View source for Worlds/Abydos

{{WorldData
|Name=Abydos
|Sector=Anansi
|Coordinates=1020
|Tags=Cheap Life, Oceanic World, Vendor
|Atmosphere=Breathable Mix
|Temperature=Warm
|Biosphere=Miscible
|Population=70000
|Ancestry=Tsovinan
|TechLevel=TL3
|LivingStandard=Slum
|Description=Spires rise from the sea of Abydos governed by warlords which lord over a captive population of serfs. Food is acquired from fisheries and sea kelp farms. But the industry that the warlords care about, is the harvesting of Purple Crude, a biological materials that can be found no-where else, from the sea floor. Serfs pilot submersibles from the base of the towers to harvest the valuable material, but the harvesting is extremely dangerous, and most workers live only a few decades. The Purple Crude is sold to traders from Oshun who purchase the Purple Crude in exchange for the materials and luxuries that keep the spires running. The traders jealously guard the world, and their monopoly on the trade, from outsiders.

The air and oceans are both sweltering hot, leaving the insides of the spires were the serfs live almost unbearably hot while the leadership and their cadre of guards live in air-conditioned luxury. All profits from the Purple Crude trade goes to the warlords, with the serfs only benefiting from a merit system, where those that harvest the most Crude gets slightly better living conditions and the occasional morsel of luxury foods or drink.
|History=Abydos was colonized during the age of the Mandate by Trans-Medusa Tech, seeking to extract the minerals and rare biological compounds of the ocean floor. The spires were created in this olden age, using technology that is no more locally available.

The scream brought down communication and isolated Abydos from the leadership and food supplies of the mother corporation. The local leadership fell to squabbling, and soon spires started to fracture into individual city-states, led by any corporate administrator or local strongman strong enough to hold power. Lacking local infrastructure to maintain their TL5 tech, they fell back to TL3. Sometimes individual warlords would seize multiple spires, but as anti-gravity flight started failing it became increasingly impossible to maintain a multi-spire nation state as those removed from the central leadership would sooner or later rebel and once again gain their own warlord.
|Authorities=Warlord Khulani who leads the spire. Enforcer Deliwe, his right-hand woman. Deonte, a work party leader who wants to preserve his marginally superior position.
|Enemies=Trade Leader Chakide who will use any means to keep other traders from the planet. Sonto, an enforcer who takes a joy in abusing those below her. Asad, a worker who is secretly working as an informer for Deliwe.
|Friends=Andile, a work party leader who wishes to overthrow the warlord. Gwala, illegally attempting to sell a pre-scream antique she found on the ocean floor. Ishumi who has been sentenced to death and seeks a way off-world.
|Complications=Enemy warlord stages a raid. Storm blowing in. The room starts flooding.
|Things=Secret cache of Purple Crude. A "misplaced" submersible. A small fleet of TL4 anti-grav troop carriers.
|Places=Landing platform on the side of a spire. The sweltering workmen's common room. Execution airlock opening into the deep sea with adjoining observation theater. Secret room from the pre-scream era.
|Regulations=All trade with off-worlders go through the local warlord. Revealing or stealing the extraction process is a capital crime.
|Trade=}}