Place: The Exchange
Overview
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Type | Concourse / Bazaar / Black Market |
| Parent Location | Beaven Point |
| Owner/Steward | Lucido Miners Guild, Eike Müller |
| Security Level | Low |
| Price/Quality | Volatile |
Visual Reference
Atmosphere & Vibe
Sensory Tags: Deafening shouting in trade dialects, the ozone smell of laser-cutters testing gems, sweat and recycled air, the manic flickering of price tickers
A cavernous, repurposed cargo hold that assaults the senses. It is a maze of makeshift stalls, shipping crates turned into storefronts, and high-tech secure cages. The air vibrates with the tension of “Prospector’s Fever”—every transaction feels like it could end in a fortune or a fistfight. Desperate miners haggle over oxygen scrubbers while wealthy off-world merchants inspect raw gems with cold indifference.
Goods, Services & Points of Interest
| Item / Service | Cost / Value | Notes / Effect |
|---|---|---|
| The Official Scales | Standard -10% | The Guild-sanctioned assay office. Safer than the floor, but they take a heavy tax. The line is usually 4 hours long. |
| ”Grey” Gem Buyers | Variable | Independent merchants wandering the floor. They pay better than the Guild, but might pay in counterfeit chips or signal a mugging team. |
| Mining Consumables | Exorbitant (3x) | Explosives, filters, and stims. Prices fluctuate hourly based on supply rumors. |
| Information Brokerage | 5000-50k Cillings | Stall 42 (“Info & Tacos”). Sells star-charts of “promising” vectors. Most are fake, but the owner sells real OEG troop movement data to the highest bidder. |
The Exchange Shop Registry
The Exchange: Merchant Registry
1. Rock-Eater Supplies
Type: Heavy Mining Equipment Proprietor: “Big Sat” Satu Rämö (Human, huge, missing two fingers on left hand). Vibe: Smells of hydraulic fluid and ozone. The floor is reinforced to hold heavy machinery. Sal doesn’t haggle on safety gear.
Item/Service Cost Notes Standard Vacc Suit 500 cl Patched, but pressure-tested. Laser Cutter (Industrial) 1500 cl Heavy duty, cuts rock, not meant for combat ( -2 to hit). Oxygen Candles (Pack of 5) 250 cl Emergency O2 supply. Burn time: 15 mins. Grav-Pitons 375 cl Self-anchoring climbing spikes for zero-g asteroids. Seismic Mapper (Handheld) 2500 cl Detects hollows/gas pockets in rock. Range 50m. Demolition Charge (Civilian) 500 cl Shaped charge for blasting tunnels. Loud. Mag-Boots 250 cl heavy, clanking boots. Essential for hull walks. Hydro-Spanner Set 125 cl Basic toolkit for field repairs. High-Lumen Floodlight 75 cl Battery lasts 24 hours. Blindingly bright. “Canary” Drone 2000 cl Small drone that detects toxic gas leaks. Sal hides a stash of military-grade thermal detonators in the hollow handle of the display drill.
2. Mama K’s Pantry & Apothecary
Type: Consumables, Stims, & “Medicine” Proprietor: Mama K (Older woman, sweet demeanor, ruthless negotiator). Vibe: One of the few places smelling of biologicals (herbs, dried meat) mixed with antiseptic.
Item/Service Cost Notes Ration Bars (Bulk) 25 cl/kg Tastes like cardboard and vitamins. ”Real” Coffee Beans 500 cl/lb Extreme luxury. Sourced from off-world. Lazarus Patch 250 cl Stabilizes a dying character for 1 hour. ”Wide-Eye” Stims 125 cl Eliminates need for sleep for 24h. Crash is brutal. Rad-Away Tabs 375 cl Flushes minor radiation poisoning. Causes nausea. Synthetic Gin (Bottle) 50 cl High proof, tastes like engine coolant. Fresh Apple (Single) 120 cl A status symbol on Beaven Point. Antibiotics (Generic) 150 cl Broad spectrum. 50% chance to work on alien bugs. Spice Packet 75 cl Hot sauce or salt. Makes rations edible. Water Purifier 750 cl Expanded Equipment Table Radiation Supressor 27.500cl Expanded Equipment Table Mama K is the primary fence for stolen medical supplies from the UPN frigate docked nearby.
3. The Scrapyard (Isabel’s Outlet)
Type: Parts, Scrap, & Refurbished Tech Proprietor: Jace Workhel (One of Isabel’s younger brothers, bulky, but friendly). Vibe: A mountain of organized junk. Wires hang from the ceiling. A 3D printer is constantly humming in the back.
Item/Service Cost Notes Type A Power Cell 50 cl Common ammo/tool battery. Scrap Metal (1 ton) 500 cl Raw hull plating or structural beams. Comms Scrambler 1000 cl Illegal. Blocks outgoing signals in 20m radius. Dataslab (Refurbished) 250 cl Cracked screen, but functional operating system. Engine Coolant Pump 750 cl Universal fit. Prone to overheating. Droid Servo-Arm 375 cl Spare limb for a worker bot. Hull Sealant (Spray) 100 cl Instant foam for hull breaches. Temporary fix. Copper Wire (Spool) 50 cl valuable for repairs. Grav-Module (Burnt out) 25 cl Useful for components/scavenging. Custom 3D Printing Variable Jace can print plastic parts if you have the file. Jace is unknowingly selling parts of a dismantled OEG spy satellite as “generic scrap.”
