Plotbunny for sale - cheap

[drakensis]

> What do people think of these revised numbers?
I can go for those.
Having the engines slow down near large bodies seems a perfectly reasonable explanation for it taking unfortunately long to get down to Earth and then back up to it.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[CattyNebulart]

My head hurt. I didn't think I could get a headache, but here it is. We where heading to a cafe after the meeting with Haruni, the leader of the SOS brigade. Getting two large mochas from a barista dressed as a Senshi I headed back to see the Professor already working on his speech, occasionally cakeling madly. Realy I felt for Kyon I know how it is to work with someone that hyper, headstrong and insane.
----
I need help writing the scene with Haruni, since I can't write Haruni.
Also I want some help comming up with rumors about the Professor, esspecially why he was kicked of earth. I know why it happend, in a rough outline, but since the details are supressed and the Prof doesn't remember it all that well rumors should abound.
a few 'facts' to spark the rumor mill:
1) Built a death-ray on top of the Eifel tower. (from here comes the rumor that he has weapons-grade handwavium, am writing a short skit about that, but need to find a place to fit it in. In truth the death ray is somewhat less than lethal, but that never stopped the media.)
2) Went on a Carmen Sandegio like spree of stealing cultural artifacts, though often not ones quite as large, or as valuable.
3) Was in the possesion of a nuke (this is an unconfirmed rumor, but true.)
4) dismantaled half the terrorists/mafia/police/army of europe by himself (a gross exageration why it wasn't even a quarter.)
Overall the Sol Bianca is seen by many as somewhat similar to the Addams Family, and I need to go because class is starting. More of an explanation later.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Sirrocco]

First, I have to say, the Pinafore is love.
Second, in response to movement and stuff, here's a thought.
We already know that most forms of handwavium transportation are gravitic in some manner. So... speed based instead of acceleration based... call it surfing the grav-nuetral. Base it on the average gravitational point. In close to one of the planets, it'll be mostly that planet. Further out, it'll be mostly the Sun. You *can* go newtonian if you want to, but that doesn't let you do much better than the average hardtech thrustercraft. Mostly, we use that for things like getting into orbit, and playing nicely with satellites and things. Of course, even so there are variations. The normal fen-craft has a constant max speed regardless of the amount of local gravity, up until you start getting out close to the limit. (You don't want to *use* that max speed when you're too close to a planet, mind, as it's an enormous mass hurtling through space, and you're not *entirely* in its frame of reference as long as you're surfing (much better to keep a fair bit in reserve and be careful about such things)) Some, however, are far faster and more agile in heavy-grav areas (they don't take full speed in too close either, but they get a lot more reserve when it counts most, so they can hotrod a lot better) slowing down precipitously as they pull out of the inner system's grasp. Others actually use a wierd form of kludged semi-warp principles, and are able to go significantly faster when *not* near a grav well. Of course, that means that they can only travel around in the inner system by tweaking together some sort of gravwave exclusion device, and they've pretty much got no chance of hitting orbit from the surface (under their own power) at all.
However, that's only *most* of the transportation systems. There are very few hard and fast rules for wavetech. There are a *few* acceleration-based waved drives, and as far as the rest of fenspace goes, they're really rather strange. On the one hand, someone who actually *has* the understanding of orbital mechanics necessary to exploit them to their fullest can cover looong distances in remarkably short periods of time (especially if the contact point can be handled by dropping off a wavetech vehicle that then engages engines and finishes the last little bit by itself - thus reducing or removing the necessity of deceleration.) On the other hand, well, playing the accelleration game in a velocity universe is a pretty strong example of "fast but not maneuverable".

[Rieverre]

Wow.
You just about summed up what I'd concocted with the Uncertainty's energy sails.
Kudos. I now owe you one.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[The Hunterminator]

---

Also I want some help comming up with rumors about the Professor, esspecially why he was kicked of earth.

---

I don't have much time right now, but I can type up a few lines.
- Half the people he met later discovered that they were spontaneously sprouting new limbs.
- He caused 3 plagues.
- He is the cause of the anti-handwavium legislations.

