A few comments in various threads (including a couple of Glossary entries) got me to thinking about tourism in Fenspace. Obviously, some 'Danes are going to want to head out and see the sights. But what's in place to accomodate them?
The obvious first step for a 'Dane's Grand Tour is Luna - it's close to Earth, and has all those historical sites, including Tranquility Base.
The next obvious location is Stellvia, if ony because it's easier for most Fen ships to dock at a station than it is to land on a minor-planet-sized body. ("Half the traffic in Fenspace passes through these hulls...")
Then... what?
Do the Crystal Cities of Venus have the facilities to handle tourism, or are they "just" a series of terraforming stations?
What's available on Mars, or Phobos or Deimos?
Is there sufficient infrastructure past the Belt to make it worthwhile to run a passenger service out there? (The Belt itself is duller than dishwater from a tourism point of view, no matter how interesting it really is. As an analogy, tourists in Pennsylvania visit Pittsburgh, not Allentown.)
Would anyone visit Mercury? It seems to be just a source of raw materials, from what I've seen posted. On the flip side, the view of Sol can't be beat...
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
The obvious first step for a 'Dane's Grand Tour is Luna - it's close to Earth, and has all those historical sites, including Tranquility Base.
The next obvious location is Stellvia, if ony because it's easier for most Fen ships to dock at a station than it is to land on a minor-planet-sized body. ("Half the traffic in Fenspace passes through these hulls...")
Then... what?
Do the Crystal Cities of Venus have the facilities to handle tourism, or are they "just" a series of terraforming stations?
What's available on Mars, or Phobos or Deimos?
Is there sufficient infrastructure past the Belt to make it worthwhile to run a passenger service out there? (The Belt itself is duller than dishwater from a tourism point of view, no matter how interesting it really is. As an analogy, tourists in Pennsylvania visit Pittsburgh, not Allentown.)
Would anyone visit Mercury? It seems to be just a source of raw materials, from what I've seen posted. On the flip side, the view of Sol can't be beat...
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012