Nutri-Bars

Space Colony

Any new Colony would need to keep its members healthy and well-fed. As securing protein and food materials from local flora and fauna would be difficult if not impossible for the first few years, an easily transported source of food would be needed.

As this need would contribute to the ever-widening colonization market, several earth-based companies produced nutritional supplement bars. These meal bars were full of immunization medication, vitamins, protein and calories.

The basic formula for the bars was that each one could keep one adult alive for one day.

The flavorings were not the best. Some companies experimented with beef and chicken additives but none were able to truly capture enough flavoring to make them a hot commodity.

Nutri-bars became the food stores of the moderately poor colonists. Flavor wasn't the largest priority.

Some colonists were known to add a Nutri-bar to a soup or stew and cover the bland taste with other seasonings that were available.

INSPIRATION: Firefly (Serenity), Lost In Space (movie)

MutEx Scouts / Pirates

Mut-Ex (MU-TEX)

Mutant Exploration

Mutant Exploration of space.

Humans were considered poorly suited for deep space exploration so the scientific community decided to make some improvements. The scientists borrowed DNA from various animals to increase stamina, agility and muscle density. A few of the MutEx Scouts were given above normal intellects so be able to handle the multitude of navigation calculations more efficiently.

Most scouts were never heard from again; considered a lost cause and never searched for if lost. Hundreds of MutEx scout ships were sent out to find new homes for the citizens of Earth. Only 9 found anything close to a habitable world. Eight were deemed appropriate for colonization and were put on the fast track to be converted to a habitable atmosphere or for the construction of surface domes.

The ninth world, a medium-sized moon, was considered to be too hazardous for navigation and left alone. There were several rumors that one of the more intelligent MutEx scouts was able to overcome the psychological conditioning to obey his orders and found a world for himself and others like him. MutEx scout ships were not designed for inter-atmosphere travel; primarily to search out worlds with breathable or near-breathable atmospheres from orbit. If all of the MutEx scout ships crashed into their hidden world, there would be no threat. If any of them survived, they would be bound to the planet.

The problem is that they did survive and the Scouts, with their genetic enhancements, flourished. While the new eight colony worlds were being established and the settlers pushed their way out from Earth to their new homes, the Scouts turned themselves into pirates; attacking colony ships for provisions and materials.

It was because of the MutEx pirates that the Colonization Council established an armed patrol to escort the ships.

MutEx Pirates are the stuff of legend. Some say that they eat the people they catch on board the ships and others believe that they eject them to space. Either way, MutEx "MU-tex" has become a synonym for danger; a space-faring bogey man.

Two or three generations of being exposed to a number of different types of radiation has warped their appearance and that of their children giving them an almost monstrous appearance.

INSPIRATION: Reavers (Firefly), Morloc (Time Machine)

Blackthorn: Travel and Technology

In the Jules Verne-esque, Steampunk world of Thomas Book, travel is handled a bit differently than what was documented in the years prior to 1920. Specifically, the technology of travel is considerably different.

LAND:
The most common form of transportation was across land; generally in the form of the steam locomotive.

Train tracks criss-crossed the various nations of the world. From the metropolis cities of the United States to the untamed wilds of Eastern Europe, rail was the fastest way to travel on land. As this meant that passengers would be on the tracks for days at a time (for longer voyages) several of the rail companies created palaces of locomotive luxury where the wealthy could recline and relax and enjoy the scenery.

More than a few wealthy Coal and 'Steam' barons, invested in their own rail cars to the extent that they became almost like a mechanical yacht and were used to tour around the country whenever needed.

Cities such as Chicago and New York have even created smaller rails that encircle their borders and even travel under ground to move people here and there. (Steam-powered Subway)

SEA:
Aside from land travel, the next most common form of transport is that of ocean travel. Steam-powered ships like the Titanic disgorge an innumerable mass of passengers at the ports of San Francisco, New York and London every week. Again, as travel is slower greater luxury has been created for those who can afford it.

A recent project to increase shipping from the east to the west has been the creation of a canal near the South American city of Panama.

AIR:

The least common form of transport is that of Air Travel. Only the wealthy could afford such means but for those who could, it became a floating palace to move from city to city. Considerably faster than rail travel because of their ability to ignore topography, Air Ships are extensively used in Europe where the terrain makes rail travel lengthy.

Newly adopted by the American cities, Air Ship tethers are becoming more and more common for the skyscrapers in Los Angels, New York and Chicago.