[Rieverre]

Trigon worships him.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[CattyNebulart]

thanks for the help, those make some good starting points.
oh and for anyone wanting to contact me I'm on AOL messenger under "CattyNebulart" and under MSN messenger under "cattynebulart@yahoo.com"
Those are the best wasy to contact me.
well Miyu kinda writes herself. Not sure where I'll fit this in, but it might get a laugh or two.
----
Sigh, another angry mob, at least fen angry mobs had respect for tradition and so there where the pitchforks and torches, though where they had gotten them from in fenspace I don't want to know.
"All right you primitive screwheads, listen up! See this? This..." I say as I raise my left hand and shift into artillery mode. "... is my boomstick!" I always wanted to say that. Making sure to turn my smile properly psychotic I level my gun arm with them. "Now scram."
---
Now what I mean with the addams family bit was that the Sol Bianca is considered dangerous. For most ships the quirks are mostly harmless, in the Sol Bianca's case they tend to be things like man-eating radioactive spiders. Not that anyone ever comes to harm (unless you count clothes, as Ryoko does. she incenedtly also does most of the laundry, do I sense a connection here?), but much like with the Addams Family people don't realize that.
This would not be much of a problem but I frequently have visitors, considerig that I do have one of the best hosiptals in fenspace and am allways willing to help out someone in need. Of course I'm also a mad scientis, and a lot of people seem to have trouble remaining calm when they are bedridden and a mad scientist wielding various cobeled together devices stands over them ranting about the power of science, sacrifices must be made, and experimental subjects.This is not helped when one nure is desperatly trying to distract said scientist/doctor while another is goading him on.
I am also rumored to have the only supply of weapons grade handwavium. There is no such thing, but they, including the proffessor, don't know that. So I get frequent univited guests, I still try to make them feel welcome but for some reason they always run away.
Still if you are one of the few who can go with the flow it's perfectly harmless, and a stay on the Sol Bianca becomes nice and relaxing.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Foxboy]

Okay someone made a slight mistake on saying that an AU is 8 light-hours
It's approximately the distance light travels in 8 minutes, 20 seconds.
Making an earth-to-limit trip (~39 AU) at the speed of light take 325 minutes. Or 5 hours, 25 minutes.
ETA: As was properly reported. Sorry, I just saw the 8 light hours at one AU thing....
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[The Hunterminator]

"Yo boss! We're almost there."
I looked up and almost laughed in relief. No matter how much one likes to laugh, reading bad jokes and horrible puns to an engine gets boring fast. This is especially true if you're coming from the edge of a system and all the way to Phobos, which, because the Schrottplatz is pretty much always dreadfully slow, takes a lot of time.
I gave the great big book of jokes and puns to Gramps and he continued reading from it, bursts of increased speed indicating when the engine was 'laughing'. I turned around and ran out and towards the cockpit praying that none of the drones had taken the initiative of hailing Phobos station yet. My prayers were for naught when I arrived and saw one of Penny's colleagues trying to sell someone "prime farming land on Pluto" over the communicator.
With a low growl, I pushed the drone back and whispered, "Stop that. I don't need to get another fine for clogging up the comm. channels."
I turned back to the over glorified handwavied radio we called a communicator, "Sorry about that." and cut the communication.
I then called Phobos station to notify them of our arrival and sat back for the wait.
***
Finally, after a few hours, we flew to our designated dock. We had barely landed that several drones ran out of the ship and started setting up kiosks. Of note were the Capitalistic Drones and their "Alcohol, snacks, and anything your heart might desire" stand with a pile of odds and ends behind it. There was also our 'official' stand, that is, the one that advertised our services.
A large part was dedicated to our expertise at construction of replicas, with pictures of our two most notable projects, the federation starbase replica in orbit of Pluto, and our 1/100 replica of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The stand was manned by a varied assortment of drones, including the 'trekkie' group and the stormtrooper drones.
Once I had conducted a quick review of that stand, I took a look around, and noticed a genuine pitchfork and torches mob. I was starting to wonder where the mob had found such antique equipment when I noticed a duo of my drones selling them to onlookers. I was in the process of stomping over to stop them when the crowd suddenly ran away from a psychotic nut job with a gun instead of a hand. (OOC: whose hand turned to a gun?)
*****
There you go, a hook for the role-playing you wanted to do Catty, I'm up for it this evening.

