Back in
the early 22nd century warp drive vessels became cheap
enough for all kinds of small companies and political fringe groups
to go of into space and found colonies. Some very nasty racist and
sectarian groups took the chance to set up their own warped ideas of
utopia, including some neo-Nazis. Most people on Earth at the time
thought 'good riddance', and most of the colonies didn't do well,
collapsing into faction fighting and pissing off their neighbours and
getting invaded and broken up. But there are persistent rumours of
the existence of 'Eagle's Nest', a Nazi planet that has remained
stable and prospered in isolation for 200 years and now allegedly
constitutes a major threat to Known World security.
No one
knows where it is. Sightings of alleged Nazi starships come from all
over the rimward end of Known Space, conspiracy theorists are sure
that they ply well known space lanes in disguise.
One well
known world with a neo-Nazi presence is Orpheus, their colony here is
small, but it does provide some insight as to how the fabled Eagle's
Nest might work.
Orpheus
463 Aquila E 757 64A 7 Agricultural, Garden
Orpheus
has a population of 7 million in four colonies. The oldest is Asgard,
founded early in the expansion period by American white supremacists.
The planet has a thin oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, a well developed
ecosystem with a full range of native animals and plants with plenty
of Terran imports doing well, but it is a bit on the cold side.
The
Asgardians have only 750,000 people and a small subcontinent left.
They successfully captured and enslaved the occupants of a number of
colony ships from a diverse range of nations in their early decades,
but eventually a large contingent from Vietnam landed far enough away
from them and were sufficiently well armed and warned about their
presence to fight them off. The Asgardians had not managed to
maintain a very high tech level – crucial minerals on Asgard are
not as accessible as they are on Earth and they had a habit of
ideologically purging educated personnel – and their outdated
weaponry failed to make an impact
The
Vietnamese were soon joined by Khazaks, Egyptians and French
Canadians. Thirty years ago the Asgardians attempted to take over the
planet and made great inroads thanks to an unexpected nuclear strike,
but an alliance of all three colonies, plus forces from neighbouring
planets, the European Union – the Asgardians had captured a ship
load of Italian colonists early in their history – and a foreign
legion of anti-fascist activists and adventurers from across Known
Space counter invaded. The war eventually bogged down into a
stalemate, and an armistice signed.
The
current major power, with 4 million inhabitants, is the Orphean
League, a rather grim but multi-racial police state which controls
the bulk of the former Asgardian territories. They are subject to
frequent uprisings and rebellions from ex-Asgardian citizens,
'forcing' the government to impose serious limits on local freedoms.
They have resorted to forced internal migration and outright
off-planet deportation to control them, and re-education camps
allegedly exist in the boondocks of the world. A fair proportion of
the younger ex Asgardians have become normal enough, but the
population was subjected to a century and a half of vehemently racist
propaganda and the erosion of this mindset has been slow.
The
Asgardians live behind a massively fortified frontier, and can only
maintain a tech level of 5 due to massive destruction of industrial
capacity and trade restrictions. They can manage TL 7 genetics
though, and a corps of certified 'Purifiers' have everyone's DNA on
record. Those who carry what they define as 'impure genes' are given
the choice of sterilisation or deportation, and encourage those the
regime deems fittest to have numerous children. There are known to be
barracks like boarding schools where hundreds of children are
'educated'. The many small farming communities are given a lot of
independence, but sadly they just compete to be more hard line than
the next lot, with councils of wilfully ignorant and brutal
farmworkers monitoring each other's every utterance for deviation
from the ideological norm. The one remaining town is, on the surface,
quite pleasant. The Asgardians are desperate for foreign currency,
technology and trade and go out of their way to give a good
impression to outsiders. The model town is of course inhabited by an
army of informers and secret police, and has many foreign
infiltrators equipped with cybernetic implants from a variety of
secret police forces on the look out for evidence of links with
Eagle's Nest.
Adventure Hooks
- PCs offered a mission to be dropped in a deserted area inside Asgardian territory to spy on a military testing range where they appear to have a suspiciously high tech artillery system.
- An Asgardian exile met on a different world claims that his DNA changed between the mandatory test at birth and a later update. He claims the Orpheans are releasing a retro virus into Asgardian airspace infecting people with mutant genes, a blatant crime against humanity. The Asgardians are bastards but do they deserve this? Or is the guy a raving paranoiac?
- The Orphean police have a standing list of wanted Nazis whose location is unknown. Fancy some bounty hunting? Maybe some have fled to Eagle's Nest if you follow the trail long and hard enough...
- A shipload of diehard rebels have been deported from Orpheus and taken in by the Adelbert Corporation on Epsilon. What the hell do they want with these racist lunatics? Load the fools with cybernetic implants and use them as 'special security' when the war against the New Canaanites comes?
- What really happens in those Asgardian schools? The rumours are lurid to say the least, but hard data would be nice – might even enable the Orpheans to get enough military aid to restart the war.
- Reformed Odinism has become popular among the New Age set on a rich and heavily populated world. The usual moral panic and rumours of a cult are going about, but a local reporter thinks the leader is in fact an exiled Asgardian, which puts a different complexion on things.
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