchemin-Crow** — Métis half-blood - **Medicine-Woman Walking-Star** — Blood healer ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Blood band, Blackfoot Confederacy) ### Other Info - Fort Benton is one of the Confederacy's two formal trade-fairs; held annually in the autumn - A small Sigmarite shrine, established under treaty thirty years ago, is tolerated but watched --- ## Judith River — 0533 (E434211-5) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Blackfoot-Sarcee band) | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A thin-air valley world; the Sarcee band's territory. About a hundred and fifty residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~150 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **The Camp** ### Key People - **Chief Walking-Bear-of-Judith** — Sarcee elder - **Trade-Speaker "Aunt" Marie Welsh-Bear** — Métis half-blood ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Sarcee band) ### Other Info - The Sarcee are the smallest of the Blackfoot Confederacy nations - A Children courier passed through a year ago and was sent on with a curt message --- ## Wood Mountain — 0720 (E432210-5) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Lakota refugee band) | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description A thin-air world inhabited by a Lakota refugee band — descendants of a population displaced from off-sector two generations ago. About a hundred and fifty residents. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 2 — 16–25% - **Population:** 2 — ~150 - **Government:** 1 — Company/Corporation (band-level) - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **The Camp** ### Key People - **Chief Sitting-Buffalo-of-the-Mountain** — Lakota elder, has been chief for forty years - **Sub-Chief Many-Bears** — younger - **Trade-Speaker "Aunt" Madeleine Cardinal-Mountain** — Métis half-blood ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Lakota refugee band) ### Other Info - Wood Mountain's Lakota are a refugee population; they remember the cause of their displacement and are not forgiving - A Children agent attempted to negotiate trade two years ago; she was sent away with a polite refusal and a Lakota arrow embedded in her shuttle hull as a parting gift --- ## South Branch House — 0815 (C555432-8) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Saulteaux-Anishinaabe band) | **Stellar:** G2 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description A temperate world; about thirty thousand residents in a Saulteaux-Anishinaabe settlement. South Branch House sits awkwardly between Warrior territory and the Gatherer trade-routes; it is officially Warrior-aligned, but its trade and intermarriage with the Gatherers is substantial. - **Starport Quality:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 5 — 46–55% - **Population:** 4 — ~30,000 - **Government:** 3 — Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy (Council of Elders) - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Long Lodge** — the Anishinaabe council house, a striking longhouse - **The Yards** — small-craft repair - **The Trading-Post** — Gatherer-staffed, Warrior-licensed - **The Mixed-Tavern** — the only formal cross-allegiance tavern in the Warriors' territory - **The Pipe-Lodge** — sacred building ### Key People - **Chief White-Spruce-of-the-South-Branch** — Saulteaux elder; widely respected, careful diplomat - **Sub-Chief Long-Pine-Walker** — younger - **Trade-Speaker "Aunt" Marie Cardinal-Spruce** — Métis-Anishinaabe; runs the trading post - **Tavern-Keeper "Long Tom" Thomas Welsh-Spruce** — Métis-Anishinaabe - **Pipe-Carrier Gray-Owl** — Anishinaabe ritual specialist ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Saulteaux-Anishinaabe band) - The Gatherers (small trading enclave under license) ### Other Info - South Branch House is the only Warriors-controlled world where Gatherer traders operate openly - The Anishinaabe here are part of the wider eastern Anishinaabe network that runs through Fort William - A discreet HBC trade contact was politely declined last year; Chief White-Spruce said the time was not right --- ## Fort Union — 0832 (D433543-7) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Lakota-Mandan capital) | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description One of the four named Warriors capitals — the heart of the Lakota-Mandan confederation, where the seven Lakota nations and the Mandan-Hidatsa hold their joint councils. About fifty thousand residents in a great fortified town and its surrounding camps. Fort Union is the only world in the sector where seven Lakota chiefs can be expected to sit in the same room and not, immediately, fight. - **Starport Quality:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 3 — 26–35% - **Population:** 5 — ~50,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (Council of Seven Nations) - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Great Council Lodge** — vast, lit always with seven fires (one per Lakota nation) - **The Wintering-Citadel** — fortified town with substantial stone walls, gun-towers, and a small drone-defense - **The Yards** — small-craft and lander repair, second-best in Warriors' territory after Fort William - **The Joint Trading-Post** — outside the walls; non-Warrior traders allowed only here - **The Warrior-Society Lodges** — twelve societies, six Lakota and six Mandan-Hidatsa - **The Pipe-Lodge** — the holiest building, where the confederation pipe is kept ### Key People - **Senior Chief Sitting-Eagle** — Lakota war-chief; the Hunkpapa