[Black Aeronaut]

Catty - Mad Scientist is looking more and more fun by the minute. He actually seems to be a nice fellow once he's rested up. Mind if we can work up a colaborative post or two? I can easily see Ben being a friendly acquantance of his, Ben being one of the fastest courier transports in the system. Maybe they saved each other's asses at one point in time? I also think it'd be cool if Ben's Handwavium bio-mod was handled by The Doctor. ^_^

---

Black Aeronaut Technologies Group
Aerospace Solutions for the discerning spacer
"To the commissary we should go," Yoda declared firmly. "News
of this kind a danish requires."

---

[M Fnord]

Having settled accounts with the weasel from Fox, (which the overhead monitors were now showing on an endless loop) I turned to my crew and started making plans. "Okay kids, time to go mingle. We probably won't find out what we've been called in for tonight, so go have a good time and we'll meet back here once things start getting underway in earnest tomorrow." I noticed that I was already short a few; our resident married couple had already slipped off, either to one of the station's dance clubs or just back to their room. Meanwhile my tactical officer was diving into the crowd towards the Klingon contingent, bokuto out and ready for some friendly mayhem. "Assuming that you haven't already," I amended with a bit of a smirk.
KJ finished his beer in one gulp, tossed the empty into a handy recycler and turned towards the edge of the throng. "I'm gonna hit up the marketplace," he said. "Maybe see if I can't find some wilderness refueling gear for the lifesystem, or maybe get a Wii to replace the tactical computer while I'm at it."
"Good idea. Be sure to grab an icon for Ptichka while you're at it. You'll need the bribe if you're going to cut her open."
"Yeah, yeah..." KJ vanished into the crowd, heading for the market levels.
Calc looked thoughfully at the convention floor. "I think I'm going to hit up WARGH!" he didn't get the chance to finish his thought, as a gaggle of Senshi cosplayers emerged from the crowd, pounced on him and started dragging him away. Elena boggled. I just sighed and took a sip of my drink.
"Should've seen that one coming," I mused. I don't know what it is about him, but for some reason Calc always attracts this kind of female attention whenever we're in a highly populated area. As funny as these sorts of ambushes usually are, I still had a duty to protect my crew, so I whistled after the retreating Senshi. "OI! You lot, with the lawyer! Hold it a second!"
The cosplayers stopped and gave me a curious look. "Yeah?" demanded the tallest one.
"That guy's part of my crew! I want him returned intact, same species and same gender he was when you found him, y'hear?"
"What about hair color?"
I gave this due consideration. "That's negotiable!"
The cosplayers cheered. Calc might've groaned; I didn't hear it, but he certainly *looked* like he had. The Senshi dragged him away into a side alcove. I dedicated the rest of my drink to his health.
Elena eyed the crowd nervously. "Er, so what should I do?"
"Go mingle. Say hi, talk to 'em about stuff. You're a BNF, regale 'em with your heroic exploits around Saturn, and listen to them regale you with their heroic exploits. You know, the usual. Just keep your head and don't eat, drink, smoke or fuck anything that's more'n five percent handwavium by weight and you'll be fine."
"But I don't *know* any of these people!"
"Bah, you probably know half of them through the Net, you just don't know what they look like." I gave her a bit of a push into the crowd. "Now g'wan! Scoot! It's a party, so have fun!" She gave me a bit of a dirty look as a group of stormtroopers swept her down towards the bar.
I swear, it's like being a den mother sometimes.
I finished my drink and started pushing my way through the crowd towards the more private bar near the SSX pavillion. Unless I missed my guess, that's where the SMOFs would be gathering, probably to hear the initial proposal from SOS.
That was about the point when all hell broke loose near the entrance.

---

Quick terminology guide:
BNF: Big Name Fan. Common parlance for fandom celebrities. Used in Fenspace for people who've done one great accomplishment or another. The Professor, the Explain Star crew & Danger Will Robinson would qualify as BNFs with their reputations.
SMOF: Secret Master of Fandom. In general, any fan with leadership and/or organizational skills. Specifically in Fenspace, fraction leaders, spokesmen or free-agent BNFs with political or economic clout.---
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!"

[CattyNebulart]

---

(OOC: whose hand turned to a gun?)

