Rustwater
A terraformed Jovian moon with an equatorial jungle, a fauna that nothing selected for, and the only crash site in the campaign that anybody has actually stood in.
Overview
Rustwater is one of the moons that got the full treatment — atmosphere, water, a seeded biosphere, and a century of patience. It worked, after a fashion. What grew is dense, hot, and humid, with massive trees and swampy stretches, and it is nobody's idea of a garden world: the terraforming was paid for by people who wanted a biosphere that could feed an industrial population, not one anybody would visit.
It sits inside Jovia and is barely held. There is corporate title to the moon and very little corporate presence on it, which makes it the kind of place where a transport can come down and stay down until somebody decides it is worth the trip.
The fauna is engineered and it is not tame. Predators here were seeded, not evolved — see the Biotech Sector. A crew working the interior is working against animals that were designed by somebody with a budget.
What happened here
A TerraMech transport carrying the X-43 prototype loader mech came down in a ravine near the equator. TerraMech announced the loss and privately contracted a recovery. A crew took the job, reached the site, killed something that no selection pressure produces, and rode the mech out.
They were contested on the ground by Obsidian Shield, who had been hired from the other end. See M3.231.445 and Contract 001.
Known features
- The ravine — the crash site, and the partially submerged transport still in it
- The equatorial belt — jungle, swamp, and the bulk of the seeded biosphere
- Berth 4 and Berth 6 — the lift infrastructure, and a dock community that notices who comes and goes
Related
- Jovia — the sector it belongs to
M3.231.445— what happened hereCTR-DDYQ-MKS4— the TerraMech recovery contract that brought a crew to the site- The Biotech Sector — who seeds predators on frontier worlds and why
Status
Thinly held, hot, and carrying an unopened question in a ravine.