elder; senior speaker of the Seven Nations - **War-Chief Crazy-Stone** — Oglala; younger; the senior tactical commander - **Mandan-Hidatsa Speaker Yellow-Buffalo** — junior partner; runs the Mandan-Hidatsa interest - **Trade-Speaker "Captain" Joseph Welsh-Eagle** — Métis half-blood; runs the joint trading-post; the most trusted outsider on the planet - **Yard-Master "Engineer" Adèle Tanner-Eagle** — Métis half-blood; runs the yards - **Pipe-Carrier Stands-In-Smoke** — Hunkpapa ritual specialist; the confederation's senior religious figure - **Quartermaster-General Sub-Chief Iron-Plume** — manages the Warriors' western supply ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Lakota-Mandan capital; Seven Nations confederation) - Métis Trader-Intermediaries (small, very privileged) ### Other Info - Fort Union is the senior Lakota capital and the strategic centre of the Warriors' southern arm - A Children embassy visited last year; the embassy was given an audience and an answer ("not yet") and sent home - The Warriors' best-organized military is here; a confederation muster could put five thousand armed warriors in the field on a week's notice - The joint trading-post operates under a strict treaty; outsider traders found violating it have been expelled, in one case in pieces --- ## Fort Berthold — 0934 (E564210-5) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Mandan-Hidatsa band) | **Stellar:** K5 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description A temperate Mandan-Hidatsa world. About a hundred and fifty residents in two villages. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — 8,000 km (~0.45 G) - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 2 — ~150 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **The Camp** ### Key People - **Chief Yellow-Buffalo-of-Berthold** — Mandan elder - **Sub-Chief Standing-Hidatsa** — Hidatsa elder - **Trade-Speaker "Aunt" Marie Welsh-Buffalo** — Métis half-blood ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Mandan-Hidatsa band) ### Other Info - Fort Berthold is the cultural heart of the Hidatsa - A small Sigmarite shrine, allowed under treaty fifty years ago, is tolerated --- ## Fort Manuel Lisa — 1133 (E434442-5) **Allegiance:** The Warriors (Lakota border-band) | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description A small Lakota border post; about thirty thousand residents. Named (with bitter Warriors humor) after a famous off-sector trader who tried to claim the world for himself; he is buried here. - **Starport Quality:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 4 — 6,400 km (~0.35 G) - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin (respirator) - **Hydrographic Percentage:** 4 — 36–45% - **Population:** 4 — ~22,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Council Lodge** - **The Wintering-Camp** — fortified - **The Trading-Post** - **Lisa's Cairn** — the trader's burial ### Key People - **Chief Walking-Cloud** — Lakota war-chief - **Sub-Chief Two-Spears** — younger - **Trade-Speaker "Old" Henri Letendre-Cloud** — Métis half-blood ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Lakota border-band) ### Other Info - Lisa's Cairn is a darkly humorous shrine; the Lakota leave small offerings of refused trade-goods on it - Fort Manuel Lisa is the easternmost Lakota outpost on the Warriors' southern arm --- ## Fort Clark — 1334 (D554543-6) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** G2 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Description Fort Clark is a small Mandan-Hidatsa earthlodge town on the southern Warriors arm, set on a tributary of the Missouri analogue. The settlement is a tight cluster of beehive-shaped lodges raised on a low bluff above a slow brown river, with maize-fields, sunflower-patches, and tobacco-gardens worked by the women on the flats below. Fort Clark is a quiet, settled place compared to the Lakota camps to the west, and it survives by trading dried corn, squash, and tanned robes upriver and downriver in exchange for iron, powder, and the occasional Gatherer-run freighter's load of off-world goods. - **Starport:** D — Poor; an unmarked landing-meadow with a Gatherer-tended fuel-bladder - **Size:** 5 — Mars-sized, light gravity - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin, breathable - **Hydrographics:** 4 — 40% surface water - **Population:** 5 — ~700,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (council of lodge-mothers) - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Ni ### Key Locations - **The Great Lodge of Four-Bears** — council-house, fifty feet across, central - **The Corn-Caches** — deep cylindrical pits, sealed against rot - **The Painted-Robe Market** — open-air, twice a week - **The Gatherer Bladder** — fuel-stop on the bluff - **The Old Smallpox Cairn** — a low mound of stones outside the palisade, unspoken-of ### Key People - **Lodge-Mother Yellow-Corn-Woman** — senior of the council, seventy summers, sharp - **Lodge-Mother Standing-Hidatsa** — second of the council, in charge of trade - **Sub-Chief Four-Bears-the-Younger** — war-leader, modest by Lakota standards - **Trade-Speaker Joseph Charette-Mandan** — Métis half-blood, married into the village - **Pîhêw "the Crow" Gladu** — Gatherer freighter-captain, regular visitor ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Mandan-Hidatsa council-band, allied with the Fort Union Seven Nations) - A small Gatherer trading-house ### Other Info - Fort Clark remembers a great sickness "five grandmothers ago" that emptied the lodges; the Old Smallpox Cairn