If it's Tuesday, this must be...

[robkelk]

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

[M Fnord]

Interesting question...
Mercury doesn't really have much in the way of sights to see unless you're an astronomer or a geologist. Yeah, you get a great view of the sun, but that view'll kill you stone dead in two seconds. Not worth the trip.
The Crystal Cities (the airborne ones at least - the surface as of 2012 is still Too Damn Hot to build on) would have the facilities but not much interest - the atmosphere is kinda pretty on some days, and the Senshi make for interesting eyecandy, but it's all pretty workmanlike and will be until after the Big Spin and the surface cools to the point where they can really start building Crystal Tokyo.
Mars... I see Mars as the big tourist attraction in Fenspace. There's the historic Viking/Pathfinder/MER landing sites, the ever-popular Face On Mars (actual face not provided), big impressive geography like Olympus Mons and Mariner Valley. Fan places of note being the twin towers of Helium, the Trekkie shipyards at Utopia Planitia, etc.
Phobos and Deimos, being nice large asteroids hollowed out to support the terraforming project, have plenty of facilities for tourism. After all, Phobos can host a Convention, so it's easily set up for tourists.
Need to think about this some more, maybe do a map. (argh, graphics geek rears his ugly head again!)
---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Kokuten]

a note, tourists that show up on Hephaestus are going to either get asked to leave, or if they somehow manage to get _dumped_ there, are going to be sent back to either Stelliva, Mars, The Island, or Earth, in one of the Boys with a very pissed-off driver.
Hephaestus is not a tourist trap.
Mars, yes, the points about hosting the 'con are 100% appropriate, IMO. Venus - also yes. The same thing applies here, and the Senshi aren't going to be dumb enough to build a massive long-term business undertaking without recreation facilities, and if you're gonna build, hey, build big. Tourists = Profit.
My take also indicates that 'Dane tourism is going to be primarily controlled by the 'Fen, since _we've got the top of the well_. Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[Bob Schroeck]

Likewise, the Grover's Corners is most expressly not a truck stop, diner location, or anything else a small town in the rural United States might otherwise be. We are friendly folk, and we'll take hitchhikers, but tourists tramping around our living space are extremely unwelcome.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[robkelk]

Noted, and noted.
And since I was the one who asked, I'll write up the Gazetter entry on "Tourist Traps" once this thread settles down. It's only fair that the person who asked does the summary, after all...

-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

[Sirrocco]

So, Fnord - you're killing the idea of a Venusian surface city?

[Kokuten]

request link to any previous mention of venusian surface city. Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[M Fnord]

---

So, Fnord - you're killing the idea of a Venusian surface city?

---

For the moment. I just can't come up with a good dodge that allows a city to be built on ground that's the temperature of your average blast furnace. Even with wavetech, it's too much heat in too short a timeframe.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Sirrocco]

Kokuten: Starting with kestrel404's post partway down page 4 of Gazetter Topics - currently one of the older threads on the board.
p202.ezboard.com/fdrunkar...61&stop=78

[Kokuten]

Thank you.
Interesting read, certainly.
A ground City on Venus would certainly have issues when the Spin happens, wouldn't it?Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[classicdrogn]

SV Gnarlycurl is explicitly oriented around being a flying service station/garage/convienience store, and with the "stone temple astronauts" riff has it's own degree of innate appeal. Launched March 2010 from the 'roid it was carved out of into earth orbit via tug, engine online a month or so later, grand opening for business was Jan 1 2011.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[robkelk]

That's definitely worth mentioning in the Gazetter entry... Where would you have planned to "park" Gnarlycurl if the war wasn't abut to break out? (Or was it just going to tramp around the System?)
(In a vaugely-related vein, and what banking establishments are in Fenspace? I suspect the big-name banks - American Express, RBC, Barclaybank, and so on - would have at least a presence in the bigger facilities, but how big a presence?)
-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

[robkelk]

Speaking of the Gazetter entry, here's Draft #0.1. Yes, I know this is incomplete. I'll add more later, once I catch up at work (I'm finishing up a quick vacation). I've taken the liberty of making up a few throwaway references...

