Geostation Kessler
XK-1
Anarchist research base & orbital waste management system
Planetary Survey
The Alliance has a few requirements that must be satisfied by bodies applying for membership. A planet-state must be of a certain size and shape; be stable enough to support life indefinitely without assistance; and remain within a consistent system of address. Some have been accepted on appeal, despite failing to meet one of the requirements. Geostation Kessler fails all of them – and yet, it moves.
Kessler is an immense mobile installation, able to move between star systems with remarkable ease for a space station with a wingspan measured in the hundreds of kilometres. It is a cleaning station: it travels through regions of space plagued by debris, preferably the orbital zones of planets, and sweeps the area clean. The resulting garbage ranges from particulate contaminants to whole broken satellites, and all of it is sorted, scanned and catalogued for re-use or sale. Whatever Kessler finds, it keeps.
The Alliance did not create this intricate titan, though it is diligently studying its inner workings. Before it became Kessler, the vessel was under the control of SHADOW forces: Alliance scouts responding to distress signals near the core region found the installation all but adrift, its fleet support decimated by THRONE interceptors. The ensuing skirmish was brief, and concluded with the station’s capture for study.
Enquiring minds from all over Alliance space were drawn to Kessler upon its recovery – a generation of xenologists and vographers jumping at the opportunity to unravel its alien secrets. The conditional statehood extended to the station and its researchers allows it to roam the galaxy, cleaning an atmosphere here and cataloguing a new contaminant there: an academic precursor of the later ARDENT initiative to which it contributed.
E/I/R
Economy
Kessler’s contracts are extremely lucrative and the station’s services are in high demand. What the station cannot source or fabricate from the materials accrued in its work, it imports from the planets it is stationed to.
Research
Kessler is an anarchic centre of learning, sharing all that comes from of its voyages with its host worlds and the greater Alliance. In particular, it is a continual source of data on SHADOW voidcraft technology.
Industry
Kessler extracts useful materials from the debris it accrues, which is then either processed for onboard purposes or export to other planets.
Cultural Evaluation
Kessler’s internal architecture has a certain brutal grandeur, with its vertebral pylons and sweeping radial arcs. Upon this monument, Kesslerans impose their own eclectic tastes, using souvenirs of past journeys and projects along with bespoke FABREP art to decorate their homes. Working labs and access areas are clean and focussed, but communal areas are full of experimentation and expression. Kesslerans iterate, continually adjusting how they live and how they work for the thrill of innovation.
Since most interactions between Kesslerans and other planets are when they are on shore leave, they are generally seen to be boorish and excitable – happy to involve themselves in the affairs of other people, and heedless of social subtleties. The working environment aboard Kessler encourages loudness and directness, and Kesslerans are used to shouting to make themselves heard among their peers. They value iconoclasm, preferring leaders who stick to their guns over those that vacillate to please a crowd.
Demographic Review
Kessler’s citizens are organised into Working Groups, teams of didactic descent that have consistently maintained the same system or provided the same service aboard the station for generations. Masters (graduated professionals and experts in their field) lead the Groups, while students learn and work underneath them like cells in Kessler’s body.
The heads of these groups gather regularly in symposia, at which they will make an account of their Group’s work, show off their research, and discuss matters of policy both local and distant. At each of these councils, a chancellor is elected from among the masters. This role combines that of a figurehead, a spokesperson, and a scapegoat: during their tenure, it is the chancellor’s honour to represent Kessler to the alliance and to mediate any disagreements that arise between researchers.
Diplomatic Positioning
Kessler maintains good relationships with client planets like Viront. Its individualist streak puts it at odds with staid and solid states like those under the Marz Union. In addition, its origin as a hostile alien construct is the source of some anxiety within the Alliance – particularly as conflicts intensify along the border of SHADOW space.
Kessler’s position in the Alliance is tenuous. While its usefulness as a planetary waste management system cannot be denied, there are those – even some of its own inhabitants – who would rather see the station dismantled for deeper study.