is the marker, and outsiders are not told the count of the dead - The lodge-mothers govern; the war-chiefs serve at their direction, which the Lakota find slightly comic and the HBC find slightly threatening - A small but real trickle of Cree pemmican passes through Fort Clark on its way to Fort Union, sold quietly via Métis intermediaries who do not advertise the source --- ## Mandans Nation — 1732 (C554742-8) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** G5 V | **Trade Codes:** Ag ### Description The Mandans Nation is the eastern Mandan capital-world, the largest and most settled of the agricultural Warrior peoples. Five great earthlodge towns sit along a slow looping river, each ruled by its own council of lodge-mothers and federated under a Grand Council that meets twice a year on the central island. The Mandans grow corn, beans, and squash on rich black bottomlands, raise small fast bison-analogues for milk and meat, and trade the surplus across half the southern Warriors arm. The starport at the central town is a proper graveled field with a Goodwinian-licensed (but Mandan-owned) fuel-shed, and Gatherer freighters call here regularly to load grain for the Lakota and the Blackfoot inland. - **Starport:** C — Routine - **Size:** 5 — Mars-sized - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin, breathable - **Hydrographics:** 4 — 40% surface water - **Population:** 7 — ~30 million - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (Grand Council of lodge-mothers) - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ag ### Key Locations - **The Grand Council Lodge on the Island** — central, ceremonial, beautifully painted - **The Five Towns** — Mih-tutta-hang-kusch (capital), Ruptáre, Núptadi, Awigaxa, and the new town Two-Rivers - **The Grain-Granaries** — deep stone-lined silos, off-world style, financed by a Gatherer loan - **The Painted-Lodge Quarter** — artisans, paint-makers, robe-painters - **The Starport Field** — graveled, lit, watched by a Mandan guard in modern dress over traditional paint - **The Sweat-Lodge Bluffs** — ceremonial, off-limits to outsiders - **The Old Smallpox Mound** — a long low ridge of cairns, kept tended ### Key People - **Grand Speaker Standing-Hidatsa-of-the-Painted-Lodge** — senior of the Grand Council, sixty summers, a careful diplomat - **Lodge-Mother Sage-Woman-of-the-River** — Speaker of Mih-tutta-hang-kusch (capital town) - **War-Speaker Buffalo-Bull-Standing** — Mandan war-chief, quiet, respected, kept on a short leash by the Council - **Master-Trader Sees-the-Sky** — Mandan grain-broker, deals with Gatherers and (quietly) with York - **Father Boniface Pelletier-Mandan** — half-Métis Sigmarite priest, the only resident clergy; tolerated, not welcomed - **Captain Étienne McKenzie-Crow** — Gatherer Council-Captain, calls here on his Chesterfield-to-Fort-Union run ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Mandan-Hidatsa Grand Council, senior agricultural-confederacy member) - The Gatherers (small grain-brokerage presence) - A small Sigmarite mission ### Other Info - Mandans Nation is the breadbasket of the southern Warriors arm; without its corn the Lakota would starve in winter and the Blackfoot would never have moved this far east - The Grand Council remembers being part of the old Rulership and is the most diplomatically pragmatic of the Warrior peoples; they will sell grain to almost anyone who will not insult them at the door - The Council has quietly debated, three times in twenty years, whether to seek a treaty-port arrangement with the HBC; each time the war-chiefs and the Lakota allies have killed the proposal - Father Boniface is tolerated because he buries the dead with dignity and does not preach in the lodges; he has converted no one in nineteen years and has stopped trying --- ## Lake of the Woods — 2132 (C433543-8) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** M0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Description Lake of the Woods is a thin-air Anishinaabe world on the southern Warriors arm, named for the broken archipelago of stone islets that fill its single shallow sea. The population lives in long-house villages on the larger islands, paddling small bark-style craft between them and harvesting wild rice from the shallows in autumn. The starport is a single graveled strip on the largest island, kept by a mixed Anishinaabe-Métis cooperative, and it sees one or two Gatherer freighters a month bringing iron and powder in exchange for rice, fish-oil, and tanned hides. - **Starport:** C — Routine - **Size:** 4 — small - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin, tainted - **Hydrographics:** 3 — 30% surface water - **Population:** 5 — ~400,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (island council) - **Law Level:** 3 - **Tech Level:** 8 - **Trade Codes:** Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Council Island** — central, with the longhouse-of-speakers - **The Rice-Beds** — shallow bays, harvested in autumn by canoe - **The Stone Portage** — a flat granite ridge between two islands, the traditional meeting-place - **The Starport Strip** — graveled, on the largest island - **The Sweat-Lodge Cluster** — on a small ceremonial islet, off-limits to outsiders ### Key People - **Senior Speaker Long-Pine-Man-of-the-Stone-Portage** — Anishinaabe head-speaker - **Sub-Speaker Marie Tanner-Pine** — Métis half-blood, handles the freighter-trade - **War-Speaker Sees-the-Northern-Light** — quiet, watchful, suspicious of Children visitors - **Captain Aurore Decoteau** — Gatherer