A Planet Called Clutter: A FAE/Fate Core Game
A LANDFILL PLANET
From the day humans took their first steps on the moon, the humans have strived to go beyond their solar system and discover worlds beyond theirs. Space travel technology grew and so did its accessibility. Luxuries vacation resorts on Mars were no longer a distant fantasy. Unfortunately, Earth dying due to man’s uncaring nature was no longer a distant dystopia.
The humans made the GLOBAL DEBRIS COLLECTIONS. The G.D.C had huge ships called Junkhauls that could carry entire landfills of 10 cities combined. The humans started to send these ships beyond their solar system to a planet that was two times bigger than their own. This empty planet became known affectionately by the humans as Clutter.
Even with these grand efforts to lessen their impact on the environment, the Earth started to rapidly degrade. Tsunamis ravaged the coasts. Tornados blew away country side towns. Places that were normally cold and frozen were melting at a rapid pace. The humans finally decided it was time to leave for the stars.
Evacuation, of course, is never the smoothest thing. It makes it pretty tough to leave a dying planet when every pilot that owns a ship puts a hefty price on a one way ticket from Earth. So, you got all your rich fat cats hoping on privately owned ships or taking residency on Mars, what is someone living hand to mouth supposed to do? Thankfully many of those Junkhauls were put out of commission when the Earth landfills became less full. The pilots of the unused Junkhauls agreed to take people to a place where that could start a new, build form the ground up; Clutter.
Fortunately for the humans, they weren’t showing up alone. A bunch of miscreants, outcasts and losers from other planets had settled among the piles of decomposing trash. Clutter became a favorite place by alien planets to dump their unwanted just like the humans were dumping their trash.
FROM TRASH TO TREASURE
Most folks would think that living on a planet that is largely percent trash wouldn’t be the greatest. Yes, it smells a bit, but the folks of Clutter either had gotten used to it or find ways to reduce the smell. When your planet is littered with abandoned cars, broken lamps, torn and stained clothing, you can make about anything. Clutter folks do what the humans on Earth failed to do: reuse, rebuild, recycle.
Food waste is composted to make farms out of the seeds various folks brought. Plant based diet is easier to maintain and eat with multiple species in one place. That and Space Rats and Space Pigeons taste like the trash they eat.
Scrap metal makes up the ramshackle buildings that all connect like that of Earth strip malls. Some represent more of narrow apartment complexes, housing both folks and businesses.
Clutter soon became a tight urban sprawl of large towers made of junk. There is always a place to live. There is always a place shop. Most importantly there is always a place to hide.
THE RULES OF CLUTTER
Clutter doesn’t have any real leaders. There is quite the distaste for authority after many of the folks here ended up here because their former authority screwed them over. Granted there are some folks who act as representatives when stuff gets a little hairy. Most of the folks keep each other in check, but that doesn’t mean you should trust everyone blindly. A hulking Titus can either be patrolling the market for thieves or protecting a thief in the shadows. The Drax who gave you a good trade could scam another costumer.
Clutter does have a set of rules to keep everyone in check. The folks are encouraged to enforce these rules, but for some, rules are meant to be broken.
Clutter choose to op out of currency. One reason was because of the multitude of different currencies that various races brought with them. Money didn’t make sense when they could just rebuild what they needed with the discarded waste around them. Most money is seen as keepsakes from the planets they left behind. Many coins are fashioned into jewelry.
Bargaining and trading are how folks get around. Some are crafts people trading with other crafts people the works of their labor. Scavengers trade their findings to those who can create something new with the scraps. They only thing not allowed to be traded is food and water. Any one caught doing so gets into more trouble than imagined.
Anther important thing to remember in Clutter: fighting and killing is frowned upon. Does it happen? Sure. People get bad trades and want revenge. Some times little gangs form here and there of like-minded folks trying to give their community a sense of protection. You better have protection since the folks who don’t like it might come after you.
If you piss off the folks enough, they will kindly ask you to leave. In other words they will dump your ass in the distant un claimed corners of Clutter. This is of course only if you misbehave during your service time as a farmer or water purifier. If you are good, you can return to society, but if you mess up big time, then its eating Space Rats for the rest of your life.