---

Miyu, clearly you haven't seen Mai-Hime.
Here is what she looks like with the gatling gun.
www.earth-alliance.org/Me...25/B39.jpg
not sure when the lynch mob is coming for me, but it happens often enough that it doesn't mater. Risks of the profesion you see, the uneducated masses don't appreciate the sacrifices that have to be made in the name of science!
---
glad you like him blackareo, I would love to do a colabarative post sometime.

oh and I picture the professor looking kinda like the icon Jon K. ( project-apollo.net/mos/img/jon.jpg ) one of the athors of a major source of inspiration the webcomic a Miracle of Science. ( project-apollo.net/mos/index.html )
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[The Hunterminator]

---

Miyu, clearly you haven't seen Mai-Hime.

---

No, I haven't. I'll probably watch it at some point, but I haven't yet. Hell, the only reason I know who Ryoko is is because I'm currently in the process of watching Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu.
And even there, I didn't get it until you said

---

hmm, somewhat of a problem considering a Haruni character is among my crew.

---

[Rieverre]

---

You know, if there's anything a random mob is good for, it's a distraction. Especially when you're feeling as parched as I was after nearly half an hour's worth of talking.
I slipped away in the confusion, the admins' representative not really noticing because, hey, that was one really freakin' big mob. Farming implements included.
There's quite a few things that can rouse up that much animation in Fen, but not many make them do the 'storming the castle' routine. Off the top of my head, the only one I could think of to get that sort of response was the Professor.
Oh.
It _was_ him.

Trigon's going to bitch at me for locking commo.
Still, the authority figure's attention wasn't going to stay stuck to those guys indefinitely, and I'd promised to buy someone dinner when we got here. Not the day after, which would likely be the result if I didn't do a little disappearing magic.
Unfortunately, the only things I had on me wouldn't be of much use in this situation.
I needed crowd control. And not neccessarily in the traditional sense.
Which was when I spotted the droids and their merchandise, or rather, a particularly patterned set of round metallic cylinders that had roughly the dimensions of a can of soda. I proceeded to trot over, pressing my way through the influx of Fen who, of course, were heading for the disturbance.

I swear, bloody lemmings.
Shelling out a few credits, and noting that the flunkie had remembered I was supposed to be there to be chewed over but now wasn't, I stowed most of the 'cans' in my vest pockets.
Leaving me with one in particular.
Now, if I've got this right ...
Pop the pin, wind back, toss it so it arcs gracefully over the gathered Fen while shouting the one thing I knew would get the android's attention:
"EMP! Everybody cover!"
... then ducking down and slinking away when the Fen collective flinched and the Professor's boomstick carrying escort blew it out of the air.
There was the *pop* of decompressing air, and the Pantsu Grenade (tm - Happosai H Manufacturing) erupted over the crowd, scattering silky little nothings ...
I leave the reactions to your imagination, only saying that I doubted they'd be bothering with finding me with this on their hands.
Then I went to look for Maetel.

---

Well, you did say the Schrottplatz picks up odds and ends, and the droids keep them in circulation. Hence the 'novelty grenade' ideas. The others are also H brand, though with differing effects.
-Griever
ETA: more editsu
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[CattyNebulart]

LOL!!
That is about the only response I can think of. Good job Griever.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[The Hunterminator]

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I love that. I really do. And you're right, that's the kind of thing the drones could very well find and sell. Heck, the fact that it's a 'niche' product means that they'd be even more likely to buy it cheap and then keep trying to sell it to various people.

[drakensis]

transferred
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[The Hunterminator]

---

Also, if anyone has any ideas for more quirks of the good ship Saint Bernard

---

How about the fact that unless you stop her, she tends to chase ships that fly by.
-Edit-
Another idea, she chases her own tail.

[Foxboy]

Based off of an old Tex Avery cartoon,she growls at anything that was Jet Powered dirtside. Especially B-52s.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

---

Hmm, do you think the Galaxy Express could haul a (somewhat disassembled) Stratofreighter into space?