freighter, regular caller ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Anishinaabe island-council) - A small Gatherer trade-presence ### Other Info - The wild rice of Lake of the Woods is a luxury item across the sector; a small barrel will fetch its weight in iron at Norway House - The Anishinaabe here are cousins to the Fort William and Grand Portage bands and consider themselves the southwestern outliers of the eastern Warriors confederacy --- ## Vermilion Lake — 2230 (D433210-7) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description Vermilion Lake is a thin-air Anishinaabe outpost-world named for the rust-red mineral springs that stain the shores of its single shallow lake. The few hundred people who live here work the spring-deposits for pigment, which is traded inland for prestige use in paint and ceremonial robes. The "starport" is a flat patch of red-stained sand kept clear by a single old Métis caretaker. - **Starport:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — small - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin, tainted - **Hydrographics:** 3 — 30% surface water - **Population:** 2 — ~400 souls - **Government:** 1 — Company-style (the pigment-cooperative) - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Red Springs** — mineral-stained shoreline, the pigment-source - **The Drying-Sheds** — where the pigment is processed - **The Caretaker's Cabin** — by the landing-sand ### Key People - **Speaker Red-Stone-Standing** — Anishinaabe headman - **Old Pierre Trottier-Vermilion** — Métis caretaker, the only off-worlder resident - **Sub-Speaker Two-Loons** — runs the drying-sheds ### Key Groups - The Warriors (small Anishinaabe pigment-band) ### Other Info - The vermilion of this world is considered the finest in the sector and is used by Blackfoot and Lakota war-chiefs alike for ceremonial paint; a single small horn of it is worth a buffalo-robe - The pigment-cooperative is technically a corporate entity and is registered (under a Métis cover-name) with the HBC at York --- ## Grand Portage — 2334 (B555631-9) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** G0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ri ### Description Grand Portage is the great Anishinaabe trade-world of the southern Warriors arm, and one of the two named cores of the eastern Warriors confederacy. The world sits at the natural junction of three jump-routes — west to Fort Union, east to Fort William, and south down the failing Lakota frontier — and the Anishinaabe of Grand Portage have for generations been the brokers, freighters, and customs-takers of the southern lanes. The city-of-the-portage is a long wooden waterfront town built around a deep-water harbor, with stone warehouses, a small but real shipyard, and a refined-fuel cracker financed (at a brutal interest rate) by a Gatherer consortium. Grand Portage is rich, by Warrior standards: well-fed, well-armed, and not subject to the HBC. - **Starport:** B — Good (refined fuel; small spacecraft yard) - **Size:** 5 — Mars-sized - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin, breathable - **Hydrographics:** 5 — 50% surface water - **Population:** 6 — ~5 million - **Government:** 3 — Self-perpetuating oligarchy (the Council of Eight Clans) - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 9 - **Trade Codes:** Ri ### Key Locations - **The Great Hall of the Eight Clans** — the central council-house, long, low, painted - **The Long Wharf** — the principal harbor, with stone quays and a small dry-dock - **The Cracker** — refined-fuel plant, Gatherer-built, Anishinaabe-owned - **The Pemmican Houses** — bulk-storage for the cross-sector trade - **The Free-Trade Quarter** — Métis, off-worlder, and even a few discreet Children agents - **The Old Portage Path** — ceremonial, now flagged with cut granite; the founding-route of the city - **Bishop's Rest** — a small Sigmarite chapel, tolerated, kept on the waterfront - **The Watchtower of the Eight Clans** — armed, modern, manned ### Key People - **Grand Speaker Loud-Thunder-of-the-Eight-Clans** — senior of the Council, sixty summers, said to be the richest individual in the Warriors confederacy - **Council-Speaker Marie Falcon-Pine** — Métis half-blood, holds the Trade portfolio, the working manager of the city - **War-Speaker Sees-Far-Eagle** — head of the Watchtower, modern weapons, not to be tested - **Master-of-the-Cracker Antoinette Setter-Pine** — half-Cree, half-Norquay; HBC-trained engineer who defected as a girl - **Captain Henri Letendre-Falcon** — Gatherer freighter-captain, married into the Falcon clan, principal off-world broker - **Father Norbert Pelletier** — resident Sigmarite priest, careful, popular among the dock-workers - **"Mr. Drummond"** — a small, discreet, well-dressed off-worlder who has lived in the Free-Trade Quarter for eleven years and whom everyone assumes is a Goodwinian agent; nobody troubles him and he troubles nobody ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Anishinaabe Council of Eight Clans, senior eastern confederacy member) - The Gatherers (substantial freighter-broker presence) - A small Sigmarite mission - An "off-world quarter" of independent traders, smugglers, and at least one HBC informant ### Other Info - Grand Portage and Fort William together control the entire eastern jump-frontier of the Warriors confederacy; nothing moves east of column 22 without one of the two consenting - The Eight Clans are formally co-equal but in practice the Falcon and Pine clans dominate; the other six are kept happy with shares of the