---

Tourism in Fenspace
There are a number of locations where Fen can vacation, and can reasonably expect to meet Mundanes who are also vacationing in Fenspace. There are also a number of locations in Fenspace where tourism is either unlikely or unwanted.
The most popular 'Dane tourist destination is Luna. It's close to Earth; once Fen spacecraft clear Earth's atmosphere, travel time to Luna is measured in minutes, not days or months. Luna is also close enough to Earth that the lightspeed communications lag is barely noticeable. Luna is home to Tranquility Base, the site of the first off-world human landing - a location respected by humans of almost all nationalities and philosophies, and guarded by the United States Coast Guard. 'Dane tourists with any curiousity about Fen life often visit the Metahuman Power Biomodification Research Institute in Kandor (by appointment only, and please don't comment on their lack of success) and the Senshi "memorial base" outpost in the Sea of Serenity.
The next most popular 'Dane tourist destination is the L5 station Stellvia. It has no intrinsic claim to fame; it isn't the first Fen space station, or the largest, or the friendliest. But is is the closest Fen space station to Earth, which makes it a natural transfer point for Mundane tourists venturing into Fenspace proper. This station takes pains to maintain a family-friendly reputation, much like the Disney corporation does for its theme parks (with the same relative level of effectiveness). Some 'Danes never get farther away from Earth than a week in Stellvia's small hotel complex.
Moving in-system, the only tourist attractions are those found in high Venus atmosphere: the Crystal Cities and the Cloud Tours. The Crystal Cities, terraforming stations of incredible intrinsic beauty, are architectural marvels in themselves; they are also home to a large fraction of the "Senshi" faction of Fen. (Tourists are strongly advised to keep in mind that these attractive, underdressed young females are not in the "adult entertainment" industry; those who forget this usually return to Earth in an ambulance.) A few of the Crystal Cities are primarily industrial centres, and discourage tourism; other Crystal Cities, including Crystal Tokyo, open their doors to visitors. The Cloud Tours are trips into the upper atmosphere of Venus to look at the colours and patterns in the clouds, run by professional gondoliers. A mediocre guide can turn this into a waste of an afternoon; an undine can make this an adventure that tourists will tell their grandchildren about.
Moving out-system from Earth, many ships make a habit of stopping at The Island. The first Fen "flying land mass" station, The Island is as safe a place to visit as Stellvia, but (in the words of its owner) is "much more Fen in facilities, clientele, and outlook"; many Fen prefer to get no closer to Earth than The Island. On the other side of the coin, if 'Dane tourists can handle The Island emotionally, then they're probably ready for the rest of Fenspace. The Island is also home to what may be the largest shopping mall off-Earth.

(mars - olympus mons, valles marineras, cydonia (face and pyramids), probe landing sites, helium - mention the terraforming project is slowly flooding the northern hemisphere; consult "GURPS Mars" for nuts-and-bolts)
(mars orbit - phobos (con facilities), deimos, starbase 1)

If you know where to look, somewhere between The Island and the Asteroid Belt, you can find a station called Candy Apple Red's. The people who work there are in the "adult entertainment" business, and enjoy a good reputation amongst Fen who patronize such establishments.
There is very little to see in the Asteroid Belt. Contrary to decades of space-opera fiction, the density of asteroids in the Belt is very low; it's extremely unlikely that someone standing on one asteroid would be able to even see another asteroid. There are small "truck stop and diner" facilities on Ceres, Juno, and Pallas, and an "Asimov" Fen colony "marooned off Vesta" (their words; they're actually in Vesta, and host a small college known primarily for its work in robotics and biochemistry), but none of these locations are tourist draws.

(jupiter)
(saturn - titan, tours of rings)
(further out)

Certain Fenspace locations have been declared off-limits to tourism. These include the entire planet Mercury and the Hephaestus mining station (in both cases, for the tourists' physical safety), the vessel Grover's Corners (by request of the owners), and the Hidden Asteroid (because a flow of tourists would make it difficult to keep the asteroid hidden). While tourists are unlikely to be shot on sight at these locations, casual travel to any of them is strongly discouraged.
Tourism Logistics: Tourism in Fenspace is controlled by the Fen. With a very small set of exceptions, mostly military, space travel outside of low-Earth orbit is controlled by the Fen for the simple reason that they own the spacecraft. Much of the tourist trade is managed by a few corporations that run large "luxury liner" ships that take weeks to make trips that Fen are accustomed to making in days; some is handled by independant operators in a fashion vaugely analogous to "tramp steamer tourism" on early-twentieth-century Earth. At the very low end of expense and reliability, most of the "Douglas Adams" Fen are almost always willing to pick up a hitch-hiker or two, if they have their own towels.

---

Comments, corrections, or additions to what's here, anyone?