4. Vector 9 Cartography
Type: Information, Maps, & Gambling Proprietor: “Cipher” (Android, glitchy voice modulator, refuses to make eye contact). Vibe: Dark, illuminated only by holographic star charts. Quiet whispering.
Item/Service Cost Notes System Map (Standard) 100 cl Public domain data of the Lucido System. Asteroid Density Chart 500 cl Shows safe flight paths through the belt. ”Lucky” Coordinates 250 cl A random coordinate for a mining claim. 10% chance it’s good. Old Flight Log 150 cl Recovered from a wrecked ship. May contain clues. Translation Algorithm 500 cl Software update for unknown languages. Encrypted Drive Key 125 cl Blank, high-security storage stick. Sensor Ghost Data 1000 cl Recorded anomalies. Value for explorers. Weather Report 50 cl Solar flare predictions for the next week. Claim Registry Check 75 cl Checks if a claim is actually legally registered. Data Wipe 250 cl Cipher will scrub a datapad clean of incriminating data. 5. The Last Chance Pawn
Type: General Goods & Sad Stories Proprietor: Old Man Ryler (Depressed, cynical, smoking a pipe). Vibe: Melancholy. The shelves are filled with the personal effects of miners who gave up or died.
Item/Service Cost Notes Acoustic Guitar 200 cl Missing one string. Fancy Dress Suit 150 cl Silk. Stained with wine (or blood?). Holo-Locket 75 cl Contains a loop of a laughing child. Can be wiped. Antique Revolver 750 cl Kinetic slug thrower. beautifully engraved. Functional. Gaming Console 125 cl Loaded with 50-year-old games. Mining Permit (Expired) 25 cl Souvenir. Wedding Ring (Gold) 400 cl ”Bad luck included for free,” says Ryler. Pocket Knife 50 cl Dull blade. Novel (Paper) 100 cl Rare physical book. “The Count of Monte Cristo”. Mystery Box 250 cl A locked crate Ryler hasn’t opened yet. Gamble. The Antique Revolver was the murder weapon in a high-profile assassination on Earth 20 years ago. 6. Standard Deviation Defenses
Type: Weapons & Personal Security Proprietor: Mercia Bieri (Ex-mercenary, scars on neck, professional). Vibe: Clean, white lights, guns locked behind transparent aluminum. Expensive.
Item/Service Cost Notes Semi-Auto Pistol 500 cl Reliable, standard sidearm. Thermal Cells (Clip) 50 cl Ammo for laser weaponry. Monoblade Knife 250 cl Sharpened to a molecular edge. Armored Vest 750 cl AC 13. Light and concealable under a jacket. Stun Baton 375 cl Non-lethal takedown tool. Guild favorite. Flashbang Grenade 125 cl Blinds and deafens in a blast radius. Shotgun (Boarding) 1000 cl Short barrel, high spread. Devastating at close range. Personal Shield Gen 2500 cl Absorbs the first hit of a fight. Rare tech. Gun Cleaning Kit 75 cl Essential for maintaining weapons in dusty mines. Bodyguard Contract 5000 cl/day Mercia rents out a “cousin” to watch your back. Mercia Bieri is Lt. Mitchel Jackson’s informant on illegal weapon flow.
Link to original
Inhabitants & NPCs
| Name | Role | Quirk / Disposition |
|---|---|---|
| Eike Müller | Guild Claim Manager | Perpetually sweating and shouting into a datapad. Can be found here trying to bring order to the chaos, usually failing. |
| ”Loop” Vane | Unlicensed Gem Fence | Charming but deadly. Wears a monocle loupe surgically attached to one eye. He works for Artem Rieman. |
| Mama K | Equipment Vendor | A grandmotherly figure who sells mining drills. She is arguably the most heavily armed person in the room (shotgun under the counter). |
| Lennart Ziehm | Dock Supervisor | Often seen loitering near the cargo lifts, ensuring specific “unmarked” crates bypass the Guild tax scanners. |
Security & Hazards
- Passive Defenses: -
- Active Defenses: Two squads of Guild Security, Auto-turrets on the “High Value” cages.
- Access: Public, though weapons must be “holstered”.
Secrets & Clues
- The Leerenstein Trail: A terrified prospector in a corner booth claims to have seen the Leerenstein gem yesterday. He says it wasn’t sold, but passed to a man wearing a UPN uniform in exchange for a datapad, not money.
- The Dead Drop: Behind the recycler unit in the north quadrant, there is a loose panel. It is currently being used by an OEG cell to communicate with Artem Rieman.
- Sabotage: The mining explosives being sold by a specific vendor (The “Boom Brothers”) have been tampered with to detonate early. This is an intentional act to destabilize the Guild’s production quotas.