cracker-revenue - Grand Portage is the principal market for Mandans Nation grain destined for the eastern Anishinaabe and (more quietly) for the failing Lakota border-bands; the city takes a cut on every barrel - The Children of the Red River have repeatedly attempted to open a "diplomatic" presence at Grand Portage; the Council has refused, on the grounds that they suspect the Children of the Incident and do not wish to be implicated - A Goodwinian special envoy from Galtran called at Grand Portage three years ago and was politely but firmly declined an audience; the Council does not negotiate with off-sector powers as a matter of policy --- ## Turtle River House — 2430 (E564342-5) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description Turtle River House is a small Anishinaabe wintering-camp on a slow-moving river-system, named for the great snapping turtles that den in the cutbanks. The population is a few hundred bound to a single longhouse-cluster, who hunt the river-fauna, gather wild rice in the shallows, and trade occasional bales of cured turtle-shell (a luxury inlay-material) upriver to Grand Portage. The "starport" is a cut-grass meadow. - **Starport:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — Mars-sized - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographics:** 4 — 40% surface water - **Population:** 3 — ~2,000 - **Government:** 4 — Representative Democracy (small council) - **Law Level:** 2 - **Tech Level:** 5 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Longhouse-of-Speakers** - **The Turtle-Beds** — protected cutbanks where the great turtles den - **The Shell-Drying Shed** - **The Grass-Strip** — landing-meadow ### Key People - **Speaker Walks-Among-Turtles** — Anishinaabe headman - **Sub-Speaker Jean Trottier-Pine** — Métis half-blood, handles the trade - **Old Mother Two-Reeds** — keeper of the turtle-beds ### Key Groups - The Warriors (small Anishinaabe band, allied with Grand Portage) ### Other Info - Turtle-shell from Turtle River House is the finest decorative inlay in the sector; a single small bale will sell for the price of a fast freighter's monthly fuel at Grand Portage - The harvest is strictly limited by the longhouse council; outsiders who poach the turtle-beds have been known not to return --- ## Fort William — 2432 (B667954-A) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** F8 V | **Trade Codes:** Ga, Hi, Cp ### Description Fort William is the capital of the Warriors confederacy and the seat of the Grand Council of All Peoples — the closest thing the displaced Rulers have to a unified government in the long centuries since the HBC reached the sector. The world is a thinly populated garden — a true Earth-twin like Red River, with deep forests, blue rivers, and a long-summer climate — and the great city of Fort William sprawls along a deep-water inlet on the eastern coast of its principal continent. Where Red River across the sector is the Children's capital and Cumberland House is the Sellers', Fort William is unmistakably and proudly Warrior: an Anishinaabe-Lakota-Blackfoot-Mandan confederation-city with the long lodges and council-houses of the four peoples ringed in deliberate equality around the central plaza. The starport is a proper B-class field with a small shipyard, refined-fuel cracker, and (uniquely in the Warriors arm) a modest stand of obsolete but functional system-defense small craft. Fort William neither acknowledges nor petitions the HBC, the Goodwinian Anchorage, or any off-sector power. It treats with the Gatherers, occasionally with the Sellers, almost never with the Children, and remembers — bitterly, in detail, in epic — what was lost. - **Starport:** B — Good (refined fuel; spacecraft yard; modest system-defense) - **Size:** 6 — Earth-ish - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographics:** 7 — 70% surface water - **Population:** 9 — ~5 billion - **Government:** 5 — Feudal Technocracy (the Grand Council of All Peoples) - **Law Level:** 4 - **Tech Level:** A (10) — the technical equal of any HBC enclave - **Trade Codes:** Ga (Garden), Hi (High Population), Cp (Sector Subcapital) ### Key Locations - **The Plaza of the Four Peoples** — central, ringed by the four great council-lodges - **The Anishinaabe Great Lodge** — eight-clan council-house, eastern quadrant - **The Lakota Lodge** — buffalo-hide great-lodge, southern quadrant - **The Blackfoot Lodge** — painted, northern quadrant - **The Mandan Earthlodge** — beehive-shaped, western quadrant - **The Lodge-of-Strangers** — where Gatherer freighter-captains and rare diplomatic visitors are received - **The Long Wharf** — deep-water harbor with cargo cranes - **The Shipyard** — a real, modest, Warrior-owned spacecraft works, capable of hull repair and small craft construction - **The Cracker** — refined-fuel plant, kept clean - **The Old Pemmican-Quarter** — the original founding settlement, kept as a heritage district - **The Watchtower of the Council** — armed, modern, manned - **The Sweat-Lodge Bluffs** — ceremonial, off-limits - **The University of the Four Peoples** — a small but real institution of higher learning, founded ninety years ago, the academic equal of the HBC Bursar's office - **The Cairn of the Old Rule** — a low spiral mound of stones at the center of the plaza, marking the founding-day of the Grand Council; the inscription, in four scripts, reads "We Remember" ### Key People - **Grand Speaker-of-the-Council Sees-The-Sky-Forever** — Anishinaabe (Pine clan), senior of the Grand Council of All Peoples, fifty-eight summers, austere and