-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

[M Fnord]

---

(further out)

---

The further you get from Saturn, the less interesting the solar system becomes unless you're interested in pure wilderness. Uranus and Neptune have been visited, but so far there's nothing really worth setting up a permanent camp around either planet. There's a small settlement of ice miners and eccentrics orbiting Pluto, who are trying to increase that worthy's total mass in order to bring it back to full planet status.
Beyond that is the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud, which are much like the Asteroid Belt, only much bigger. Beyond that is interstellar space. Tourists don't come out here - only fen, fendanes and a few rumored transhumanists ever come out this far. It's not quite "Here There Be Dragons" territory, but for the average mundane tourist it might as well be.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[classicdrogn]

The Gnarlycurl's main area of operations was planned as being in the general vicinity of Mars, with the occasional excursion along the Island/Earth route or to the actively worked segment of the Belt, depending on where business ended up being best - which would probably have meant more time in the Belt as time went on, since there's plenty of SS-capable pressure dock/repair infrastructure in the other places. Being an actual pyramid on Mars probably doubles the lookee-lookee value.
The first half of 2011 was spent in Earth orbit, during whicvh time they caught a bunch of half-prepared noobs and got them set up right, generally for nominal fees. When the Takara contract expired they headed for Mars with a cargo of things from Here that would sell There.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Bob Schroeck]

---

Certain Fenspace locations have been declared off-limits to tourism. These include ... the vessel Grover's Corners (by request of the owners),

---

Given that the GC has only been aloft for a month at the start of SOS-Con, wouldn't it be a bit premature to include it in a guide already?
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[robkelk]

---

Given that the GC has only been aloft for a month at the start of SOS-Con, wouldn't it be a bit premature to include it in a guide already?

---

That depends on how often Fen update the GazeteerWiki...
Seriously, that is a good point; I'll delete the mention in Draft #0.2.

-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

[Ebony]

Since the areas beyond Mars become more and more wilderness, the guide should definitely dwell, if only briefly, on the dangers of traveling beyond the Belt. Tourist guides definitely mention the local dangers.Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Kokuten]

"here be boredrom and scenery best experienced via HD in a hotel room"Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[robkelk]

Yeah, everything past Saturn currently shares one short paragraph, and that includes the Trekkies' Starbase 2 in the Alpha Centauri system. It's difficult for me to write something that boils down to "dull, dull, deathly dull...", so they're getting short shrift.
Is there anything at all of interest near Jupiter? "Viewing the Great Red Spot" only goes so far to filling a paragraph, Saturn's got both Titan and The Rings to mention, and the asthete in me dislikes putting a long paragraph in a cluster of short paragraphs...

-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

[M Fnord]

Lessee... the Galileans are interesting in their own right, plus Ganymede and Callisto are where the big Jossie enclaves are. Io's got the volcanoes, Europa's got the ocean but that's mostly off-limits (being under the ice and all). The electrical activity in and around Jupiter can make for some amazing lightshows - lightning bolts the size of North America!---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Herr Bad Moon]

Triton, moon of Neptune, has some ice volcanos and geysers that shoot up material around the 8km mark. Plus, with a mean temp lower than Pluto's, it has fields of frozen nitrogen and some supposedly spectacular ice cliffs. In fact, watching part of a documentary on it and the talk of tourism here gave me an idea for a story where the moral is you should probably read a book or two on a destination before you slap a "Visit Snowy Triton!" sign on the side of your waved van and start charging for tours.---------------
-Jon
Being the Mariner hitting coach is like being the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.
-Poster on USSMariner.com
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

[Kokuten]

I wouldn't talk too loudly about Snowy Triton - it might attract his notice. Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[robkelk]

Here's Draft #0.2. (And let's see whether, and how, I misspell "Gazetteer" this time. )
Unless I've missed something obvious (which is why I'm posting these drafts - so people can tell me whether I've missed something obvious), I think it's almost done; I just need to write something about Saturn and fill in the blanks marked by (* these brackets *), after which I'll post Draft #0.3 for final review...