---

Yeah, she should be able to. She's got enough power to do it, so if you could swing the airspace permits, the delivery shouldn't be that big a problem. Should even be able to swing a discount if Mr.Morden could arrange for a few other decomissioned airframes to go with. Maybe a Flying Boxcar or two, an S-2 or something in that direction.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[ECSNorway]

Hmmm.
And now here I sit, thinking that this idea is just Really Cool, and totally stumped for what my avatar might do that wouldn't be totally derivative.
Yeah, there's classic cars and there's cool stuff... but the one thing characteristic of my living habits is, I like to -sprawl-. I like lots of space, and I like it relatively stable. I constantly complain that my current apartment is just too small, not enough space for bookshelves, my minis, gaming space...
Oh, and a solid, reliable internet connection, so I can keep up with things like this.
Hm. Ok. Idea percolating.
-----
So, the day had finally arrived. The set of converted trailers that would form my residence and office for the duration were currently being towed into place, courtesy of a few other fen who thought the idea was cool... and who liked the same sort of gaming I did, which was a big advantage in my plans. Their personal and financial support was a big part of what had made it all possible, after all.
It started with a simple idea. Like a lot of fen, I wanted to make the move Out. But I didn't like the idea of abandoning all the comforts of home, and I'd been cooped up in a small apartment for years. I wanted space, not just Space, if you'll pardon a few dice of pun damage. So I got together with a few friends and planned out the basics, talked Dad into getting a 'dane lawyer to write up the contract, and settled in with a rep from Dolomite to hack the finances into place.
The deal was simple. We, the fen, would head out into the Belt, find a nice solid chunk of nickle-iron (and hopefully some titanium, platinum, or other worthwhile shinies), and haul it into orbit. (We actually had a plan for this, which was what made them willing to talk to us, unlike some wild-sky'ers who'd popped the idea before us. Just say it involved some Israeli-designed catalytic hydrogen generators and most of the handwavium the bunch of us had been able to put together when we'd gotten started.)
We would provide a suitable habitat, thanks to said handwavium and some cargo containers and trailers, and lift Dolomite's crew and equipment into orbit. Then they'd mine the thing out, we'd ferry the results down to a landing site somewhere in Arizona, and we'd walk away with a rather nicely hollowed-out space rock and a wad or three of cash.
The ink wasn't even dry before we had five offers from various scientific and manufacturing concerns to buy it off of us when it was done. A ready-made habitat in orbit, of that size? All sorts of uses for that, from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals to the kind of esoteric research that most fen just say "slap some 'waves on it, dude, don't get so emo about it" to.
The result was that this was actually asteroid number seven that I was setting up on; by the time we had the third one in orbit other fen had seen the market potential and we ended up passing on a lot of the interest to them. Mostly because we'd made a metric buttload of money on the whole deal, and so had Dolomite, and I was getting tired of hauling. A year in space and I wanted my SPACE. So here we were, moving in at last.
I had to grin, once again, as I brought the last trailer-load down to the dock/airlock we'd set up, and saw the sign one of my partners had painted there.
It read, simply, "Turtles Welcome Here".--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Norgarth]

---

And now here I sit, thinking that this idea is just Really Cool, and totally stumped for what my avatar might do that wouldn't be totally derivative.

---

Same here. I have a half-formed idea for a vehical, but as for job/income/ect I'm no real dea.
I am however considering making myself a list of who's writing which characters and what they travel around in, just so I can keep all these things. 8P__________________
The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. - George Carlin.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

[ECSNorway]

---

Same here. I have a half-formed idea for a vehical, but as for job/income/ect I'm no real dea.

---

Well, right now, Avatar-Me is living off of a middleman's cut of the asteroid-mining industry, with him and his lawyer buddy acting as an intermediary for fen hauling asteroids in, 'dane-side mining companies doing the rest of the work, and the final consumers of the resulting orbital habitats. About half of the latter are fen or fen-related industries, the other are scientific and manufacturing, for the most part, although rumor has it he's currently in talks with Hilton...--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[CattyNebulart]

---

Same here. I have a half-formed idea for a vehical, but as for job/income/ect I'm no real dea.
I am however considering making myself a list of who's writing which characters and what they travel around in, just so I can keep all these things. 8P