patient; the closest thing the Warriors have to a head-of-state - **War-Speaker Crow-Foot-of-the-Mountain** — Blackfoot, the senior military officer of the confederacy; based at Fort William by Council vote but commands across the arm - **Council-Speaker for the Lakota Sees-The-Buffalo-Stand** — Lakota, holds the southern portfolio - **Council-Speaker for the Mandan Standing-Hidatsa-of-Fort-William** — Mandan, holds the agricultural portfolio (and is a cousin of the Mandans-Nation Grand Speaker) - **Council-Speaker for the Anishinaabe Loud-Thunder-of-the-Falcon-Clan** — younger cousin of the Grand Portage Speaker; holds the trade portfolio - **Master-Shipwright Antoine Setter-Pine** — Métis half-blood, defected from HBC service forty years ago; the Council's senior engineer - **Bursar-of-the-Council Marie Tanner-Welsh** — Métis half-blood, the principal financial officer; handles the Gatherer credit-lines - **Master-of-the-University Father Boniface Pelletier-of-the-Pine** — Sigmarite priest, half-Métis, the only off-faith clergy on Council payroll; runs the university's languages and history faculties; tolerated because he writes honest history - **Senior Ambassador to the Gatherers Geneviève Charette-Pine** — Métis-Anishinaabe, the principal diplomat - **"The Old Speaker" Walks-In-Two-Worlds** — retired Grand Speaker, eighty-two summers, lives quietly in the Pemmican-Quarter, still consulted on every major decision - **Captain Étienne McKenzie-Crow** — Gatherer Council-Captain, calls here on his eastern run; trusted, has dined at the Council - **"Mr. Halloran"** — a small, unremarkable off-worlder who has been quietly imprisoned in comfortable quarters at the Lodge-of-Strangers for nineteen years; everyone knows he is a Goodwinian agent caught trying to map the system; the Council uses him occasionally as a back-channel to Galtran ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Grand Council of All Peoples — the confederation's seat) - The Gatherers (substantial freighter-broker presence; the only off-world faction with diplomatic standing) - The University of the Four Peoples (an academic-research community in its own right) - A small but real shipwright-and-engineer corps - A vanishingly small Sigmarite mission (one chapel, two priests, no converts) ### Other Info - Fort William is the only Warrior world with significant off-world military capability; the small craft squadron is obsolete and tiny but it is real, and the HBC takes care never to provoke it - The Grand Council remembers — and teaches at the University — that the Warriors were once the Rulers of the entire sector before the HBC arrived, and that the displacement was effected gradually, by trade, by debt, and by sickness, rather than by open war; this is held to be a worse and more shameful injury than open conquest would have been - The Council has, three times in the last century, considered a formal alliance with the Sellers against the HBC; each time the Lakota war-speakers have voted it down, on the grounds that the Sellers are too compromised by their dependence on York Factory - Fort William is the principal market for Bryceptor blood-supply outside the Gatherers' western arm; the Anishinaabe of the city operate a small but profitable freighter-fleet on Gatherer license - The Council suspects, but cannot prove, that the Children of the Red River were responsible for the Incident at Edmonton — the killing of Marguerite Riel-Lépine's daughter the night before her wedding to Factor John Rowand; the suspicion is one of the Council's main reasons for keeping the Children at maximum diplomatic distance - The University maintains a complete archival library of pre-HBC sector history, including (it is rumored) records of the original arrival of the Goodwinian charter-fleet; HBC scholars have been quietly trying to gain access for fifty years and have not succeeded - Mr. Halloran the imprisoned Goodwinian is, by all accounts, perfectly content with his situation, has learned three local languages, has written two well-regarded books on comparative cosmology, and refuses to be repatriated when the Council periodically offers it - The Cairn of the Old Rule is renewed every year on the founding-day of the Council; each of the four peoples adds a single stone, and the Old Speaker reads, in four languages, the names of every world that was ever theirs --- ## Pic River — 2734 (D564310-7) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description Pic River is an Anishinaabe wintering-world on the eastern Warriors arm, set on a long pebble-shored lake at the foot of a low forested ridge. The few thousand people who live here trap fur-bearing river-fauna in the long cold winter, dry fish in the brief summer, and trade everything inland through Grand Portage. The world's defining feature is the Pic — a fast cold river that runs black with mineral-tannin and is said to be the finest fur-water in the eastern arm. - **Starport:** D — Poor - **Size:** 5 — Mars-sized - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographics:** 4 — 40% surface water - **Population:** 3 — ~7,000 - **Government:** 1 — Company-style (the trapping-cooperative) - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Pic** — the black mineral-river, the trapping-water - **The Longhouse-of-Trappers** — central, log-built, sod-roofed - **The Drying-Sheds** — for fur, fish, and the occasional Bryceptor pelt - **The Landing-Meadow** — flat, kept clear ### Key People - **Speaker Black-Water-Standing** — Anishinaabe headman - **Sub-Speaker Marie Tanner-Pic** — Métis