---

Tourism in Fenspace
There are a number of locations where Fen can vacation, and can reasonably expect to meet Mundanes who are also vacationing in Fenspace. There are also a number of locations in Fenspace where tourism is either unlikely or unwanted.
The most popular 'Dane tourist destination is Luna. It's close to Earth; once Fen spacecraft clear Earth's atmosphere, travel time to Luna is measured in minutes, not days or months. Luna is also close enough to Earth that the lightspeed communications lag is barely noticeable. Luna is home to Tranquility Base, the site of the first off-world human landing - a location respected by humans of almost all nationalities and philosophies, and guarded by the United States Coast Guard. 'Dane tourists with any curiousity about Fen life often visit the Metahuman Power Biomodification Research Institute in Kandor (by appointment only, and please don't comment on their lack of success) and the Senshi "Moon Kingdom memorial base" outpost in the Sea of Serenity.
The next most popular 'Dane tourist destination is the Earth-Luna L5 station Stellvia. It isn't the first Fen space station, or the largest, or the friendliest, but it is the closest Fen space station to Earth; this makes it a natural transfer point for Mundane tourists venturing into Fenspace proper. This station takes pains to maintain a family-friendly reputation, much like the Disney corporation does for its theme parks (with the same relative level of effectiveness). Some 'Danes never get farther away from Earth than a stay in Stellvia's small hotel complex. Very few Fen consider Stellvia to be a tourist destination, though; the vast majority of Fen are used to living in artificial habitats, so this is "just another space station" to them.
Moving in-system, the only tourist attractions are those found in high Venus atmosphere: the Crystal Cities and the Cloud Tours. The Crystal Cities, terraforming stations of incredible intrinsic beauty, are architectural marvels in themselves; they are also home to a large fraction of the Senshi faction of Fen. (Tourists are strongly advised to keep in mind that these attractive, underdressed young females are not in the "adult entertainment" industry; those who forget this usually return to Earth in an ambulance.) A few of the Crystal Cities are primarily industrial centres, and discourage tourism; other Crystal Cities, including Crystal Tokyo, open their doors to visitors. The Cloud Tours are trips into the upper atmosphere of Venus to look at the colours and patterns in the clouds, run by professional gondoliers. A mediocre guide can turn this into a waste of an afternoon; an undine can make this an adventure that tourists will tell their grandchildren about.
Moving out-system from Earth, many ships make a habit of stopping at The Island. The first Fen flying-land-mass station, The Island is as safe a place to visit as Stellvia, but (in the words of its owner) is "much more Fen in facilities, clientele, and outlook"; many Fen prefer to get no closer to Earth than The Island. On the other side of the coin, if 'Dane tourists can handle The Island emotionally, then they're probably ready for the rest of Fenspace. The Island is also home to what may be the largest shopping mall off-Earth.
The biggest tourist draw in Fenspace is the planet Mars. This planet is home to Olympus Mons, the largest mountain in the Solar System, and Valles Marineris, the deepest and longest rift valley in the Solar System. The Sand Jets of the Martian south polar region (discovered by NASA in 2006) put Earth's pure-water geysers to shame, although they only erupt during the local summer and are best viewed from a safe distance. Mars also has more than its share of 'Dane space probes; Viking, Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity, and others are still popular attractions. The Cydonia Planitia is popular amongst conspiracy fans (both 'Dane and Fen), being the supposed home of the Face of Mars and the Pyramids of Mars; unfortunately, the ongoing terraforming project threatens to flood this low-lying part of Mars.
There are a large number of Fen colonies on Mars, and most of them have tourist attractions of their own. Utopia Planitia is the home of a large group of Trekkie Fen, and their faction's Starbase 1 space station and shipyard is in areosynchronous orbit above the colony's line of latitude. The Barsoomians have built the city of Helium, with its gossamer twin towers, on the banks of the Valles Marineris. And some of the Nesters have small colonies all over Mars to support their quixotic search for native intelligent life on Mars.
One of the supposed "Pyramids of Mars" is actually the SV Gnarlycurl, a combination service station, garage, and convenience store with a "stone temple astronauts" motif. The Gnarlycurl spent its first half-year in Earth orbit, but it can more often be found near Mars or in the Asteroid Belt these days.
Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars, have been hollowed out to support the Martian terraforming project. Most of Mars' traffic stops at one or the other of these moons to avoid the problems of entering a gravity well with an atmosphere. Phobos is one of the largest cities in Fenspace, with convention facilities sufficient to host thousands of people and all the supporting businesses and attractions that that implies.
If you know where to look, somewhere between The Island and the Asteroid Belt, you can find a station called Candy Apple Red's. The people who work there are in the "adult entertainment" business, and enjoy a good reputation amongst Fen who patronize such establishments.
There is very little to see in the Asteroid Belt. Contrary to decades of space-opera fiction, the density of asteroids in the Belt is very low; it's extremely unlikely that someone standing on one asteroid would be able to even see another asteroid. There are small "truck stop and diner" facilities on Ceres, Juno, and Pallas, and an Asimov-Fen (* do they have a faction name? *) colony "marooned off Vesta" (their words; they're actually in Vesta, and host a small college known primarily for its work in robotics and biochemistry), but none of these locations are general tourist draws.
Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, has many attractions. Not only is the Great Red Spot worth seeing up-close, but the planet is home to other electrical storms with lightning bolts the size of North America; even an average gondolier can make a flyby of Jupiter exciting. But the main draws in this part of Fenspace are the Galilean moons: Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, and Io. Casual landings on Io are strongly discouraged because of the extreme volcanic processes on the entire surface, but flybys of the moon are always exciting. Ganymede is exciting in another way; extreme members of both the Whedonite and Juvie (Heinlein juvenile) factions of Fen have claimed the entire moon, based on their respective namesake writers' works. (In reality, the Whedonites tend to stay in the domed towns while most Juvies are happy to be "farmers in the sky", but their rivalry is sometimes exaggerated for the tourists. When it gets out of hand, the small resident Ranger population steps in to negotiate.) Callisto is home to the Whedonite Fen who don't want to even pretend they're at odds with the Heinleinians on Ganymede; casual tourists often find the welcome on Callisto to be less forced than on Ganymede. Europa is home to many scientific teams trying to find life on the moon, so far with no success; visitors are often welcomed at these bases, but there's little to see unless you're a scientist.