---

Overlap isn't that bad and I can think of several things that are not yet covered by author characters. Spies, inteligence agencies can probably find at least one semi-reliable person with fanish inclinations. If only to keep tabs on what the fans are doing, since some (like the Prof) created quite a stir. Having an eye out for that kind of trouble is what inteligence agencies do.
The heads/members for the terra forming groups are up for grabs, so are starfleet and the imperial fleet.
Im sure there are a few dozen more jobs if you apply a little thought.
Normal vehicle is surprisingly poorly covered by author characters, and would be well suited to a spy. No-one seems to be driving a beetle in space, nor a luxury car (clasic rolls royce anyone? There has to be at least one fan who's just loaded with money.)
Why oh why has no-one comandeered a rocket and used that as their ship? granted the rusian shuttle has been taken so it's not as original, but I'm sure there is another good vehicle idea somewhere. Why isn't there a Harlock fan flying around in a wooden sailing ship?
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Sirrocco]

ECS: nice. 'splain the turtle reference, please?
Griever: to be fair, your initial description of the sail *was* partial inspiration. You need feel no debt.
Main body: Thoughts about Other Folks In Space...
- anti-handwavium legislation: one of the major reasons that this would go through, once the folks up top figured out what was going on, is that handwavium is *entirely unpredictable*. Every other kind of tech, you can establish at least a decent baseline for what sort of resources the potential enemy/infiltrator/whatever might bring to bear. Handwavium could be *anything*. This, combined with its inherent unreliability makes it more fundamentally inimical to the entire *concept* of established power structures than any other tech anywhere ever. Whatever else you may have heard, *this* is why the law was passed - so they could take obvious use of the stuff as a crime in and of itself, and deal with people before they started really *exploiting* it.
I'd imagine, incidentally, that the hardtech types downstairs may well have come up with a radarlike way of detecting grav effects. This won't help them catch you if all they ping is the initial liftoff, but if you're intending to land and take off again in a restricted area, they can scramble (if they care to) in time to intercept you on the way up at least, and quite possibly on the ground. This helps give a bit more teeth to the Danelaw on the surface, which, I think, makes stronger the whole.
Australia is becoming *rich*. It's likely a bit more dangerous than it had been, too, but that's Australia for you. It is also likely that there are a few other relatively small countries here and there that have decided to take the risk vs reward gamble and throw wide their arms to the Fen. None as big, and none as famous, but they're out there. I would expect Japan, for example, might pick one of the smaller islands as its Fennish Hong Kong. Taiwan would look to the skies, look to the mainland, decide that the fen were the lesser of two evils, and invite them in. Things like that.
Incidentally, the thought of Danelaw brought something else up. Specifically, that fenspace isn't in it - which means that there are going tobe people who put their faith and trust in the Goop because it's better than what they have to face downstairs. The political escapees, ex-cons trying to go straight, and antiestablishment freaks of all stripes will fit in reasonably well, but there's bound to be a few criminal orgnizations who decide to set themselves up with the Galaxy's Most Perfect Non-Extradition-Treaty, and commute to work. That's bad. The ones who turn around and try to start preying on the fen? That's worse. The singleton psychos who head to the stars to try to indulge their tast in theft, murder, and rape? That's worse still.
Of course... that's not something to worry about just yet. After all, handwavium is largely inluenced by thought/emotion/auras/whatever (seems a little off to *me*, but it's canon now, so I'll run with it.) Currently, there *aren't* any flavors of 'wavium that react well to "psycho killer" (the closest they come are the varieties that react well to "mad scientist" - and those tend to do so at least partially by giving them adversaries to be maniacal at and thwarting them when they get too far out of hand. Personally, I'm figuring that the Professor's Lovely Assistants are partial expressions of that - Mad scientists *should* have people trying to kill them, but *shouldn't* die, and so they dance this dance of continual failure to kill, all unknowing that that really *is* their true purpose/desire/meaning/existence truth.)
Eventually, though, once we need an Ugly Dramatic Threat to play around with, someone wrong *will* wind up with some Villain-Grade Handwavium.
Oh... and we *do* occasionally have problems with old-fashioned scumbag-variety pirates, but not all that often. The Village of Hidden Asteroid offers half price on them, after all, and occasionally takes them out as simple sacred duties. The fact that they tend to then drop off trophies of said sacred duties at SSX Base, along with beautifully constructed poetry about how the dishonor of even a single member stainins the honor of the entire clan does its part to help ensure that there are at least *two* groups out there protecting shipping.... which is as it should be.
(incidentally, my thanks for tossing in the Pirate/Ninja dynamic. It is a thing of beauty.)