half-blood, handles the fur-broker side - **Master-Trapper Sees-The-Otter** — the senior of the trapping-cooperative - **Old Pierre Trottier-Pic** — Métis caretaker of the landing-meadow ### Key Groups - The Warriors (small Anishinaabe trapping-band, allied with Grand Portage) - A small Gatherer freighter-broker (calls quarterly) ### Other Info - Pic River furs are graded as the finest in the eastern arm and are bought by Grand Portage at premium prices; nothing leaves the world without passing through the cooperative - The Pic itself is held to be slightly mystical by the local Anishinaabe and is not crossed without a small offering at the put-in --- ## Michipicoten — 2932 (D432321-7) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** M1 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Description Michipicoten is a thin-air Anishinaabe outpost on the eastern Warriors arm, a small fortified longhouse-cluster on a windswept stone bluff above a brackish bay. The few hundred residents trap, hunt, fish the bay, and operate a small but productive native-copper diggings inland. The world is sometimes visited by Gatherer freighters running pemmican east from the Mandan grain-lands. - **Starport:** D — Poor - **Size:** 4 — small - **Atmosphere:** 3 — Very thin, tainted - **Hydrographics:** 2 — 20% surface water - **Population:** 3 — ~3,000 - **Government:** 2 — Participating Democracy (small council) - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 7 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni, Po ### Key Locations - **The Stone Bluff** — fortified longhouse-cluster, the heart of the settlement - **The Copper-Diggings** — inland, a half-day's walk - **The Smelting-Shed** — primitive, but functional - **The Brackish Bay** — fishery, partly frozen most of the year ### Key People - **Speaker Copper-In-Hand** — Anishinaabe headman, runs the diggings - **Sub-Speaker Marie Tanner-Copper** — Métis half-blood, trade-broker - **Old Captain Henri Pelletier-Pine** — Gatherer freighter, a regular caller ### Key Groups - The Warriors (small Anishinaabe copper-band) - A small Gatherer freighter-presence ### Other Info - Native copper from Michipicoten is the principal supply for Anishinaabe ceremonial ornaments across the eastern arm; the diggings have been worked since long before the HBC - The Stone Bluff is fortified against raiding parties — not from off-world threats, but from the occasional Children-aligned freelancer running the eastern lanes --- ## Batchewana — 3030 (E564210-6) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** K2 V | **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Description Batchewana is a tiny Anishinaabe fishing-camp on the easternmost Warriors arm, a single longhouse-cluster on a stony point above a cold deep bay. Perhaps a hundred and fifty people live here, year-round, smoking fish for trade and hunting the cold-forest river-fauna inland. The "starport" is a flat patch of rock the local children sweep clean before an expected arrival. - **Starport:** E — Frontier - **Size:** 5 — Mars-sized - **Atmosphere:** 6 — Standard - **Hydrographics:** 4 — 40% surface water - **Population:** 2 — ~150 - **Government:** 1 — Company-style (the fishing-cooperative) - **Law Level:** 0 - **Tech Level:** 6 - **Trade Codes:** Lo, Ni ### Key Locations - **The Single Longhouse** - **The Smoke-Sheds** — fish-curing - **The Flat Rock** — landing-pad ### Key People - **Speaker Long-Spear-of-the-Bay** — Anishinaabe headman - **Old Marie Tanner-Pine** — Métis caretaker, the only off-worlder resident, has lived here forty years ### Key Groups - The Warriors (a single Anishinaabe band, technically allied with Sault Ste. Marie) ### Other Info - Batchewana smoked-fish is considered a delicacy in Sault Ste. Marie; a barrel will trade for a season's iron - A Gatherer freighter calls perhaps twice a year --- ## Sault Ste. Marie — 3134 (B555631-9) **Allegiance:** The Warriors | **Stellar:** G0 V | **Trade Codes:** Ri ### Description Sault Ste. Marie is the easternmost named core of the Warriors confederacy and the second great Anishinaabe trade-world, mirror to Grand Portage at the other end of the arm. The world sits at the natural choke-point where the eastern jump-routes converge — anything moving east of Fort William must pass either Sault Ste. Marie or Grand Portage — and the Anishinaabe of the Sault have long made themselves indispensable as customs-takers, fuel-brokers, and freighter-charterers. The city-of-the-rapids is a long stone-and-timber waterfront town built around a series of natural falls and rapids that the Anishinaabe have engineered into a working hydropower complex. The starport is a B-class field with refined-fuel, a small repair-yard, and an unusual specialty: Sault Ste. Marie maintains the only working orbital traffic-control station in the entire Warriors arm. - **Starport:** B — Good (refined fuel; small repair yard; orbital traffic control) - **Size:** 5 — Mars-sized - **Atmosphere:** 5 — Thin, breathable - **Hydrographics:** 5 — 50% surface water - **Population:** 6 — ~4 million - **Government:** 3 — Self-perpetuating oligarchy (the Council of the Rapids) - **Law Level:** 1 - **Tech Level:** 9 - **Trade Codes:** Ri ### Key Locations - **The Great Council Lodge of the Rapids** — central, set above the falls - **The Falls Hydropower Complex** — engineered rapids, water-wheels, modern alternators - **The Long Wharf** — deep-water harbor below the falls - **The Repair-Yard** — small but capable, can handle hull-patching and engine work - **The Orbital Traffic Control