(saturn - titan, tours of rings)

Further out, would-be tourists find very little besides wilderness. While Uranus and Neptune have been visited by explorers and scientists, they have nothing of interest to casual visitors. Neptune's moon Triton has some natural attractions - ice volcanos and geysers that send material 8km into the air, fields of frozen nitrogen, and some spectacular ice cliffs - but there aren't yet any hostelries or tour guides on or near Triton. Beyond Neptune are the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud, which are similar to the Asteroid Belt on a larger scale, but without even the minimal infrastructure present in the Belt. Past that is interstellar space; with one exception, only a very few scientists and self-sufficient individualists ever travel that far from Sol. That one exception is Alpha Centauri, where a contingent of the Trekkie faction have established Starbase 2, mankind's first extra-Solar colony. The major impediment to tourism past Saturn is finding a ship with room for tourists going that way; no tourist is known to have had the opportunity to venture farther from Sol than Starbase 2, and those who've made it that far are very rare.
Places that Don't Welcome Tourists: Certain Fenspace locations have been declared off-limits to tourism, usually for the physical safety of the would-be tourists. These include the entirety of Mercury, Io, and Pluto, and the Hephaestus mining station. (The Hidden Asteroid is also off-limits to tourism, because a flow of tourists would make it difficult to keep the asteroid hidden.) Casual travel to any of these locations is strongly discouraged.
Also, private ships and stations are just that - private. Strangers are very rarely welcomed in a person's home, no matter where the stranger hails from. The rare places that follow codes of open hospitality will make that known before people arrive; tourists should respect the privacy of other residences.
Tourism Logistics: Tourism in Fenspace is controlled by the Fen. With a very small set of exceptions, mostly military, space travel outside of low-Earth orbit is controlled by the Fen for the simple reason that they own the spacecraft. Much of the tourist trade is managed by a few corporations that run large luxury-liner ships that take weeks to make trips that Fen are accustomed to making in days; some is handled by independant operators in a fashion vaugely analogous to tramp-steamer travel on early-twentieth-century Earth. At the very low end of expense and reliability, most of the Douglas-Adams-Fen (* do they have a faction name? *) are almost always willing to pick up a hitch-hiker or two if they have their own towels.

---

Again, comments, corrections, or additions to what's here, anyone?

-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

[M Fnord]

---

This station takes pains to maintain a family-friendly reputation, much like the Disney corporation does for its theme parks (with the same relative level of effectiveness).

---

Read: "Not very, but their PR department is relentless in covering it up."

---

The Barsoomians have built the city of Helium, with its gossamer twin towers, on the banks of the Valles Marineris.

---

ITYM "rim" or "edge" of V.Marineris. I don't think the northern ocean's quite gotten *that* far just yet.
(Also, geographical note: Several of the major probe landing sites (eta: as well as Utopia Planitia, now that I think about it) are in danger of being flooded out by the terraforming. Might be worth a mention.)

---

Asimov-Fen (* do they have a faction name? *)

---

Asimovians. Nice and simple.

---

Douglas-Adams-Fen (* do they have a faction name? *)

---

Not as such, nor do they really need one. Not every fan grouping needs a catchy name. Just "Adams fen" will work fine.
Oh, and a sidebar if you like:
Sidebar: Is The Hidden Asteroid Really Hidden?
The answer to this question is an unequivocal "no." It's position in the Belt and orbital elements are all known properties, and any idiot with a copy of Celestia and twenty minutes - which is to say, every navigator in Fenspace - could use this data to find Hidden Asteroid. However, the unspoken agreement among fen is to quietly pretend that the Hidden Asteroid is, in fact, truly hidden. It's the principle of the thing, after all.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

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