THE RACES OF CLUTTER
The Drax: These grey skinned fellows resemble a bit of what humans call “demons” The Drax have small horns extending from their foreheads. Their hands and feet are a bit longer than an average human’s and have long black claws. The Drax have long thing, curved spikes coming out of theirs, normally four down the spine. They often have black webbing between their fingers and their toes. Their eyes are a solid black color, with a white eyes slits that act like eye lids for them.
For the most part they are similar to humans. They both walk the same way and same number of limbs. The Drax have what human call “a swimmer’s body” long lankly limbs and tall, broad torso. The Drax even grow black hair on the top of their heads. What separates the Drax from humans is that Drax females lack breasts and its sometimes hard to tell male and females apart.
The Drax come from an aquatic planet. Unfortunately, some of the water started to dry up, creating islands. Some Drax started to evolve from totally sea dwelling to amphibious. The still water adapted Drax didn’t like this and sent the evolved Drax to be picked up by a cheap shuttle and dropped off at Clutter.
The Titus: Big, hulking four armed folks who aren’t the kind to be messed with. They are often seven feet tall.. Their skin tones are even more varied than the humans, sometimes having mossy green hues. They all have strong jaws and have two nostril slits instead of a nose. Their hair is often thick and dark, but many shave regularly.
The Titus lack any reproductive organs. On other planets where Titus communities have settled, there is a Queen Titus who is responsible for all the births of the Titus, in a similar fashion to bees on Earth. Titus are expected to be workers. Crafting huge monuments to proving themselves worthy to their queen. Those aren’t worthy have often been blasted into space, destined to land wherever.
Those who landed on Clutter have a welcoming home. They are valued for helping build housing accessible to all folks. They know to build lasting and stable structures They are the handy men and women of Clutter. They are surprisingly delicate for hulking creatures, There fingers are nibble enough to even repair small broken parts.
The Humans: Despite having a rather nasty reputation, the ones on Clutter want to show other species that they all aren’t like the assholes on their planet. Humans are often considered reliable when it comes to the deals of Clutter. In fact, many human minds created the food and water processors that maintain Clutter.
Humans are associated with invention and intuitiveness. They are often subject to the pressure of being problem solvers of Clutter since they brought many scientists and other great minds with them. There are a number of pilots from the Junkerhauls in their midst, who often retire and create small communities of former pilots.
Humans are the most physically diverse of the folks of Clutter. They often like to color and style the longer thicker hairs on the top of their heads. They sometimes paint their faces with different colors to look more attractive. Clothing is extremely important and is used to show off personal tastes. Individuality is beyond one of the largest things that humans value.
The Veasles: The smallest and furriest of the folks on Clutter. Veasels are under 2 feet tall and resemble that of various rodents found on earth. Some have a more rabbit look, while others look more like ferrets. They are bipedal, with hooved feet, Their forearms are long with long four fingered claws for digging. Veasles often grow horns similar to antelope or goats. Their fur colors can range from dark, muted colors to bright, shiny coats.
Veasles are skilled diggers and miners. Coming from an underground society, the ones who came to Clutter where originally apart of the Veasle Exploration Group. They first started with exploring the service of their planet, then started to build their own tiny, little ships and flew to other planets. Some Veasles started to settle down at the planets they started to investigate.
Veasles are rather valued for their small size. They make great scavengers by being able to dig quickly and squeeze into tight spaces. When drama happens, they are often the go-to for gossip since their strong curiosity and love to hide grants them a bounty of little bits of information from every corner.
The Roids: Roids are androids from some far off planet that not many folks on Clutter know about. Their home and origin of mindfulness is a mystery even to the Roids. Roids often show up in crashed escape pods that litter the outer edges of Clutter. Many end up being found my scavengers and are brought back to the main hub.
Roids look kind of like humans, but have many segmented joints in their smooth chrome skin. They lack facial features, expect for a glowing slit of light that acts as eyes. The slit various in designs. Some have their eyes in more of a V shape, others run across their blank face. They are mostly smooth white, or shiny sliver with accent colors that match their eyes.
Roids are rather trustworthy, known as fair dealers. However long they end up collecting junk on their way to the hub, they grow quite the collection. Many run their own businesses or are considered the more “wealthier” folks of Clutter. Some are pompous, but its rare to get a bad deal from them.