Station** — a small modernised platform inherited from the pre-HBC era and lovingly maintained - **The Pemmican Houses** — bulk storage for the eastern Mandan grain-trade - **The Free-Trade Quarter** — Métis, off-worlder, smugglers, one Goodwinian observer - **The Old Bishop's Cathedral** — Sigmarite, ruined, kept as a heritage site after a long-ago expulsion of clergy - **The Watchtower of the Rapids** — armed, modern, manned by a permanent garrison ### Key People - **Grand Speaker Rushing-Water-of-the-Rapids** — Anishinaabe (Falcon clan), senior of the Council; cousin to the Grand Portage Speaker - **Council-Speaker for Trade Marie Pelletier-Falcon** — Métis half-blood, the working manager of the city - **War-Speaker Two-Spears-Standing** — head of the Watchtower garrison - **Master-of-the-Rapids Étienne Setter-Pine** — Métis half-blood, the chief hydropower engineer - **Master-of-the-Sky Antoinette Linklater-Falcon** — Métis half-blood, an HBC-trained orbital controller who defected as a young woman; runs the traffic-control station - **Captain Henri Charette-Falcon** — Gatherer freighter-captain, married into the Falcon clan, the principal off-world broker - **"Mr. Inkster"** — a small, well-dressed off-worlder, openly acknowledged as a Goodwinian observer; he lives in the Free-Trade Quarter, dines with the Council twice a year, and is permitted to send one ciphered dispatch per quarter to Galtran in exchange for keeping the Council informed of off-sector developments ### Key Groups - The Warriors (Anishinaabe Council of the Rapids, senior eastern confederacy member) - The Gatherers (substantial freighter-broker presence) - A discreet but acknowledged Goodwinian observer-presence - A small free-trade community of independent off-worlders ### Other Info - Sault Ste. Marie and Grand Portage are the twin pillars of Warrior eastern trade; the two Falcon-clan Speakers communicate constantly and act in coordination - The orbital traffic-control station is a closely guarded technical asset; the HBC has tried three times to negotiate access and been refused; the Gatherers pay handsomely for priority slots - The Cathedral was burned a century ago in the "Burning of the Books," a reaction to a Sigmarite missionary attempt to translate sacred Anishinaabe oral traditions into print; the ruins are kept as a deliberate warning - The Council maintains a small standing reserve of Bryceptor blood as strategic fuel — held against the possibility of a Gatherer embargo or HBC blockade - Sault Ste. Marie quietly subsidizes the smaller eastern Warrior worlds (Pic River, Michipicoten, Batchewana) with annual gifts of grain and iron, in exchange for first refusal on their export-products - The Council is, of all the Warrior governments, the most pragmatic about the off-sector world; Mr. Inkster's quarterly dispatches are read by the Speakers before they are sent, and his observations are treated as a useful (if biased) source of intelligence --- --- # Closing Notes This gazetteer covers the approximately one hundred and fifty inhabited worlds of the Pemmican Sector as of the current campaign year. The five powers — the Goodwinian Trade Company, the Gatherers, the Sellers, the Children of the Red River, and the Warriors — coexist in a fragile and shifting balance, with the recent Incident at Edmonton House serving as the principal flashpoint of contemporary politics. The unsolved killing of Marguerite Riel-Lépine's daughter the night before her wedding to Factor John Rowand, by means of a Tactical-Grade Earth Imperial Blaster that has not been traded in the sector for over a thousand years, has placed the Gatherers and the HBC on the brink of open rupture, has driven the Children of the Red River into anticipatory mobilization, and has been watched with cold and patient interest by the Warriors at Fort William. The threads to pursue, in any campaign set in the sector: - **The Incident itself** — who supplied the blaster, who carried it to Edmonton, who fired it, and why; the Children's leadership are the obvious suspects, but the chain of custody is the real mystery - **The succession at Galtran Anchorage** — Marius Goodwin VI is fifty-eight summers old and his heir-presumptive is unconfirmed; the Bursar-General's faction and the Master-at-Arms' faction differ sharply on policy - **The Bryceptor question** — the western worlds depend on Bryceptor blood for jump-fuel, the Gatherers control the harvest, and the Goodwinians have begun, quietly, to experiment with alternatives at Galtran - **The Warriors' patience** — the Grand Council at Fort William has waited a thousand years for the chance to recover what was lost; whether they intend to act, and when, is the unspoken question of every Warrior council-house - **The Sellers' alignment** — the northern Cree confederacy has more military weight than its scattered population suggests, and Grand Chief Mistawasis-The-Younger has been quietly studying the Gatherer position for two years - **The Children's project** — the long-prepared insurgency at Winipic is no longer a hypothetical; the question is the trigger and the timing, not the intention Run the sector with the understanding that none of these powers is monolithic, that every faction has internal dissenters, that the Métis half-blood class moves between them all with their own quiet purposes, and that the Bryceptor — like all the strange life of the sector — has agency of its own. *Compiled at Galtran Anchorage by order of the Bursar-General; for the use of HBC officers, licensed traders, and authorised correspondents only.*